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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>From the desk of NFBNJ President Joe Ruffalo.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Received from Brian Burrow, NFB.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> BRAILLE MONITOR<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Vol. 60, No. 7 July 2017<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Gary Wunder, Editor<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Distributed by email, in inkprint, in Braille, and on USB flash<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>drive, by the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Mark Riccobono, President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> telephone: (410) 659-9314<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> email address: <a href="mailto:nfb@nfb.org">nfb@nfb.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> website address: <a href="http://www.nfb.org">http://www.nfb.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> NFBnet.org: <a href="http://www.nfbnet.org">http://www.nfbnet.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> NFB-NEWSLINE. information: (866) 504-7300<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Follow us on Twitter: @NFB_Voice<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Watch and share our videos: YouTube.com/NationsBlind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Letters to the President, address changes, subscription requests, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for the Monitor and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>office or may be emailed to <a href="mailto:gwunder@nfb.org">gwunder@nfb.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of the Blind and sent to:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND KNOWS THAT BLINDNESS IS NOT THE<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> CHARACTERISTIC THAT DEFINES YOU OR YOUR FUTURE. EVERY DAY WE RAISE THE<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> EXPECTATIONS OF BLIND PEOPLE, BECAUSE LOW EXPECTATIONS CREATE OBSTACLES<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> BETWEEN BLIND PEOPLE AND OUR DREAMS. YOU CAN LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>BLINDNESS IS NOT WHAT HOLDS YOU BACK. THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND-IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> OURSELVES.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ISSN 0006-8829<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>) 2017 by the National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots-the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>(Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>order to stretch our funding. Please use the return envelope enclosed with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the drive when you return the device.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Vol. 60, No. 7 July<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2017<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Contents<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Illustration: Nielsen Cares and a New Partnership is Born<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Need Vision on Demand?: There's an App for That<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Chancey Fleet<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>New Bill Seeks to Raise Wages for all Workers, Including Those with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Disabilities<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by John Pari<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Is Braille on Life Support?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Kane Brolin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Dirigibles, Blimps, and Looking Around<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Justin Salisbury<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Dots From Space!: A Bunch of Cut-Ups<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Amy Mason and Anna Kresmer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>There Is a List for That!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by David Andrews<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Anthony Don't: On Blindness and the Portrayal of Marie-Laure in All the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Light We Cannot See<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Sheri Wells-Jensen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>How I Live the Life I Want as a Sports Fan<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Jonathan Franks<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Independence Market Corner<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Ellen Ringlein<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>What Do They Say?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Lauren L. Merryfield<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Editor's Introduction to Celebrate<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Marc Maurer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Swabbing the Deck<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by Mary Ann Lareau<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Here's the Proof<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by James Gashel<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Recipes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Monitor Miniatures<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: The Nielsen Cares team poses with Anil Lewis, Mya Jones,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and Jenivieve White]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Matthew Ottwell helps with inventory of the education<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>section]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Gareth Kelly explains the procedure to Toni Moore]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: The entire Nielsen Cares team works together on a Braille<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Pals mailing]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Part of the Nielsen Cares team poses with President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Riccobono, Mya, Jen, and Mrs. Maurer]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Nielsen Cares and a New Partnership is Born<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Many of us have heard of the Nielsen ratings and have probably been<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>disappointed when a favorite TV show has been cancelled, and the excuse for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>taking it off has been the rating provided by this company. It turns out<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that Nielsen does much more than watch people watch television: its mission<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is to collect and analyze data, and television is but one of its markets.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> To help employees and to help the community, Nielsen has employee<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>resource groups. Lou Ann Blake, Jenivieve White, and Anna Adler attended<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>two meetings to learn about Nielsen and to help it learn about the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Federation. The company has a program called Nielsen Cares, and at least<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>once each year employees can decide to help an organization they select.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The result was the Baltimore group choosing to help us on May 11, Global<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Impact Day, by sending nine employees to the Jernigan Institute. They<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>helped reorganize the storage of our educational material, assisted in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>doing a Braille Pals mailing, and later participated in our Six Dot Dash<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>race to raise funds for the organization. The Nielsen family is interested<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in expanding its involvement with us to include participating in state<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>conventions and other activities in our local chapters. What a wonderful<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>way to get to know our neighbors and to get them to know us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Chancey Fleet enjoys the great outdoors listening as she<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>leans against a rock with her guide dog.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Need Vision on Demand?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> There's an App for That<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Chancey Fleet<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: Many of us who are blind have learned to do most<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tasks in our life without the aid of vision. We know that there are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>alternative techniques, we are proud to use them, and we treasure the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>independence they give us. Even so, there are times when we find the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>services of someone who can see very helpful. Maybe we need that vision for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>five seconds or for two minutes or for two hours.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Traditionally we have met this need in several ways. Sometimes we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>wait until we have enough tasks in which sight would be helpful and then<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>pay or get a volunteer to help us. Some of that waiting can seem long when<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>we want what we want or actually need it sooner than the next scheduled<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>visit from a person who can see. Even if we have someone with sight living<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in our house, we get tired of asking, and they get tired of all the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>questions, so some mutually-acceptable asking and granting must be agreed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>upon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Chancey Fleet offers an answer to this dilemma, which she calls<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>visual interpretation. She is a tech educator for a New York City library<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and understands as much about technology for the blind as anyone I know.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>She knows most of the apps that can help us and has a gift for explaining<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>what they are and what they do. Here is her brief overview of some of them:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> If you're a blind person with a smartphone or tablet, you can use it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to get visual information on demand. This genre of service is relatively<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>new and can go by many names: you might hear it called remote visual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>assistance or crowdsourced vision. Personally, I prefer the phrase "visual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>interpretation" because it precisely names the process of turning visual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>information into something more useful and because the concept of an<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>interpreter is familiar to people in many walks of life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Working with a remote visual interpreter can be liberating: you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>decide what your interpreter can see, when the interaction begins and ends,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and whether you need a second (or third, or tenth) opinion. A virtual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>interpreter can't touch anything in your environment, so you can't be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tempted to abandon a task that is "too visual" to someone else's hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Remote visual interpretation can be an empowering option when you'd rather<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>limit the extent of your interactions with the public, avoid turning<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>friends and colleagues into de facto describers, or when no one around you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is available to give you the information you need.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> A variety of apps provide remote visual interpretation. Although they<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>vary in price, functionality, and whose eyes are on the other end of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>connection, there are some things you'll want to consider when you use any<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Know your camera: it's important to understand how lighting<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>conditions, glare, angle, orientation, and distance affect your camera. If<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you're not familiar with these concepts, Judy Dixon's National Braille<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Press book Getting the Picture is an excellent introduction. You can even<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>use remote visual interpretation apps themselves to get feedback about how<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>effectively you're using your camera.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Think about how you want to listen: these apps are going to talk to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you, whether using voice-to-voice connection or text and audio messages. If<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you plan on using them in public, invest in comfortable headphones. Unless<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you're an EMT or a trucker, two-way speakerphone interactions are almost<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>never OK in shared spaces, and you do not get a pass on this article of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>social contract just because you're borrowing some eyes. Besides,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>headphones will help you hear more clearly. If you're traveling outdoors,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>attending an event or tour, or otherwise engaging with these apps in a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>context where it makes sense to stay maximally aware of the soundscape<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>around you, you can use a single Bluetooth earpiece or go with the timeless<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>budget strategy of just wearing one earbud. If you like balanced sound and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>prefer nothing blocking your ears, check out the AfterShokz line of bone-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>conduction headphones (available in wired and Bluetooth models). They rest<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>on the bones just in front of your ears and let you hear your phone or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tablet's audio without blocking what's going on around you. Whatever you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>do, read some online reviews before you buy, or take a friend's headphones<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for a test drive: people tend to feel deeply about their audio gear, and no<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>one choice is right for everybody.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Don't run out of gas: live video connections and multimedia messaging<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>will drain your battery and deplete your data plan. If you're counting on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>all-day access to your tablet or phone and plan on using these apps, carry<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a backup battery. Once you've started using apps that involve multimedia<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>messaging or live video connections, check your phone or tablet's data<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>usage statistics on a regular basis to make sure that you're not<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>approaching your data limit; and, when you can, save your data by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>connecting to a wireless network.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Free your hands: if you'll be sorting things, assembling something,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>or taking your own picture, check out your environment to see if you can<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>use a box, a ledge, or some other stable resting place to set up your phone<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>so that its camera covers the area you need. Depending on your typical<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>workflow, you may consider investing in a document camera stand, clip case<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>or tripod case to keep your phone where you want it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Protect your privacy: even premium apps that rely on paid<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>interpreters might be subject to unsecured networks, data breaches, or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>human error. Think critically before exposing sensitive personal<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>information to any internet-connected camera, ever.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Work smarter, not harder: take a moment to reflect on what you want<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to accomplish before you start, and make a little bit of a plan. If you're<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>looking out for some spices or sorting the mail, having a Braille labeler<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>or some other system on hand will help you capture the information you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>receive so you won't have to ask for it again. If you're learning something<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>complicated (like what button does what on the office copier, the layout of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a new neighborhood, or a thirty-step origami project), taking notes or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>making a recording will empower you to read or hear the information<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>whenever you like until you have it by heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Look past the marketing: blind and sighted people are still learning<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>how to talk about these apps, and you are guaranteed to come across<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>marketing materials and news stories that don't exactly strike the chimes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of freedom. When that happens, I'd recommend constructively engaging with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the content, whether by posting a comment, dropping a line to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>developer, or using social media to tell your own story about visual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>interpretation. Don't abandon the tool just because you found it in a tacky<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>package.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> As with any technology, apps for visual interpretation come and go.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Here are my top four sighted sources right now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>TapTapSee (free for Android and iOS)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> How it works: snap a picture or upload one from your camera roll, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a combination of machine vision and crowdsourced web workers will send you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a quick description. Typically, your answer arrives within twenty seconds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and is short enough to fit on a fortune cookie.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When it shines: for the simple things. TapTapSee is great at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>identifying products and describing photos in brief. I use it on a daily<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>basis to sort and label mystery items in my home and office, get real-time<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>feedback about the photos I'm taking, and double check that my pen has ink<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and my handwriting is legible. TapTapSee descriptions are text-based<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>messages that can be read with magnification, speech, or Braille.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>BeSpecular (free for iOS and Android)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> How it works: take one or more pictures, or upload them from your<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>camera roll. Type or record a question, and listen for text and audio<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>replies to come rolling in from sighted volunteers over the course of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>twenty minutes or so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When it shines: for rich detail, diverse opinions, and a nuanced<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>understanding of what different people notice when they look at an image. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>use BeSpecular to ask for detailed descriptions of clothing and jewelry,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ideas about what to wear with what, guidance in picking the "best" photo<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>from a set, and impressions of photos and objects that are important to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Once I've heard five or six different takes on the same image and question,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>I can find the patterns of consensus and divergence among the responses and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>arrive at my own informed understanding of the image. BeSpecular finds a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>happy medium between the brevity of TapTapSee and the live connection used<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by other apps. There's something special about BeSpecular's format of long-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>form questions and answers. Outside the rhythm of a live conversation,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>BeSpecular answers almost feel like postcards from a sighted correspondent<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>passing briefly through your life. They're often full of detail,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>personality, and emotions like surprise and humor. Once, while delayed on a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>train at Union Station in Washington, DC, I asked BeSpecular to relieve my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>boredom by describing the scene outside my window. One respondent sent me<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>an audio reply that explained, in a tone that was equal parts delighted and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>chagrined, that I had unfortunately sent her the most boring view she had<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ever seen. It was one train car, an empty John Deere forklift, and a cloudy<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sky.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>BeMyEyes (free, iOS, with Android reportedly coming soon)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> How it works: connect to a sighted volunteer who speaks your language<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and have a conversation about what they see through the lens of your<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>camera.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When it shines: for exploring, sorting, and troubleshooting. Every<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>time I arrive at a new hotel, I check in with BeMyEyes to take the decaf<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>coffee pods out of play, sort the identical little bottles in the bathroom,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and learn the thermostat and media controls. I also use it to find out<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>which food trucks are parked on the streets near my office, decipher<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>mystery messages on computer screens, and grab what I need from my local<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>bodega. Since BeMyEyes is powered by volunteers, I try to make the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>interaction upbeat and fun and let the person I'm working with decide<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>whether they'd like to bow out of a long task after a certain amount of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>time. There are just over a half a million sighted volunteers and about<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>35,000 blind users currently registered with the service, so you can call<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as often as you like without fear of bothering the same person over and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>over. The system will always connect you to someone for whom it is a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reasonable hour, so Americans calling late at night or early in the morning<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>will be connected to wide-awake people in Europe and Australia. Since the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>volunteer base is so large, you're likely to get through to someone quickly<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>even when lots of other blind users are connecting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Aira (iOS and Android, $89 per month and up, available 7 AM - 1 AM Eastern)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> How to pronounce it: it's a hard I, so pronounce it as "Ira."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> How it works: use your phone's camera or a Google Glass wearable<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>camera to connect with a live agent. Agents can access the view from your<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>camera, your location on Google Maps, the internet at large, and your<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>"Dashboard," which contains any additional information you'd like placed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>there.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When it shines: for tasks that are long, context-dependent, or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>complex. An Aira agent can start from any address, use Google Streetview to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>find a nearby restaurant, glance at online photos to clue you in to whether<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>it's upscale or casual, suggest and explain the best walking directions to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>get there, read the daily specials when you arrive, and show you where to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sign and tip on the check when you're ready to leave. Agents have watched<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and described completely silent YouTube videos with me so that I could<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>learn origami models, counted heads in my local NFB chapter meeting,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>described 20 minutes of nothing but socks until I found the perfect sock<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>souvenir, read online guitar tabs for me so I could write them down in my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>own notation, helped me pick out nail polish, and taken spectacular photos<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>through my camera for my personal and professional social media accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Aira agents are great at reading handwriting, diagrams and product manuals<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that seem to have as many pictures and icons as words. When I can't read<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>something with OCR, Aira can almost always help.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Aira agents are paid, trained professionals. Most of them are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>unflappable, effective describers who are up for any challenge. Since you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>pay for their time, you should feel comfortable about asking for what you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>need, being assertive about the type of descriptive language that works for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you, and calling whenever the need arises.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Like any new technology, remote visual interpretation solves old<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>problems and creates new ones. To use it well, we need to understand what<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>it requires in terms of power, data, planning, and effective communication.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>We must employ it with sensitivity to our own privacy and to the legitimate<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>concerns that people sharing space with us may have about cameras. Just as<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>each of us makes different decisions about when and how to use a screen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reader, the descriptive track of a movie, or a sighted assistant in daily<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>life, each of us will have our own ideas and preferences about how visual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>interpreters fit into our lives. Blind and sighted people working together<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>are just beginning to discover how to use language, software, and hardware<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in ways that employ visual interpretation to our best advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Collectively, we still have a lot to learn. The journey is long, but the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>view is phenomenal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Senator Bernie Sanders stands at a podium with a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>#RaiseTheWage banner to announce the new bill.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> New Bill Seeks to Raise Wages for all Workers, Including those with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Disabilities<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by John Pari<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: John Pari is the executive director of strategic<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>initiatives for the National Federation of the Blind. Although he is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>responsible for many program activities, he is best known for his focus on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>government affairs. In this article he tells us about new and exciting<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>developments regarding our quest to see that blind people are paid a fair<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>wage. Here is what he says:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> On Thursday, May 26, 2017, Senators Bernie Sanders and Patty Murray,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and Congressmen Bobby Scott and Keith Ellison introduced the Raise the Wage<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Act of 2017. This legislation would increase the federal minimum wage from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>its current rate of $7.25 per hour to $15.00 per hour by 2024. While<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>similar legislation has been introduced in the past two Congresses, this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>version included, for the first time, a provision to end the payment of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>subminimum wages to workers with disabilities. This is unquestionably due<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to the tireless and determined advocacy of the National Federation of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In a press release issued by the National Federation of the Blind on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the day of the legislation's introduction, President Riccobono said, "The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>National Federation of the Blind has advocated for the elimination of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>subminimum wage since our founding. The recognition of this issue by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>leaders in both houses of Congress and both parties confirms that the time<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>has long passed to eliminate the unfair and separate wage system for people<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>with disabilities. Time and time again, we have demonstrated that the idea<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of people with disabilities being less productive is simply an antiquated<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>misconception that has been allowed to permeate throughout society. This<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>wrong and harmful notion has resulted in multiple generations of disabled<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Americans being grossly underpaid and overly reliant on government<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>assistance programs to survive. We want to work. We want to rid society of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>these low expectations. For those reasons, we applaud the promotion of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities set forth in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>bill."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The press release further explained that under current law there is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>no minimum as to how little an employee with disabilities can be paid. Some<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>workers earn merely pennies per hour, wages that were considered below<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>average more than one hundred years ago.[1]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Section 6 of the Raise the Wage Act of 2017 would implement an<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>immediate minimum wage of $4.25 per hour for all workers classified under<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This absolute<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>minimum wage rate would increase by two dollars per year until it matched<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the minimum wage earned by the rest of the American workforce, at which<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>point employers would no longer be permitted to pay employees with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>disabilities a subminimum wage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> It is important to note that raising the overall minimum wage is a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>highly partisan issue. As of the writing of this article, not a single<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Republican in either the House or the Senate has cosponsored this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>legislation, making it extremely unlikely that it will ever pass through<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>either chamber of Congress. Furthermore, while the National Federation of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Blind firmly believes that Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Act must be phased out, the level at which the federal minimum wage should<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>be set is not a blindness issue. Therefore, we do not take a position on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the bill's primary purpose, which is to set a higher minimum wage rate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> We can justly celebrate the great progress we have made by getting<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>this issue included in such mainstream legislation. But the best vehicle<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for phasing out and repealing Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>continues to be the Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>(TIME) Act, H.R. 1377. The TIME Act is sponsored by Representative Gregg<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Harper of Mississippi and enjoys solid support from both Republicans and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Democrats. While the Federation is certainly gratified by the language<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>included in the Raise the Wage Act, our efforts must remain laser-focused<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>on passing the TIME Act. Therefore, we need to continue to urge our<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Representatives to cosponsor H.R. 1377. With our trademark love, hope, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>determination, we are sure to make subminimum wages for people with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>disabilities a thing of the past.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Kane Brolin]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Is Braille on Life Support?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Kane Brolin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: Kane is the president of our Michiana chapter which<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>encompasses the states of Michigan and Indiana, as one might guess from the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>name. Kane is a financial analyst and works very hard to see that what is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>said about blind people and the techniques we use is accurate and reflects<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the views of the Federation. Here is what he wrote in response to a segment<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that aired on National Public Radio:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> It has to be an unnerving experience to learn that some in the press<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>are reporting one's death, even though it hasn't happened yet. "In May<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1897, the great American humorist, novelist and social critic Samuel<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Clemens-best known by his pen name, Mark Twain-was in London. It was one of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the stops on a round-the-world speaking tour he'd embarked on in 1895. He<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hoped to use the fees from speaking engagements to pay off the considerable<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>debts he owed in the United States, due to a series of unsuccessful<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>investments and publishing ventures. ... While Twain was in London, someone<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>started a rumor that he was gravely ill. It was followed by a rumor that he<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>had died. ... It is true that in late May of 1897 the English correspondent<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for the New York Journal, Frank Marshall White, contacted Twain in London<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to inquire about his health. ... The next day, White wrote an article that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>quoted from Twain's letter. On June 2, 1897, the article was published in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the New York Journal. It said, in part: Mark Twain was undecided whether to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>be more amused or annoyed when a Journal representative informed him today<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of the report in New York that he was dying in poverty in London... The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>great humorist, while not perhaps very robust, is in the best of health. He<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>said: 'I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about, I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>have even heard on good authority that I was dead. ... The report of my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>death was an exaggeration.'"[2]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> For Mark Twain, premature reports of death were annoying but<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>correctable. But for the Braille code, which has enabled nearly eight<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>generations of blind people around the world to have access to the written<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>word, a consensus opinion about its demise would result in nothing short of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tragedy. Unfortunately, multiple reports about the impending death of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Braille are issued each year and disseminated by the mainstream media as<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>well as spread across the World Wide Web. We in the National Federation of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Blind must be vigilant to spot and correct them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I found out about one of the more recent mainstream media reports of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Braille's doomed future from a friend while he and I were talking in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hallway after the conclusion of a church service a couple of weeks ago. My<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>friend, who is sighted, was telling me about a story that had aired on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>National Public Radio during his drive home from work a few weeks before.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>My friend had some questions: "So why are they saying Braille is almost<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dead, even though I've seen you using it every day? They say it's the young<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>people who don't want it anymore. Is that true?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I found the report my friend had listened to: "As Braille Literacy<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Declines, Reading Competitions Held To Boost Interest."[3] It was filed by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Blake Farmer, news director of NPR affiliate station WPLN of Nashville. The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>piece went national when producers for the iconic public radio program All<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Things Considered picked it up and aired it on the evening of March 13,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2017.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> On first hearing, it seemed to me as though this reporter was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>defending Braille, even romanticizing it. The setting was the Tennessee<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>School for the Blind, where students at the school were competing for a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>shot at prizes and nationwide recognition in the Braille Challenge. It is a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>contest sponsored each year by the Braille Institute of America, a not-for-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>profit organization based in Los Angeles, California. The atmosphere<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>captured in Mr. Farmer's soundscape was upbeat, as several students were<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>heard clacking away energetically on Perkins Braillers. A retired teacher<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>from the Tennessee School, Joanne Weatherall, even had come back to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>school to encourage students to take part in the Braille Challenge and to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>judge that part of the competition that the Tennessee School was hosting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> But then, I took another listen and took more careful note of what<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>some of the participants were saying. Of course, the statistic that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>"Braille literacy has fallen to about 10 percent for children" was featured<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>front and center. Although this retired teacher Ms. Weatherall is blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>herself, and although she remains personally enthusiastic for Braille, she<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>concluded, "The kids are not wanting to do it (Braille) because it takes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>extra time, and it's harder..." Why is it harder?, she was asked. "The only<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>thing I would think is because kids that start out in school very young<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>learning technology-it's very easy for them," she says. "It's faster than<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reading and writing in Braille because that can be very slow and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cumbersome."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> So there is a divide between people who use Braille and people who<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>use "technology?" And what exactly is the difference between "Braille<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>literacy" and just plain literacy?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "What to do to really get the kids really charged up about Braille, I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>don't know because many of them hate it, which just makes me crazy," she<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>(Weatherall) says.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Even for those Tennessee School students who were competing in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Braille Challenge, this feel-good story expressed doubt as to whether it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>really mattered. At one point Farmer narrates as follows: "What makes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Weatherall grin are Braille lovers like Marcus Johnson, who plans to attend<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a local university in the fall, though he says Braille will not be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>particularly useful in his college classes." Farmer never goes on to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>question the truthfulness of this assertion, but just seems to take it for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>granted: Braille serves as a nice-to-have tool now that might win Marcus<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Johnson some limited glory in this year's Braille Challenge if he is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>fortunate enough to be among the fifty finalists who get to go to LA, but<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>at the end of the day it will prove irrelevant to his life in the real<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The more I reflected on this story, what bothered me most was what it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>had left unsaid: nothing about electronic, refreshable Braille; nothing<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>about the usefulness of Braille for the expression of math, scientific, or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>musical notation; nothing about the recent project to keep Braille up-to-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>date through the widespread adoption of Unified English Braille as a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>standard; nothing about Braille's application to professional careers in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>STEM fields; and not even a cursory mention of the National Federation of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Blind or the work the Federation has been doing to qualify and certify<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>new teachers of Braille. Most disturbing of all was this reporter's lack of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>discernment about the nature of literacy. Without the ability to see well<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>enough to read print efficiently enough to meet the demands of today's<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>world, doesn't a lack of Braille in a blind person's life make him or her<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>illiterate? The question never was asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> So I decided to write to Blake Farmer myself. I did so in an email<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sent on Monday, May 8, 2017-just one day after listening to his story about<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the presumed obsolescence of Braille. My appeal was rather quickly written,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>so I am sure it is imperfect. But I just felt that something needed to be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>said. When confronted by a world that misunderstands and sometimes even now<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>still ridicules blindness or legitimately proven blindness skills such as<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Braille, I believe it is imperative that I take a cue from the biblical<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Apostle Peter and "always be ready to give a defense" for my faith in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>proven power and simple elegance of the Braille code. Here is what I wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Blake:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I am pleased to make your acquaintance, even if just via email. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>think your story set in the Tennessee School for the Blind . . . was well-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>meaning, and I know you made a valiant attempt to be balanced in your<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>approach. But because many persons who occasionally do journalistic<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>coverage of blindness have never knowingly met a blind person prior to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>their going out on the assignment, I wish to present you and your<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>colleagues with another perspective . . . Having been a lifelong,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>totally blind person who learned to read at age five or so (in the early<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1970s), I feel very strongly that in my own case, if it weren't for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Braille, I would be illiterate, regardless of how much I could remember<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>from oral learning. Among the blind who are advanced students or who work<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in the professional world, Braille is making a comeback-especially as we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>learn how to utilize it rapidly, digitally, and noiselessly while connected<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to postmodern, commercial devices like mobile phones and tablets via<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Bluetooth. After all, it looks a lot more respectable for me to be in a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>meeting and taking notes in Braille or reading Braille while interacting<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>orally with someone seated in my office than it does for me to have earbuds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>attached to my head while acting as though I'm listening to my client.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> But this is not about just me and my own story or conditioned<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>preference. Since I now serve on the board of directors for the Indiana<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>State Affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind, I encounter a lot<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of situations in which a parent or guardian is referred to me, not knowing<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>what to do after receiving a medical diagnosis saying that his or her child<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is "visually impaired" or "sight-challenged." What you should know is that,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>even though your retired (TSB) teacher Joanne Weatherall is excited about<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>kids wanting to learn Braille, this seldom is an opinion shared among newer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>teachers of the visually impaired who are entering the field today unless<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>those teachers happen to be blind themselves. A lot of the opposition to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Braille comes from the sighted professional community tasked to serve the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind as teachers, school administrators, or vocational rehabilitation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>counselors, because they find it hard to locate individuals qualified to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>teach or proofread Braille, and they consider Braille expensive to obtain<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and to store. Even more of a factor than this perceived need for cost<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>containment, though, is the stereotype that blindness is a fate worse than<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>death in the mind of many persons who have never encountered it before, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>they are particularly scared if it is their children who must suffer this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>unthinkable fate. Blindness is so frightening to so many that otherwise<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>rational and well-educated adults when confronted with blindness will freak<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>out and go with whatever the first so-called "professional expert" tells<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>him or her. All too often, that advice sounds like "saving eyesight,"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>"taking advantage of all usable vision the child has left," and trying "not<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to make him or her look blind." All too often, this well-meaning attempt to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>help a young student keep fitting in to his or her social environment in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the classroom proves ineffective and ultimately harmful to the child's<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>academic achievement and future prospects, and sometimes harmful even to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the child's brain health.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> It is true that, according to statistics published by the American<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky, only about 10 percent<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of American blind children learn Braille. It also is true that some people<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>who are blind are also people who hate Braille-because they don't like<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reading by touch, or because they believe the embossed books are too bulky<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>or heavy to carry around usefully if living a mobile lifestyle, or because<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>diabetic neuropathy in some individuals just makes it next to impossible<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for them to pick out nuanced shapes with their fingertips. I respect<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>someone's decision not to learn or read Braille if it is a consenting adult<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>who makes that decision for him/herself. Unfortunately, though, the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>question of defending Braille or heralding its imminent death is one that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>has been used to divide the blind community, and much of the time it is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>children who get caught in the crossfire. The National Federation of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Blind, which is the organization I have chosen to represent voluntarily, is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a fierce defender of Braille. But other organizations-and quite a few<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sighted professionals in the fields of educating disabled children and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>rehabilitating disabled adults-push back against Braille, claiming that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>synthetic text-to-speech and/or magnifying technology in a digital world is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>all one really needs. Some make the claim that the NFB's defense of Braille<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>amounts to little more than a branding distinction used to market and fund<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the National Federation of the Blind. I quite disagree with this cynical<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and narrow-minded conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> So what I wish to do is to present my pro-Braille argument from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>another angle, drawing from sources outside the Federation. First, I refer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you to an article entitled "Is Braille Relevant?" It was posted by a blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>working woman named Neva Fairchild; it appears as a blog entry on the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>website of the American Foundation for the Blind. Of her childhood, Ms.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Fairchild writes: "As the print in books that I wanted or needed to read<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>got smaller, my ability to read diminished. By fourth grade, I was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>listening to Talking Books for pleasure unless I could get my hands on the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>rare large print book. I was not always able to complete reading<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>assignments in school because the amount I needed to read took too long and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>caused severe eye strain. Somewhere around eighth grade, I noticed that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>teachers told us the important content from the textbook during lectures,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>so finishing my reading was less and less attractive to me. I made passing<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>(although not stellar) grades, and that seemed adequate at the time. I wish<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that someone had pointed out that I was selling myself short, settling for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>less, and not living up to my full potential. I also noticed during this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>time that my spelling ability was declining because the majority of written<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>words that I read were written by me, and therefore, spelled by me. Would<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you agree that my literacy was suffering?" Note that the writer of this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>testimonial was not encouraged to read or write Braille in school<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>whatsoever; but she has adopted Braille because she found it essential<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>later in life as a productivity tool in the workforce.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> And there is a statistical correlation between those who read Braille<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and the higher likelihood of such persons to gain and keep competitive<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>employment. It's documented in The Impact of Braille Reading Skills on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Employment, Income, Education, and Reading Habits by Ruby Ryles, PhD.[4]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Blake, you also need to understand the changing face of Braille, one<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you might not have seen at the Tennessee School for the Blind when<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>profiling those contestants. Braille in the year 2017 is not just about<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>carrying around a bunch of heavy, bound volumes that cost hundreds of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dollars and hundreds of human-hours to produce. And it's not about just<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reproducing rows of dots by punching them mechanically into paper with a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hand-held stylus or on a heavy, metal, nine-key manual typewriter. See<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Braille technology moves into the 21st century, available online from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>rawstory.com.[5]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Anyone who spends time in my office or who attends public events at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>which I speak-or who even comes into the room where I teach Sunday school<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>at a local church-will observe that most of the Braille I use is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>refreshable Braille that pops up on a little, one-line, electronic display<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that literally is small enough to fit into my breast pocket. I can use this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>both to read output from and to control my laptop, iPad, or iPhone. I even<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>know of a couple of new devices that are stand-alone Braille computers: a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>fully Braille-enabled Android tablet that can run Google Books, Google<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Docs, and Google sheets, and can interact with the Internet;[6] and a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Windows 10 tablet PC that also is fully empowered to interface with the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>user via Braille output and input.[7] Both the BrailleNote Touch and the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ElBraille described here have synthetic speech built in, but either can be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>fully operated without synthetic speech, if the user wants Braille only. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>don't own either the BrailleNote Touch or the ElBraille, but I could gain<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>access to a unit temporarily and demonstrate their use in public if called<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>on to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> As for what you can do on paper, a variety of methods are being<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>perfected that will allow for a standard commercial printer to be adapted<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>so it may produce Braille hard copy output using touchable ink, not<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>requiring embossing in the traditional manner and thus being far less<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>expensive and far less labor-intensive than the embossed Braille available<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>from specialized libraries for the blind today. Perhaps the code used for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>touchable ink printing wouldn't have to be Braille in the strict sense, but<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the basic principle is the same, and there is the possibility that this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>would make a gigantic difference as it enables blind people affordably and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>quickly to reproduce graphical material used in mathematics, science, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>even the visual arts, or even to make their own graphs that could be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>accessed in real time equally well by blind and sighted project<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>collaborators. Some of this R&D is happening in Bangkok, as outlined in a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>video from the international marketing company J. Walter Thompson.[8]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> And while on the topic of the sciences, you should know that a blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>man named Dr. Timothy Cordes, a board-certified psychiatrist working in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Madison, Wisconsin, says Braille played a large role in his passing<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>prerequisite math and science courses as he prepared for medical school.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Yes, Dr. Cordes is an MD and PhD who did a full medical residency at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the University of Wisconsin.[9]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The problem with all this? Electronically produced Braille is still<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>far too expensive for most individuals to afford, especially if they live<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>below the poverty line. But solutions are being worked out: including H.R.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1734 the Access Technology Affordability Act, which has been introduced<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>into the House Ways & Means Committee in the 115th Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Last but not least, as my kids love to point out, Braille gives me a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hidden advantage in life: being able to read in the dark. As my highly<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>observant, seven-year-old, sighted son Max said one time, "Being blind in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the desert wouldn't be hard. All you'd need is food, water, and Braille."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I welcome your response.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Since writing that letter to Mr. Farmer and a shorter version to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>producers of All Things Considered on the same day, no response from anyone<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in public radio has been received. The battle for Braille continues.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Justin Salisbury]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Dirigibles, Blimps, and Looking Around<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Justin Salisbury<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: Justin Salisbury is a former scholarship winner who<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>often offers his opinions about issues relevant to the blind and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>particularly ones involving the adjustment to blindness. Sometimes he<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reflects on his own adjustment: the denial, the hiding, the frustration,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and the stages he has gone through on his way to acceptance. At other times<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>he talks about his hopes and fears for blind people who do not get good<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>adjustment to blindness training. Occasionally he talks about all of these,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and in this article he does. Here is what he says about the words that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>people use, the guesses about their motives and intentions, and the way he<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>should react:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> While teaching cane travel, I sometimes tell my students to look<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>around and see what they find. One student recently became frustrated with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>me and said that he cannot see anything with sleep shades on and that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>looking around is a visual activity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> It is entirely possible to argue that our vernacular has commonly<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>evolved so that our concept of experience or awareness has many<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>descriptions involving the sense of sight. We will regularly say that it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>was good to see someone. It helps to shed some light on the subject. Let us<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>not keep them in the dark about this. If you don't want it to come out in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the light, don't do it in the dark. She had been seeing this guy, but she<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>had not foreseen that he was looking for a wife. We use these expressions<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>every day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> It is just as possible to argue that these references to the sense of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sight reinforce or give rise to a belief that vision is the primary means<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to do many things. To be honest, I believe that it is the primary means<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>employed by many sighted people. This, by itself, is not harmful in any way<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that comes to my mind. If they have the sense in its full form, they might<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as well use it when it is efficient.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I worry sometimes that universal access is overlooked because of a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>lack of expectation that blind people will use a product or service.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Someone might think that blind people are not living on their own and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>watching television on a Thursday evening when an emergency alert flashes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>across the screen. Since blind people could not be in a position to need<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>equal access to that information, that equal access may not be pursued and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>created. Thankfully, because of the work of the National Federation of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Blind, equal access is being discussed in productive spaces. Equal access<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to instructional materials in higher education is a discussion topic only<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>because the organized blind movement decided that separate but equal<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>instruction would not suffice for blind students. We will continue to work<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to raise the expectations of blind people because low expectations create<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>obstacles between blind people and our dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> There is also a problem, though, when blind people come to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>internalize the idea that visual means of experiencing or doing something<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is the primary or best way to go about it. I was one of the best disciples<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of this belief, and I even used to surround myself with other blind people<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>who thought the same way. This way of thinking was so imprisoning. I cannot<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>claim that I am perfectly immune to this belief, but I am grateful to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>many blind role models in my more recent years who have taught me that this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is not the case.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> It is easy to slip into a feeling that, when people use vision or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>eyesight in their daily expressions, they are rubbing our blindness in our<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>face. Maybe they did not mean to do it. If we let that affect us<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>negatively, it dooms us to a sustained onslaught of pain and a long hallway<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of closing doors. It may not be harmless, but it may not be intentionally<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>harmful. I believe that perhaps the best thing I can do is change the way I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>look at it when people use these types of expressions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Back to my student's frustrated assertion that looking was a visual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>activity that could not be done with sleep shades on. I didn't want to get<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>into a deep philosophical discussion about the nature of sight during our<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>travel lesson, but I needed to answer him. And I love that my job requires<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>me to think on my feet and be ready at all times with an answer. My first<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>response to try to change his mind was to ask him, "Do you know what a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dirigible is?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> He cautiously answered, "A blimp?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Well," I said, "blimps are only a subset of dirigibles, but they are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the only ones that most of us ever discuss. Looking visually is only a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>subset of looking, but it's the only kind we often consider until we go<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Maybe I should curtail my speech so that I avoid telling students to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>look around. Maybe it taunts them with the thought of being asked to do<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>something which they can no longer do. I think, though, that it might be a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>disservice to my students. Instead of changing my individual speech and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hoping that others will follow suit, maybe I should help expand my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>students' understanding of these expressions so that, when they encounter<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>them, they do not consider them to describe activities outside the domain<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of blind people. If they do, there is some risk that these thoughts could<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>erode their confidence or feelings of normality. In a long-term way, I want<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind people, whether they are my students or not, to be able to truly feel<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>normal, at least as it relates to their blindness. Just because our way of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>efficiently searching our environment often does not involve eyesight does<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>not segregate us from the standard speech of our society.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Even up until I finished college, I used to feel very awkward about<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>my blindness. Carrying a cane was not a completely ridiculous idea, but I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>was not consistent about it. Daily physical pain from straining my eyes and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>neck was apparently better than looking weird by using a cane. I would have<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>been using different means of gathering environmental information while<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>traveling, but it would not have made me that different. To be honest, the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>lack of comfort in my own skin and occasional missteps while traveling<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>without a cane were probably what did the most to make me different.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Sometimes, I would be at a party and meet somebody I might like to see<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>again. If I had my cane, it was easy to explain that I wouldn't be able to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>just spot them across a room and find them again. If I did not have my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cane, they were rarely receptive to my explanation that I was actually<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>legally blind and needed a little more than a wave from across the room. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tried to function like a sighted person, but I was no longer a sighted<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>person. I was limited, not by blindness, but by the walls that I was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>putting up for myself by refusing to function as an independent blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>person and by the walls put up for me by not being given good adjustment to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blindness training.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> At work, when I meet a blind person, I am pro-consumer organization,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>meaning that I encourage them to explore organizations of blind consumers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>When I am off the clock, I encourage blind people to take one of the most<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>important steps which I have ever taken in my life, to join the National<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Federation of the Blind. I have been a member of a few different blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>organizations over the course of my life, but the National Federation of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Blind is the one which has taught me the most genuinely empowering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>things about myself. The Federation has taught me that, if I am abnormal,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>it is not a direct consequence of blindness. If I cannot do something,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>aside from seeing clearly, it is not a direct consequence of blindness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Often I need to remind myself or someone else that blimps are only a subset<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of dirigibles. Through the National Federation of the Blind, I have been<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blessed to surround myself with good blind role models who have taught me<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that I can still live the life I want and that blindness is never what<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>holds me back. It is in the Federation where I am constantly re-inoculated<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>against the low expectations and misperceptions in society so that I can<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>keep moving forward on the right path. Without the National Federation of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Blind, I could very easily have relapsed after training and gone back<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to using my residual sight for just about everything. I do not know of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>anywhere else that blind people can gain this level of strength and hope,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>so I point others in as clear a direction as I can. I hope all blind people<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>look around, and I hope we all find the National Federation of the Blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO/CAPTION: Amy Mason and Anna Kresmer]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Dots From Space!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> A Bunch of Cut-ups<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Amy Mason and Anna Kresmer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: Since January the Monitor has been running a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>serialized version of the NFB Quest from the 2016 National Convention. The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>NFB Quest was designed to be a fun game to break the ice between Federation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>members meeting in person for the first time and to make Federationists<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>active participants rather than passive observers of the presentations and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>speeches. This is the final installment of the adventures of the Dots from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Space crew, just in time for those Federationists attending the 2017<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>National Convention to embark upon the new NFB Quest. And now we return to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the adventure with Lieutenant-Commander Jot trapped in an ancient device as<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the crew searches for a way to rescue her:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> After a fruitless hour spent attempting to extricate Lieutenant-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Commander Jot from the ancient device, Captain Dottie called for a new plan<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of action.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "All right, people! This is obviously not working, and there doesn't<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>seem to be anything in this room that can free our shipmate. We need a new<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>plan-and we need one now! Any suggestions?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Well, Captain, as you say there is nothing in this room, so<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>logically we should begin by searching some of the other rooms."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Excellent suggestion, Doctor Spot," replies Commander Point,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stroking his beard meditatively. Squeak, squeak.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Yes, but I don't like the idea of leaving one of our members behind,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>even in this seemingly abandoned place. Just look what happened when we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>were all together!" the captain laughs sardonically.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> At this, Counselor Mote perks up, "I'm happy to stay with her,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Captain. You should take the rest of the team on ahead. If anything<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>happens, I'll contact you."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Very well, Counselor," she says. "The rest of you, come with me."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Leaving their teammates behind, the rest of the crew begins to search<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the other areas of the floor, but finds nothing except offices filled with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>more obsolete technology once used by the previous inhabitants. Undaunted,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>they decide to expand their search to the floor below them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Reluctant to trust the tiny elevator that they encounter in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hallway, they choose instead to take the stairs. Rounding a bend at the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>bottom of the steps, they encounter yet another locked door. Still riding<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>high on his boundless enthusiasm, Ensign Bean charges ahead, reaching for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the door handle.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Hold it right there, Ensign!" the commander barks. "Charging ahead<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>without waiting for orders is how we got ourselves into this mess in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>first place!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "You're quite right, Commander. We should pause and look at the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>situation logically. What do you suggest we do?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "I think the ensign should be the one to hold this position while we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ensure that there are no more surprises in the room beyond."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Young Bean, drooping a little, begins to complain, but is brought up<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>short when Captain Dottie nods approvingly and says, "Excellent idea. Make<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>it so!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The junior officer steps forward, with a resigned sigh, and leans<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>into the doorknob. Finding the door to be locked, Bean extends a thin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>filament into the lock, feeding more of himself in until all the internal<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>nooks and crannies of the mechanism are filled. With a twist, he turns the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>knob, pulls the door back, and stands aside as the others file past him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Upon entering, they discover another storage room filled with rusty<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>metal shelves. Aging Braille and print documents, covered with a fine layer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of cobwebs, still stand in stacked piles on many of the shelves. In other<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>areas of the room the floor has deteriorated and left gaping holes. The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sound of dripping water can be heard, and the musty air is humid.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Fan out! You, too, Bean. See if you can find anything useful,"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Captain Dottie commands. "But be careful! That floor looks unstable!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The Dots search the room in silence, only the creaking of the floor<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and the rustling of pages marking their passage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Captain, I believe that I have found something."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "What is it, Doctor Spot?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "If I am reading this correctly, there's a tool somewhere in this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>building that may help us to free Jot."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "In this building? How do you know?" Squeak, squeak.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Simple. The author of one of the stories in this small book that I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>have found-a Dr. Maurer, I believe-mentions a device for cutting wood and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>other hard surfaces that was stored in what they called 'the Center.' I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>think that may be one of the names they called this building."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Well, what is this strange device, Doctor?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "I believe it was called... a chainsaw."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> [Note: Link to or copy of "Children and Chain Saws," by Marc Maurer,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>To Touch the Untouchable Dream, the Kernel Books,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>https://nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/books/kernel1/kern1503.htm]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> After searching for a few more minutes, they discover that the shop<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is next door and contains precisely the tool that they are looking for.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Hopeful that this is the solution to their problem, they return to their<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>trapped teammate in the technology room. As they near the open double<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>doors, they hear the soft voice of the counselor say, "Okay, here's another<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>one! Why did the sun go to school?" Silence fills the room. "Oh come on!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>You know this one. Just take a guess!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In a deadpan voice, Jot says, "I don't know, Mote. Why did the sun go<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to school?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "To get brighter! Get it? Why aren't you laughing? Isn't that one<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>funny?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Jot sighs gustily.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Okay, try this one for size. How do you organize a space party?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "You planet!" Bean bounces into the room followed by the rest of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>team.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "You got it!" the counselor exclaims.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Yeah, yeah, Mote. That's great. Captain! Tell me you've found a way<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to get me out of this thing!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Yes, Lieutenant-Commander, I believe we have. But it may be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dangerous."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "That's okay, Captain, I'm ready now!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "What can you tell us about the inner workings of the machine? Are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you near the top?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "No, Doctor, I've been trying to work myself free since you left.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Most of my body is now wrapped around some of the rollers near the base of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the machine. Something is still caught, and I can't get out, but I'm clear<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of the top third of the box."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Excellent. Brace yourself, Lieutenant-Commander," the doctor<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>instructs her.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Stepping forward, he pulls a cord, and the chainsaw splutters to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>violent life. Laying the edge of the idling blade against the side of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>embosser, he waits for the captain's signal. "At your command, Captain."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Engage!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Epilogue: The Return of a "Klassic"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Having freed their compatriot and feeling that they have now learned<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>all they could from the long abandoned building, the six Dots (in two<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>columns of three) make their way back to their ship, the Particle, which is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>still waiting for them on the roof.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "I wonder what happened to them all..."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Who, Ensign?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "The people who lived on this planet, Captain, but especially the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ones who lived here. With all that we have read about them, I feel almost<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as if I know them."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "We may never know, Ensign, but I remain hopeful that we will find<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>answers elsewhere."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Later that week, as the Particle wings away from the lonely planet,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Lieutenant-Commander Jot sits in engineering. She is surrounded by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>mountains of ancient hard drives and other media storage which the crew<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>pulled from what they now called the Center. Grabbing a drive from the top<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of the nearest stack, she instructs the ship's computer to scan the device.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The computer analyzes the contents and informs her that, "83.2 percent of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the unique content on this drive refers to something called 'K-N-F-B<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Reader.'"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Computer, stop!" Jot cries. "I wonder, could it be?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Growing increasingly excited, she peruses the documents on the drive<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in much greater detail. Finally, several hours later, she calls the captain<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to report her findings.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Captain, you'll never believe what I have found! I was looking<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>through the data we collected from the aliens at the Center location. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>think they may still be out there somewhere!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "What makes you think that, Jot?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Shortly before they disappeared, they had released a program for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>scanning and interpreting text that could not be read tactually. They<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>called it K-NFB."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "That sounds familiar. Where have I heard that name before,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Lieutenant-Commander?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "It should sound familiar, Captain! The new translation devices we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>recently purchased in the previous sector, which we just so happened to be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>using while we were exploring that planet, were built by an organization<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>which goes by that name!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "You don't suppose?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "Yes, Captain. I don't know how, but I think they are still out<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>there. Living the lives that they want!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: David Andrews]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> There Is a List for That!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by David Andrews<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> This month we will continue our monthly column exploring internet<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>mailing lists with the Golden State-California. The main list for the state<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of California is NFBC-Info. You can subscribe to the list by going to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbc-info_nfbnet.org, or you can<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>also subscribe by sending an email to nfbc-info-request@nfbnet.org and put<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the word "subscribe" on the subject line by itself. The list contains both<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>discussion and announcements related to the NFB of California and its<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>chapters and activities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> A number of the chapters in California have their own lists. Below<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>are the list name and a brief description of each. To subscribe substitute<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the list name in the command above for the nfbc-info phrase.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>NFBSF: NFB of California San Francisco Chapter list<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>NFB-River-City: NFB of California Sacramento Chapter list<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>NFBC-SFV: NFB of California San Fernando Valley Chapter list<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Two divisions in California also have their own lists: students and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>community service. Their list names are CABS-Talk and CACommunity-Service<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>respectively and can be used in the web or email commands mentioned<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>previously. You can also locate all the California lists just by going to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ and searching for the word<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>"California."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Next month we will tell you about guide dog-related lists. As always,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you can find all NFBNET.ORG-related lists at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Sheri Wells-Jensen]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Anthony Don't: On Blindness and the Portrayal of Marie-Laure<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> in All the Light We Cannot See<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Sheri Wells-Jensen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: Sheri Wells-Jensen is a professor of linguistics at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Bowling Green State University. She wrote this book review for Interpoint,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the blog of the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind. It is gratefully<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reprinted with the permission of the author and the Lighthouse. Here is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>what she has to say about the novel:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When I think of All the Light We Cannot See, the latest, most popular<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>portrayal of blindness, there are many scenes that run through my head.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Here are two, summarized, for your consideration:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In 1940, under the imminent threat of German invasion, a middle-aged<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>locksmith and his twelve-year-old blind daughter are fleeing Paris.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Everything happens quickly, and their escape is urgent. The locksmith is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>working furiously, but, short of running her hands over a toy model of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>city, the blind daughter does nothing. Her father asks nothing of her<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>except that she use the bathroom, and so she waits, passive as an<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>upholstered chair, while he assembles their possessions, packs their food,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>then buttons her into her coat, and leads her out the door.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Why isn't this adolescent girl participating in her own escape?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Four years later, the locksmith is drawing his now-sixteen-year-old<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>daughter a bath, despite the fact that there is a decidedly maternal female<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>character just downstairs. The locksmith washes his daughter's hair, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>she is docile as he explains that he is leaving. At the end of the bath he<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hands her a towel and helps her climb onto the tile.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Why is a middle-aged man bathing his sixteen-year-old daughter, even<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>if he does step outside while she puts on her nightgown? Who is this girl?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Is she the heroine or the victim of the story? Does she get to be both?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> This helpless, sexless child is the blind girl who is one of the main<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>characters of Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, a book which<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>first enraged me, then began to haunt me and fill me with a kind of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>appalled despair. The book has raised neither widespread outrage nor<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>offense in most readers. People love it. It won a Pulitzer [in 2015]. Book<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>clubs are gobbling it up. Every morning, on my way to work, I hear ads for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>it on my local NPR station. And every morning, I feel the same gut-deep<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sense of despair, a kind of a mental nausea, as Marie-Laure begins to slide<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>into her place in the public consciousness as a reasonable representation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of what it's like to be blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Marie really doesn't do much for herself in the novel, and when she<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>does, her methods are decidedly strange, the reception she receives even<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stranger. She doesn't put on her own shoes, button her own coat, or help<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>out around the house. Her ability to find her way around her own<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>neighborhood is constructed and controlled by her father, who builds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>obsessively detailed models, accurate down to the last park bench, for her<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to use in navigation. Until the model is complete, she does not leave the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>house alone. He watches over her as if she were made of spun glass and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sugar. When, one evening, she dances in the attic with her agoraphobic<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>uncle, we are told that "her two eyes, which hang unmoving like the egg<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cases of spiders, seem almost to see into a separate deeper place, a world<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that consists only of music ... though how she knows what dancing is he can<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>never guess."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In case you don't know, not a single blind person I have ever met<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>would count thirty-eight storm drains on a walk downtown. We walk to work,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to the bakery, and back home again and manage this without the benefit of a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>single 3D model of the park benches we pass. We can also tell night from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>day. We carry our own luggage. We don't need to use a rope tied from the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>kitchen table to the bathroom to navigate the inside of a house. And all of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>us know what dancing is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> But I am not here to complain about misrepresentations of adaptive<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>techniques or tired blindness stereotypes. I honestly don't care if Marie-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Laure counts her steps, reads Braille with her thumbs, hears the ocean from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>her sixth-floor window, or can detect the scent of cedars from a quarter-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>mile away. The assault on the dignity of blind people is not that this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>character has strange adaptive techniques, or even that there are so many<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>things she does not do for herself; it is that she is utterly without<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>agency as a character.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Marie does not even pack her clothes, not because she can't find her<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>bedroom or doesn't know her socks from her pantaloons, but because she is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>simply not expected to do that sort of thing. She's not especially timid or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>excessively shy. She is, in fact, intelligent and reasonably charming. But<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>she is not the agent of her own life. Isolated, apparently friendless, she<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is led through her life by the hand and accepts everything that happens to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>her with dystopian magnanimity. She is moved about, remarked over, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>admired, and she spends the majority of the novel in the apparently<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>courageous and all-involving activity of simply staying alive while blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>She expects nothing-not praise, not condemnation, not challenge-and the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>people around her are glad enough to oblige. Even when she does manage to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>do something-to cast away a particular gemstone, or run an unsupervised<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>errand downtown for the French Resistance-it changes nothing in her life,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>except that she eventually asks permission to go to school. Nothing really<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>changes. She resists nothing. She asks for little.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> She is my nightmare.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> All the Light We Cannot See is historical fiction, and Mr. Doerr says<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in his numerous interviews that he did endless research while writing. You<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>can tell he did read about blindness: He read about Jacques Lusseyran, a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind man who took part in the French Resistance in World War II; and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>apparently also about Geerat Vermeij, a blind evolutionary biologist now at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>UC Davis. You should take the time to learn about these two men; their<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stories are about active, joyful, curious, hard-working blind people, quick-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>witted and ready for a challenge. After reading their memoirs, you might<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>think Mr. Doerr would create an engaged, vibrant main character who is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In what feels very much like a betrayal of the lively spirit that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>inspired and motivated M. Lusseyran and Dr. Vermeij, all Marie inherited<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>from these successful men was a degree of composure and an innocuous<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>predilection for mollusks. Blindness is Mr. Doerr's metaphor. Real living<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>human beings-caring, active, blind human beings who are parents and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>teachers and artists and scientists-are not relevant in his story. And I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>can't tell from his prose if he cares about that or not. [Editor's note:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Doerr first achieved notoriety with his portrayal of a mythical blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>character in "The Shell Collector."]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> His defenders might object that Mr. Doerr's depiction has nothing to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>do with modern blind people-he was creating a historically real picture of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a young blind girl seventy-five years ago in a European war zone when<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>circumstances were different and women of any sort had less power and less<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>autonomy than we do now. Similarly, you could argue-and friends of mine<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>have-that Mr. Doerr, as an artist, can and should create as his muse<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>prescribes. I'll happily grant that, too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> But art, whatever its genesis or intent, flourishes or fails in a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>social context. We decide-by what we read, what we watch, and what we buy-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>if the muse is worth it. And the fact that this book and its blind heroine<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>won the Pulitzer says something not just about Mr. Doerr's knack as a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>storyteller, but also about what sighted people expect from blind people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The fact that most people do not notice any problems at all with the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>depiction of Marie is sad to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Many a friend, perhaps in an effort to redeem something from the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>uncomfortable hour of discussing this book with me, has implored, "Yes, but<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>other than Marie-Laure, didn't you like the book?" I think they must want<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to preserve something of the glow they felt while reading. It was a pretty<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>story, well told, right?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Well, no. Not at all. Asking if I liked the book in spite of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>portrayal of the blind character is like asking, "Except for the dog turd,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>didn't you enjoy that piece of cake?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> So why, you might ask, did I read this book? I have started and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>discarded dozens of books-some slightly better, some worse-because of their<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>depictions of blind characters. It just isn't generally worth my time to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>read insulting or stupid depictions of blind people. All things being<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>equal, I'd rather clean the catbox. But I made myself finish this one,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hoping for some resolution. I kept reading because this one will not<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>quietly go away.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I am an associate professor of linguistics in the English Department<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>at Bowling Green State University, where Anthony Doerr received his<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Master's degree in creative writing in 1999, the year before I arrived on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>campus. I understand that he was quite well regarded at BGSU, and has since<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>been named among our 100 top alumni. Although we have never met, he is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>respected by my colleagues and liked by many of my friends. And because of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>this book, he will most likely return to BGSU someday, probably to give the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>commencement speech, and then I'll have to decide what to do. (My choices<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>range from confronting him angrily in the East Hall lounge to hiding under<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>my desk for the duration of his stay. Both options have their appeal!)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Would meeting a real, competent, employed blind person change his approach<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to writing blind characters? Would that make a difference? Or are the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cultural stereotypes-and the permission to use them-just too powerful?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The answers to those questions, although fascinating to me on both a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>personal and a professional level, don't matter. And my inclination to spit<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>fire or curl up under my desk is not as important as the conversation we,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as a society, should be having about what matters to us and how what we see<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in the media impacts our lives. Art is important. It is an echo of the real<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>world, capturing our perceptions and reflecting them back to us. And what<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>do we discover reflected in the story of Marie-Laure? A well-crafted homage<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to destructive stereotypes about blindness, softened and made pretty by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>artful prose.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> There's nothing pretty about the reality of prejudice, and there's<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>nothing soft about the lives of disabled people who have been taught that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>they have neither the right nor the power to run their own lives. Art does<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>matter because it not only reflects what we believe, it also helps<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>establish those beliefs. And if an artist is unsure how to authentically<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>portray blind people, then it falls to the community to begin the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>conversation, because we do not have "eyes like the egg cases of spiders,"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>we can put on our own shoes, and we do, in fact, have reason to know what<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dancing is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: With the football stadium behind him, Jonathan Franks<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>shapes his right hand in the "Hook 'em" symbol.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> How I Live the Life I Want As a Sports Fan<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Jonathan Franks<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: Jonathan Franks is a member of the National<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Federation of the Blind who lives in Austin, Texas. What he writes about is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the simple pleasure of being a sports fan and his fear that the loss of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sight would mean losing one of his favorite pastimes. But what makes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Jonathan's story interesting is that he is blind, goes to the sports<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stadium alone, and doesn't think much of it. In the Federation we have<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>plenty of sports fans and plenty of chapters that go to sporting events,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>but very few blind people who are willing to attend a game alone. Here is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Jonathan's story:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Since I was four my father has gotten me involved in sports in one way<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>or another. I played soccer for eight years and even won first place on a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>number of teams. My father and I would go to the park and play football,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>basketball, baseball, or soccer. I had always wanted to play for the teams<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>at my high school; however, my grades were not up to par.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I grew up in San Jose, California, and we would often travel to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Oakland or San Francisco to attend the Oakland Athletics or San Francisco<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Giants games. I have also had the pleasure of attending a New York Yankees<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>game in New York and a Houston Texans game versus the Indianapolis Colts in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Houston, Texas. My next goal is to attend a San Antonio Spurs game in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>near future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Every Sunday and Monday during the football season, my father and I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>would watch the games on television. I started to lose my sight in December<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of 2005, and all of my vision disappeared ironically on White Cane Day,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>October 15, 2006. This was due to diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. At the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>time I was very concerned that I would lose my love of sports and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>particularly my enjoyment of games on television because I could not see.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>My father convinced me not to give up watching, and he sat with me on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Sundays and would describe to me what was happening during the games I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>chose to watch.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In 2007 and 2008 I attended a local training center, where I learned a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>number of skills that included Braille, screen reading technology, daily<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>living skills, and, perhaps most important of all, orientation and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>mobility. One of my assignments was to attend a WWE Monday Night Raw event.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>This is the professional wrestling program that many of you watch on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>television. At first the tasks seem daunting; however, I was up for the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>challenge. This really brought to the forefront my concern about not being<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>able to enjoy a sporting event independently. To my surprise I was able to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>enjoy myself. This was to be the start of something big.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Since I have moved to Austin, Texas, I have been a major fan of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Texas Longhorns. For those of you who do not know, the Texas longhorn is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the mascot of the University of Texas at Austin. I became a loyal fan when<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>I moved here and even a more ardent fan when the team won the national<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>college championship in 2006. But it wasn't until one day when my father<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and I went to get some dinner that I found that the Longhorn football games<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>were on the radio. I was amazed by how descriptive the play-by-play<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>announcer was in bringing the game to life. After that experience I decided<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to abandon television and listen to radio broadcasts. In 2015 I actually<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>met the man who is known as the voice of the Longhorns, Mr. Craig Way. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>told him how he had once again brought vitality to the game for me, and I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>do believe he was flattered.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In 2011 my significant other at the time and I bought tickets for a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Texas Longhorn football game. I had always wanted to attend one of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>games, and in preparation I bought a handheld radio so that I could listen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to Craig Way's broadcast. The announcer gave me all the play-by-play<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>action, and I was thoroughly captivated by being able to witness the power,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the tradition, and the excitement of being at the game. After that I was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hooked.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In 2013 I was accepted into the University of Texas at Austin, where I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>earned my bachelor's degree in social work with a minor in psychology.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>There was a sports package available to students, and I bought what was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>called the Big Ticket package. This gave me access to all of the Texas<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Longhorn sporting events for only $250. While a student I attended as many<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>football, basketball, baseball, soccer, softball, and volleyball games as I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>could. During the games I was attending I would post on Facebook, and word<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>got around. Many of my friends were simply amazed that I went to the games<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and asked me how I could enjoy them given that I was blind. I would happily<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reply, "I have my radio. It costs me a fortune in batteries, but it is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>worth it." I explained that I follow the crowd noise, and if I am unsure<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>about what is happening, I will ask a fellow fan.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The second most frequent question I receive is, "Why do you go to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>games alone if you cannot see?" I reply that my blindness does not limit my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ability to enjoy the games, and neither does it require that I be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>accompanied by someone. The event staff will help me locate my seat at the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stadium, but by now I have learned the layout and know exactly where to get<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>my food and how to get my ride at the completion of the game.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Even after graduating from the University of Texas in 2016, I still<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>continue to attend as many sporting events as time will allow. For the last<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>two years I have purchased alumni football season tickets, and being a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>loyal sports fan is one of the most exciting things I do. I have been an<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>avid sports fan for nearly twenty-five years now. The National Federation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of the Blind says, and I have affirmed through my own experience, that my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blindness does not limit what I can enjoy or dictate my life choices. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>live the life I want, including enjoying sports, and I hope that my story<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>encourages all of you to do the same. Hook 'em Horns!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Leave a Legacy<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> For more than seventy-five years the National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>has worked to transform the dreams of hundreds of thousands of blind people<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>into reality, and with your support we will continue to do so for decades<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to come. We sincerely hope you will plan to be a part of our enduring<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>movement by adding the National Federation of the Blind as a partial<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>beneficiary in your will. A gift to the National Federation of the Blind in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>your will is more than just a charitable, tax-deductible donation. It is a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>way to join in the work to help blind people live the lives they want that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>leaves a lasting imprint on the lives of thousands of blind children and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>adults.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>With your help, the NFB will continue to:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Give blind children the gift of literacy through Braille;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Promote the independent travel of the blind by providing free, long<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> white canes to blind people in need;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Develop dynamic educational projects and programs that show blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> youth that science and math are within their reach;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Deliver hundreds of accessible newspapers and magazines to provide<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> blind people the essential information necessary to be actively<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> involved in their communities;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Offer aids and appliances that help seniors losing vision maintain<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> their independence; and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Fund scholarship programs so that blind people can achieve their<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Plan to Leave a Legacy<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Creating a will gives you the final say in what happens to your<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>possessions and is the only way to be sure that your remaining assets are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>distributed according to your passions and beliefs. Many people fear<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>creating a will or believe it's not necessary until they are much older.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Others think that it's expensive and confusing. However, it is one of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>most important things you will do, and with new online legal programs it is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>easier and cheaper than ever before. If you do decide to create or revise<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>your will, consider the National Federation of the Blind as a partial<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>beneficiary. Visit www.nfb.org/planned-giving or call (410) 659-9314,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>extension 2422, for more information. Together with love, hope,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>determination, and your support, we will continue to transform dreams into<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Invest in Opportunity<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>characteristic that defines you or your future. You can live the life you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>want; blindness is not what holds you back. A donation to the National<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Federation of the Blind allows you to invest in a movement that removes the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>fear from blindness. Your investment is your vote of confidence in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>value and capacity of blind people and reflects the high expectations we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>have for all blind Americans, combating the low expectations that create<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>obstacles between blind people and our dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In 2015 the NFB:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Gave away over four thousand long white canes to blind people across<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> the country, empowering them to travel safely and independently<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> throughout their communities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Produced hands-on educational programming for hundreds of blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> children, allowing them to access the essential building blocks for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> their future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Provided one hundred thousand dollars in scholarships to blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> students, making a post-secondary education affordable and attainable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> . Delivered free audio newspaper and magazine services to more than one<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> hundred thousand subscribers, providing access to the essential<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> information necessary to be actively involved in their communities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Just imagine what we'll do next year, and, with your help, what can<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>be accomplished for years to come. Below are just a few of the many<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>diverse, tax-deductible ways you can lend your support to the National<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Federation of the Blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Vehicle Donation Program<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The NFB now accepts donated vehicles, including cars, trucks, boats,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>motorcycles, or recreational vehicles. Just call (855) 659-9314 toll-free,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and a representative can make arrangements to pick up your donation-it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>doesn't have to be working. We can also answer any questions you have.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>General Donation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> General donations help support the ongoing programs of the NFB and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the work to help blind people live the lives they want. Donate online with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a credit card or through the mail with check or money order. Visit<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>www.nfb.org/make-gift for more information.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Bequests<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Even if you can't afford a gift right now, including the National<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Federation of the Blind in your will enables you to contribute by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>expressing your commitment to the organization and promises support for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>future generations of blind people across the country. Visit<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>www.nfb.org/planned-giving or call (410) 659-9314, extension 2422, for more<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>information.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Pre-Authorized Contribution<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Through the Pre-Authorized Contribution (PAC) program, supporters<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sustain the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind by making<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>recurring monthly donations by direct withdraw of funds from a checking<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>account or a charge to a credit card. To enroll, visit www.nfb.org/make-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>gift, complete the Pre-Authorized Contribution form, and return it to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>address listed on the form.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO/CAPTION: 2016 NFB Convention Exhibit Hall]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Independence Market Corner<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Ellen Ringlein<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The National Federation of the Blind Independence Market is the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>conduit through which our organization distributes our empowering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>literature to our members, friends, and the general public. As a service we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>also operate a blindness products store, which sells mostly low-tech items<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>designed to enhance the everyday independence of blind individuals.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The staff of the NFB Independence Market has been busily gearing up<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for our national convention, which will be held this year in Orlando,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Florida, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort from July 10 through 15. In<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>preparation for the convention we are adding new items to our stock and are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>updating our catalog. At the convention itself almost all our sales<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>products and much of our free literature will be available in the exhibit<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hall. Convention attendees will have a chance to examine demo items of our<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>products, including the new ones. Check the convention agenda to learn when<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Independence Market will be open in the exhibit hall. We will share<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>information about the new products in later issues of the Braille Monitor.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>If you would like a sneak peak of what's new, visit the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>https://nfb.org/convention page and follow the links for the exhibit hall<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and the Independence Market.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Many volunteers will help staff our store at convention to assist<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>with demonstrating products to our customers and processing the resulting<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>purchases. Thank you to all of you who are helping out in some capacity. We<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>would not be able to run the Independence Market at convention without you.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> We hope to see many of you in Orlando. If you are not able to join us<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>at our convention, check out the Independence Market online or contact us<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by email or by phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Please note that the Independence Market operations in Baltimore will<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>be suspended while we are in Orlando. We will not be able to process any<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>online or telephone orders while we are away at convention.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> For more information about the products and literature available from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Independence Market or to request a catalog in Braille or in print<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>visit us online at https://nfb.org/independence-market. You may also<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>contact us using email at independencemarket@nfb.org or by phone at (410)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>659-9314, extension 2216, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Eastern time. Our staff will be glad to assist.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Lauren L. Merryfield]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> What Do They Say?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Lauren L. Merryfield<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: Lauren Merryfield is a long-time Federationist and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>intermittent contributor to the Braille Monitor and Future Reflections. Her<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>article "What Color Is the Sun?" was the title article for the first Kernel<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Book. Her book There's More Than One Way to Be Okay: A Blind Woman's<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>PURRspective On Life is available in audio at www.audible.com. Lauren has<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>served as secretary in several chapters of the NFB. Because she moves<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>around, she has been involved in helping to resurrect or establish several<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>new chapters. She currently lives in Carmichael, California, with her three<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cats: Maryah (Mariah with a Y), Tobias (Toby), and Lelaynya (Laynie).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Lauren is an online pastor and Jesus follower. In addition, she has earned<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>an MSW degree and certification in pet loss and bereavement. She counsels<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>people online and has held pet memorial services using Skype.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Lauren does not like getting old but is not ready for the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>alternative, stating that she would rather be over the hill than under the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hill. She says she will never be an "old fogy," intending to remain young<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>at heart. In this article Lauren discusses the almost-universal problem<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind people encounter when receiving health care; the staff see our<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blindness and secondarily the condition we expect them to treat. Although<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>they know quite a lot about their area of expertise, they often know little<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>about how to treat a well-adjusted blind person, and our compromised health<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>can limit our ability to do much to educate them. Here is what Lauren has<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to say about her recent health experiences:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When I was young, I strongly believed that once blind people<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>demonstrated to the sighted world that we could do a thing, we would be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>believed, and we could live the life we want without constantly having to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>confront doubt. It is many years later, and I feel quite disappointed that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>we too often find ourselves dealing with the same issues we did back when<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>we were young. Though the NFB certainly helps the public make progress,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>there is still a long way to go for some of us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Each time we push the envelope so that we can more readily live the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>life we want, we help make it better for the next blind person coming<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>along. I might not say much if an incident or set of incidents affected<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>only me, but when I know how they could affect other blind people, I am<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>less likely to be quiet about the situation. A case in point:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> For the last two years I have had the misfortune of living with what<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the medical people call "venous insufficiency" in my legs. My legs and feet<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>swell up-at times like balloons-and they occasionally develop wounds and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cellulitis. It has been necessary on far too many occasions for me to be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hospitalized in order to be given IV antibiotics to combat the cellulitis.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Being a patient has been stressful for me, mainly because,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>overwhelmingly, staff insists that I be treated like a two-year-old just<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>because I am blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The last two times I was hospitalized, the staff kept repeating, "Now<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>don't get up unless there is someone in the room." One nurse wanted me to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>pee into pads on the bed. I felt embarrassed about that. She said that if I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>needed anything from my suitcase, she would get it for me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I, not being the most obedient person to such demands, would<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sometimes get up on my own to visit the restroom or retrieve an item from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>my suitcase. I was told later that when I did this sort of thing, a report<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>was written up on me. I was not particularly taken aback by that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> However, as one shift followed another and one day and night followed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>another, I got tired of this treatment. Over and over again I would say<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that I was ambulatory and that I could find the restroom and my suitcase by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>myself. However, they kept insisting that I use my call button to have<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>someone else help me with these things.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> During my second hospitalization, I had three separate roommates who<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stayed overnight following surgery. In each case not only were these women<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>allowed to get up out of bed; they were practically forced to do so as part<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of their recovery-quite a contrast from how it was for me. When I would<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>point this out to the on-duty nurse or CNA, I was always confronted with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the argument that, "Well, they can see."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When it came time for discharge, I was invariably confronted with the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>argument that "We can't discharge you to go home, living alone blind. That<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is too much of a risk. You could fall. You can't handle your medications."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>They rarely asked me if I often fell or if I had difficulty managing my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>medications; they stated these things as facts. I would correct them at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>every possible opportunity, but it was like they just did not hear me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When I would finally make it home, without falling and without having<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>any problems with my medications, I would be barraged by the home health<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>care nurses who continued the same litany.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> About a week ago a social worker visited me. Although I have a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>master's in social work myself, I still tread on thin ice when a social<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>worker comes to visit me. I never know which side of the fear-mongering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>they will be on. The latest visitor had heard from the home health care<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>nurse that it was dangerous for me to live alone because I could fall, the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reason being that I have quite a lot of stuff in my apartment. She also<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>informed the social worker that I had difficulty with my medications<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>because I couldn't tell them apart and could take the wrong ones. The nurse<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>had written in print the names of my medications on the top of the bead box<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that I keep them in. The social worker laughed, stating that this was not<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>exactly helpful to me. I said that if I needed to write them down, I could<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>put Braille labels on the top of the bead box; however, I was the one who<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>placed each medication into each receptacle, so I knew where my medications<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>were located. I further was aware by the shape of the pills which one was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>which. For me there was really no problem. The social worker asked me when<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>last I fell. It had been a year ago when my office chair dumped me out-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>forward. It had absolutely nothing to do with blindness, and I was not<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hurt.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> We decided that since I was not constantly falling due to blindness<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and was not having difficulties with my medications because I am blind,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that she would report to the nurse-what do they say?-if it ain't broke,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>don't fix it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I have subsequently filed a complaint with the hospital because it is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>obvious that its staff is not trained in how to treat blind people. It has<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>been suggested that the floor on which I was a patient and could be again<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>will undergo training. I suggested that, while they were at it, it might be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a good idea to train all of the units in the proper way to treat blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>patients. I am hoping that this will be accomplished soon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Before Easter I was quite insistent about my discharge from the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hospital. My doctor understood my strong desire to be home with my cats,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>plus my desire to attend my church. She was able to make arrangements for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>me to have IV antibiotics only once a day as an outpatient. This<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>arrangement meant that I could not leave town for Easter; however, I was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>able to attend church and experience the freedom of being at home. I am<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hoping that this kind of arrangement can be made again if or when I am<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dealing with another bout of cellulitis.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Ironically, in the place I live, I am on the independent living side<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>so that getting help is not all that easy. Therefore I am not smothered,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and the staff is aware that I come and go on my own. This is quite a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>contrast from my hospital experiences. I realize that the hospital staff<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>believe they are protecting themselves from liability. The problem is that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>there is no evidence that blind people fall more often than sighted folks<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>or that they mess up on their medications more than sighted patients do.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>So, as far as I am concerned, they are barking up the wrong tree.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I am further aware that many of the blind patients with which the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>staff interacts are people who are in the process of losing their vision or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>who are newly-blind. When they are met with someone like me, blind since<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>birth, they see me through the lens of someone newly-blind, which is quite<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>inappropriate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Fortunately I have not had as much trouble as an outpatient. In the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>infusion clinic I was just another patient who was a hard stick who needed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>IV medication. I am hoping and praying that this will be the route I go for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>any further IV treatment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Marc Maurer]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Editor's Introduction to Celebrate<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Marc Maurer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: As President Riccobono has noted on his monthly<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>presidential release and in the President's Notebook, we are making a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>significant effort to distribute the Kernel Books published by the National<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Federation of the Blind. These books provide wonderful messages to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>public about what it really means to be blind and are ideal when local<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>chapters and state affiliates do public events and offer our literature.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> This month we will republish several articles that come from one of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>these books, its title being Celebrate. What follows is the introduction<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that Immediate Past President Maurer wrote, along with two articles from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>it. Here's what he says:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Just a few months ago we in the National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>celebrated the first anniversary of the opening of the National Federation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of the Blind Jernigan Institute-the magnificent research and training<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>facility which you, the readers of this Kernel Book Series, have helped us<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to create and build. Indeed, as I write the introduction to this twenty-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>eighth book in the Kernel Book Series, I take great pleasure in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>knowledge that we have much to celebrate, and I am keenly aware of the part<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>you have played in making this so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> It has now been fourteen years since we published the first Kernel<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Book, and six million of them have been circulated. As we add this new<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>volume, Celebrate, to the Kernel Book collection, I want to tell you that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the progress we have made together in those years-in understanding,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>partnership, and increased opportunity-has been a joy and a wonder to me<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>personally and to the tens of thousands of blind men, women, and children<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>who make up the National Federation of the Blind. We give you our thanks<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and our gratitude for your continuing care and concern.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> As I have said repeatedly in the pages of the Kernel Books,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>understanding blindness is more a matter of understanding what it is not<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>rather than what it is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> It is not lack of capacity to live a life filled with adventure. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tell you more about that in my story about "The Airplane, the Cobra, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Lighthouse."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> As John Pari will tell you, it is not lack of capacity to ride a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>unicycle. Nor is it the inability to tour Greece and visit the Parthenon,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>direct a children's playground, serve as foreman of a jury, rake the leaves<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in your yard, teach your daughter to ride a bicycle, have a passion for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>astronomy, or cut your five-year-old niece's pancakes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> So, if blindness is not these things, what is it? To state the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>obvious, it is lack of physical eyesight. But more important than that, is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>what all of us-blind and sighted alike-think about not being able to see.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>For it is only what we believe about blindness that can make it the tragedy<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that it sometimes becomes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> But the theme of this book is not tragedy, but celebration. The blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>men and women you will meet in these pages are not filled with doom and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>gloom. They are filled with hope and belief.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> We Celebrate the progress we are making toward the day when blindness<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>does not limit our opportunities. We Celebrate the power of partnership<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>with ever-growing numbers of Kernel Book readers and others in the general<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>public who are joining with us in our work. We Celebrate the goodness of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>life and invite you to join with us to make it even better.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Swabbing the Deck<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Mary Ann Lareau<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: Here is how this story was introduced when it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>appeared in the Kernel Book Celebrate: Mary Ann Lareau is an officer in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts and is president of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Suburban West Chapter-one of our newest local chapters in Massachusetts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>She is the mother of two daughters and is active in her community. On a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>daily basis she works to change what it means to be blind. In "Swabbing the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Deck," she relates a simple incident that opened the heart and mind of a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stern Navy captain. Here is what she has to say:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In the summer of 1980 I was the mother of two daughters, ages eleven<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and thirteen. I was appointed the first director of a new neighborhood<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>playground.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Being the president of the playground board, I wanted this new park<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to be a success. We didn't have the funds to pay a highly trained director,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>so we decided to run the playground ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Since I was a Campfire Girls' leader of three troops, I was urged to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>take charge of the task. We were supported by the city with a lunch program<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>site, a few paid teen-aged staff members, a twice-a-week swimming program,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>some arts and craft supplies, and three trips with busses to transport the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>kids away from the city. The youngsters all seemed to have great fun each<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The arts and crafts program was my primary function on a daily basis.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Many of the items we produced were made from materials that you could find<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>around the house such as milk cartons, egg cartons, coffee cans, popsicle<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sticks, etc. Numerous things were assembled: sit-upons, trinket boxes,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>drums, birdcages, and much more.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The final trip of the summer was scheduled for Battleship Cove at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Fall River, Massachusetts, where there are two historic ships-the U.S.S.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Massachusetts and P.T. 109. The latter vessel was made famous during World<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>War II by the courageous feats of John F. Kennedy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The kids were excited for the final trip of the season. Three busses<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>were loaded with lunches, kids, parents, and staff. The usual singing and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>jokes amused all during the hour ride to the Cove. Upon arrival the rules<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for good conduct were again given just to remind the kids of what they<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>could and could not do.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> We all decided to tour the P.T. 109 and were to assemble in the mess<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>hall at 11:30 for lunch. All parents and staff members had assigned numbers<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of kids for which they were responsible. I supervised four youngsters,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>because it was my responsibility to ensure that all went along smoothly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> My oldest daughter and I were having fun lifting my guide dog, Koko,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a forty-two-pound silver shepherd, up and down the ladders of the P.T.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>boat. My daughter would climb the ladder; I would pass the dog up to her<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and then climb up after. Koko was a lot of help because some of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>passages had low entrances, and sometimes there were huge, unexpected<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>steps.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> As lunchtime approached we all made our way to the mess hall. The box<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>lunches were passed out, and all the kids were starting to eat when the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>captain made his first appearance. He inspected the scene and immediately<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>came over to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "I need to have a word with you," he declared in a firm tone. "I must<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ask you to leave this ship." I was very surprised and asked, "Why?" He<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>replied, "Because of safety considerations we do not allow blind persons<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>aboard."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I struggled very hard to contain my initial anger but eventually<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>informed the captain that I was the person in charge of the three busloads<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of children that were thoroughly enjoying their field trip to see the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>historic vessel so closely associated with the memories of the late<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>President Kennedy. I made it clear that if I were being ejected from the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>ship, the entire group would have to join me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Just at that moment there was a great deal of noise behind us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Spinning around rapidly, I shouted out, "Peter and John-stop it at once!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>As a milk carton came whizzing by my head, I shouted to those responsible<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for the disturbance that they would be responsible for the cleanup of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>mess hall. We were not leaving until the area was as clean as it had been<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>upon our arrival. I asked the captain if his men could provide the boys<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>with the necessary equipment to clean up the hall.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The captain kindly offered to have the mess cleaned up, but I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>insisted it was the responsibility of our youths to do so. He seemed rather<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>impressed with this response and began conversing in a much more pleasant<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tone: "How did you know which youngsters were causing the problem?" I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>explained, "I know the kids by their rather distinctive voices, and I can<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>generally assume which ones are causing the trouble."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> After the lunchroom was all cleaned up, and all the mess was taken<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>care of, we all finished touring the ship and spent money in the gift shop.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Just as we were about to depart the captain came over to say, "Blindness<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>does not seem to be as much of a handicap as I believed it to be." "No," I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>replied, "but sometimes it is a nuisance."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: James Gashel]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Here's the Proof<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by James Gashel<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> From the Editor: This is how this story was originally introduced in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Kernel Book Celebrate: James Gashel lives and works in Baltimore,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Maryland. He has been a leader in the National Federation of the Blind for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>more than three decades and in that time has seen marked progress in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>way blind people are perceived by members of the general public, and his<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>story is one that relates that advancement. Here is what he has to say:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I have been blind all my life, and I grew up in Iowa where Dr.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Kenneth Jernigan was my teacher on matters dealing with blindness and life<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in general. He taught us that it is respectable to be blind. This is the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>most important lesson I ever learned.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Knowing that blindness is respectable leads to self-confidence. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>still see blind people holding back on trying things they could do if they<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>only had the confidence to try. More than loss of eyesight, this is the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>real problem of blindness. Dr. Jernigan taught us this too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> During the time I was in college in Iowa and starting to think about<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>such things, I knew blind people who were told they couldn't take certain<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>classes or be hired for certain jobs, for example as teachers. I knew this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>was wrong, and this is why I joined the National Federation of the Blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I learned that a form of discrimination occurs when blind people are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>denied jobs or other opportunities based on misconceptions. Not all denials<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>are discrimination, such as refusing to issue a blind person a driver's<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>license. Denials based on incorrect facts or false reasoning are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>discrimination, but are almost never mean-spirited as we sometimes think of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>with racial or ethnic prejudice. Still, even if kindness is the reason,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind people do face discrimination in the form of exclusion from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In the National Federation of the Blind we share stories with one<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>another about the successes we have and the barriers we still face. This is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>how I first learned that blind people were being excluded from jury<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>service. I knew that blind people were working as lawyers, so I couldn't<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>figure out why we couldn't serve on juries.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Who would think that the legal system would discriminate against<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind people? None of this seemed right, and it wasn't right. I wondered<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>what would happen if I was called to serve. On whom can you count for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>justice when the law enforcer has already made up his mind against you?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Many years went by, and I was never called for jury duty. Then it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>happened. I now live in Baltimore, Maryland, where the circuit court has a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>"one trial or one day" rule. This results in being called for jury duty as<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>often as once a year and certainly within two years, but many more people<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>are called than actually serve on a jury.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The first time I was called the day was uneventful, but the second<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>time was different. My summons number was 14, so if a judge needed a jury,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>I was certain to be in the group called for screening. In fact, this is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>exactly what happened as soon as we had received the general "pep-talk"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>about the importance of jury service.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The announcement made by a court official instructed anyone with a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>number between 1 and 100 to report to one of the courtrooms in the building<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>across the street. Using a long white cane, which I do, no one could miss<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that I am blind, but nobody mentioned it either. So, off to the courtroom I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>went where the judge told us the procedures and started asking questions to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>select the jury.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> This was a civil dispute. The plaintiff was an older gentleman, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the defendant was a young man in his early 20's. These two had been<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>involved in a traffic accident, and the issue was over who caused it and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>who would pay.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> According to the instructions we were supposed to stand up if we had<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to answer "no" to any of the questions. I kept my seat since I had no<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reason to give a "no" answer. Then the judge started calling numbers, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>what do you know, number 14 was the very first one called.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> When I rose, white cane in hand, the judge told me to take the first<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>chair in the jury box. Actually, I had no idea where the jury box was, let<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>alone the first chair, but I walked confidently toward the bench to an area<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>where I assumed the jury would have to be seated to view the attorneys, the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>witnesses, and the judge.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> With two rows of chairs there, it turned out that I was right. I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>proceeded to the first chair at the end closest to the judge in the front<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>row, figuring that this was the one intended for me. This view was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>confirmed too when the judge called the next juror's number as I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>confidently took my seat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Finally we were all seated, and the trial commenced. At noon we took<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a break, and a court employee escorted all of the jurors to a room where we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>were told to reassemble after lunch, after which we were dismissed for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>lunch on our own. I'm not sure when we were told that the juror in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>first chair is the foreman, but I remember feeling a great sense of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>responsibility as I left the courthouse for lunch. Here I was, the foreman<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of a jury at the Circuit Court in Baltimore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Some time after 1:00 p.m., when everyone was back, the trial resumed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>We listened to testimony for the next two and a half hours, nothing like<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the O. J. Simpson trial that lasted several months. Anyway, the judge<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>started to read instructions to us at about 3:30 p.m., and we filed back to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the jury room to deliberate. It was close to 4:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The judge's instructions included three or four questions that we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>were specifically directed to answer. I wrote these questions down on a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Braille device I use, and read my Braille notes to direct the jury. The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>crux of the case was who caused the accident? Did the older gentlemen fail<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to see the car driven by the younger man before he pulled out, or was the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>younger driver speeding out-of-control as the older gentleman alleged?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> All of the sympathies were with the plaintiff (the older gentleman)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>who had been seriously injured in the accident, but my responsibility was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to lead the jury to evaluate the proof. With four years of intercollegiate<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>debating and subsequent work as a high school forensics coach, I was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>probably the best-qualified person in the room to explain the burden of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>proof to the others. Emotions were running high as we argued the merits of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>each side, but no one mentioned that I am blind and cannot drive a car. If<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>they had, I would have argued that this would leave me free from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>preconceptions that drivers might have in evaluating the facts of this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>case. Knowing about evaluation of evidence and burden of proof were more<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>important in that setting than knowing about driving, so no one challenged<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>me on that point.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Anyway, when all was said and done, the jury reached a unanimous vote<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>that the plaintiff had not established the defendant's fault. I directed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>another juror to complete the printed form for the judge, and we returned<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to announce the verdict. The day was almost over. It was now my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>responsibility to speak for the jury to confirm the decision, which I did.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>At that point we received the judge's thanks, and the trial was over.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> As I left the courthouse it struck me, blindness had not come up all<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>day. I had gone to the bar of justice and been treated as a first-class<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>citizen. There was no need to argue or persuade anyone that as a blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>person I could still judge the facts of a traffic accident. No one seemed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to doubt my ability. The message of the National Federation of the Blind is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>really getting through. Here's the proof: there was no discrimination at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the courthouse.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Recipes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> This month's recipes come courtesy of the National Federation of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Blind of Hawaii.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Kyle Sabrina Laconsay]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Pineapple-Coconut Scones<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Kyle Sabrina Laconsay<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Kyle is the affiliate treasurer of the NFB of Hawaii, and the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>personal home management instructor at Ho'opono, the only Structured<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Discovery center in Hawaii. A past pastry chef at Alan Wong's Restaurant in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Honolulu, she still loves to bake at home and at work, teaching the New<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Visions students.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2-1/2 cups of Bisquick flour<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/4 cup sugar<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/4 cup whipping cream<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/2 cup coconut flakes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 can pineapple tidbits, drained<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Method: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place flour into a large bowl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and using a butter knife or pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>mixture becomes like large pebbles. Add sugar, then whipping cream. Knead<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dough until a ball forms in bowl. Fold in coconut flakes and pineapple<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tidbits-mix in well. The mixture should still be a little crumbly. Transfer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dough onto a marble slab or cutting board, and shape it into a flat circle,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>using a light pressure with your hands or a rolling pin. With a dough<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cutter or long knife, cut circle into eight pieces. Cover a baking sheet<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>with parchment paper, and place scones evenly on top of pan. Bake at 425<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>degrees for twelve to fourteen minutes. Meanwhile, make icing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Icing<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 cup powdered sugar<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Juice from 1/2 lemon<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Method: Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice. Add just enough juice to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>make the icing smooth and silky, not too runny. If icing is too sweet, add<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>more lemon juice, or if too tart, add more powdered sugar. Using a fork,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dip into the icing and sprinkle over scones when just taken out of oven.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Enjoy! Aloha!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Debbie Gabe]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Kale with Raisins and Nuts<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Debbie Gabe<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Debbie has been a member of the National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Hawaii Affiliate since 2006. She originally joined the Honolulu Chapter but<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>currently participates with the Anuenue Chapter (anuenue means rainbow in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Hawaiian.) She was born in Hawaii, was raised part in Honolulu and part on<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Mainland, and then returned to Honolulu in 1980. She's been married for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>34 years and has two grown daughters. She worked for thirty-five years as<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>an audiologist, the last twenty-six years working with deaf infants and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>children. In 2006, she went through Ho'opono Services for the Blind New<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Visions Program to learn blindness skills, after not acknowledging her<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>retinitis pigmentosa for thirty years. While she was a student there she<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>attended her first NFB National Convention. She was so inspired and moved<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>by what she learned and witnessed that she decided to change careers at the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>age of fifty-six. She retired early from her audiology job and took a job<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>teaching cooking and home management with Ho'opono in 2007. Two years ago<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>she switched to the Braille instructor position. About this recipe she<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>says, "This recipe is husband-tested. It's the only way I can get my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>husband to eat kale."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2 cups chopped fresh kale<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 big handful of raw walnuts, chopped (you can use any other nut you like)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 small handful of raisins, my favorite is golden. Or you can substitute<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>any other dried fruit, chopped if pieces are large.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Method: In a skillet on medium heat, lightly roast the nuts with a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tiny bit of oil of your preference. Cook until you smell the nuts. Add the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>raisins and sauti for a few minutes until soft and plump. Add the washed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>chopped fresh kale and turn off the heat. Sauti until kale is just<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>beginning to soften. Do not overcook the kale. Combine everything in a bowl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and add the dressing of your choice. I have found the best dressing is a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>very light one. I make a dressing with a little bit of rice vinegar, a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>little bit of roasted sesame oil, and a small pinch of salt and pepper.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Blueberry Wild Rice<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Justin Salisbury<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Justin Salisbury is a mobility instructor at Ho'opono Services for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Blind. He's an active member of the National Federation of the Blind of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Hawaii, thriving after transplanting from the East Coast. So, mixing in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>with recipes that showcase the tropical tastes of coconut and pineapple is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a traditional food of the Algonquian-speaking indigenous peoples of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Great Lakes and northeast region.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 cup wild rice<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 cup blueberries<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>3 cups water<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Method: Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Boil on high heat. When<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the mixture starts to thicken, reduce heat to medium-low to finish cooking.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Serve hot or cold. This dish is a great summertime breakfast but can be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>eaten at any time of day. It can be enhanced by adding honey, maple syrup,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>pecans, walnuts, or using a different type of berries. If you use a wild<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>rice blend including conventional rice, use less water proportionately.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Shoyu Chicken<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Debbie Gabe<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Debbie says, "This is another of my favorites that I don't eat very<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>often anymore. But I continue to make it for my family and guests. Shoyu is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Japanese word for soy sauce."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>5 pounds chicken pieces (can be thighs or breast meat, cut into large bite-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>size pieces)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/2 cup shoyu<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar is best, but white sugar and even coconut sugar<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>works fine<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 1-inch piece of ginger, grated<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 clove garlic, minced<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Green onions<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 tablespoon sesame oil<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Method: Put everything into a pot with a 1/2 cup of water. Bring it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to a boil, and then immediately turn down the heat to low. Simmer for about<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>forty-five minutes to an hour and a half, depending on how much chicken you<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>are cooking and how big the pieces are. Every once in a while, stir the pot<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>so that all the pieces of chicken get all the flavors. Serve with rice.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Pineapple-Carrot Cake<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Kyle Sabrina Laconsay<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2 cups all-purpose flour<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2 teaspoons baking soda<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 teaspoon salt<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2 teaspoons cinnamon<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2 cups sugar<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>4 eggs<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 cup vegetable oil<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2 cups grated carrots (about 7 medium-size carrots)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 cup diced canned pineapple<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Zest of one orange<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a thirteen-by-nine-inch<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cake pan. In a medium-size bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cinnamon, and nutmeg. Zest one orange and set aside. In a small bowl, pour<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>pineapple out of can and drain juice. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>oil, and sugar. Add orange zest to egg mixture. Fold in flour mixture,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>about one cup at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Add carrots<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and pineapple and mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake cake at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>350 degrees for approximately forty-five minutes. Cake is done when<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>completely before icing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Icing<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 8-ounce block cream cheese at room temperature<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 teaspoon vanilla<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>3 cups powdered sugar, sifted<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Zest of one orange<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Method: Zest one orange and set aside. Insert paddle in electric<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stand-up mixer. In the mixer's bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>until smooth. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Mix well until smooth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Add orange zest and vanilla. Cream all together until smooth and silky. Ice<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cake and enjoy! Aloha!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Chocolate Haupia Pie<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> by Debbie Gabe<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> She introduced this recipe saying, "This is a recipe that I don't eat<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>often, but it is my favorite. It's an easy recipe even though it seems to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>have a lot of steps. Haupia is the Hawaiian word for coconut pudding."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 9-inch prepared pie crust<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 can coconut milk<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1-1/4 cup sugar or you may substitute coconut sugar<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 cup whole milk, but you can use skim or low fat milk, or non-dairy milk<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>such as almond milk<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1/2 cup cornstarch<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1 cup water<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips or pieces<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, or you can substitute non-dairy whipping<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cream<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Shaved chocolate for garnish<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake prepared pie crust until<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>golden brown, about fifteen to twenty minutes. In a sauce pan, whip<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>together coconut milk, one cup sugar, and milk. In a separate bowl,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dissolve cornstarch and cup of water. Bring the milk mixture to a boil in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the sauce pan. Reduce to a simmer and whisk in the cornstarch mixture until<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>thickened. You need to keep whisking constantly until it thickens to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>prevent any lumps from forming. Microwave the chocolate pieces or chips for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>thirty to sixty seconds until melted. Pour half of the haupia mixture into<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>a bowl and set aside. Mix the chocolate with half of the thickened haupia<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and pour into the cooled pie crust. Layer the remaining haupia on top. You<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>can use the back of a spoon to evenly pour it out. Cool the pie in the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>fridge for a minimum of one hour.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Using a mixer, whip heavy whipping cream with the 1/4 cup sugar until<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>stiff peaks form. Garnish the pie with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Chill for another hour.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Monitor Miniatures<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> News from the Federation Family<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Daniel Goldstein Receives Lifetime Achievement Award:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The Daily Record is an old and respected Maryland newspaper that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>launched the Lifetime Achievement category for the 2016 Leadership in Law<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>program. This award recognizes an attorney or judge whose body of work over<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>their career makes them stand out. This person should be well respected in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>their profession, active in their community, and dedicated to growing the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>next generation of legal leaders. The Lifetime Achievement award honoree<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>each year will be selected by the Leadership in Law judging panel,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>comprised of past winners. One of the recipients of the Lifetime<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Achievement award this year was Daniel Goldstein of Brown, Goldstein &<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Levy. The following is the profile the Daily Record published on May 16,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>2017, about him:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Most people take for granted the privilege to browse the web, read<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>books, and make use of everyday items such as ATMs. However, those everyday<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>tasks can be hard to accomplish for the blind, and Daniel Goldstein has<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>dedicated his career to making access to these kinds of public resources<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>more equitable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Take for example the case Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust, which<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Goldstein considers the most important of his career. "The case arose from<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the Authors Guild's challenge to a number of universities who had allowed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Google to digitally scan their entire print library collections and, in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>exchange, [gotten] back a digital copy of those scans," Goldstein said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "The court held that it was a fair use to allow unfettered access to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the digital scans of these copyrighted works to blind and other print-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>disabled scholars." (In addition to blindness, other conditions that can<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>make it hard to access printed text include dyslexia, arthritis, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>cerebral palsy, among others.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The ruling also allowed non-disabled scholars to search and compile<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>data based on the scans, Goldstein said. This created a compelling<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>incentive for more collections to be scanned in the future, "thereby<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>incidentally throwing open still wider the doors for those with print<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>disabilities," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> As counsel for the National Federation of the Blind, Goldstein<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>initiated a national legal campaign to ensure equal access to technology.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>"Today, most ATMs can be used through voice guidance and a pair of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>earphones by blind consumers, because, in part, of a series of pioneering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>lawsuits," he said. "We have made the internet a more blind-friendly place,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>with successful resolutions with AOL, Amazon, Target, eBay, Ticketmaster,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Scribd and many others."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Goldstein has also been instrumental in a settlement with the U.S.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Department of Education that requires the online forms and notices<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>associated with the student loan program to be equally accessible to blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>students and in litigation to ensure blind people are granted the right to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>vote independently and privately.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> What is a key decision you made in your career that made the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>difference?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> "It was not a decision that I made that changed the course of my<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>legal career. It was the decision made by the National Federation of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Blind to engage me as their lawyer that refocused my career and led to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>thirty years of exciting and meaningful work that brings me joy every day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Having learned so much from my mentors in the National Federation of the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Blind and having been so supported by my friends in the blind community, I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>thank them for the extraordinary honor of representing them."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Elected:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> On Tuesday, March 14, 2017, the Yellowstone County Chapter of the NFB<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of Montana held elections. The results are as follows: president, Jeff<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Haworth; vice president, Kristin Byram; secretary, Clayton Kuntz; and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>treasurer, Pam Haworth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>NFB of Missouri Steps up to the Challenge:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>currently participating in the fifth iteration of the National Fitness<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Challenge (NFC), sponsored by the United States Association of Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Athletes (USABA) and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Anthem Foundation. The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>challenge started in March and runs through the end of November. Twenty-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>five members of the NFB of Missouri were given a Fitbit Flex 2 and agreed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to achieving various goals including walking at least ten thousand steps a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>day and being physically active for at least thirty minutes every day. The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>NFB of Missouri is one of thirteen organizations nationwide participating<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>in the challenge and the only blind consumer organization. The first full<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>month of the challenge was April, during which the NFB of Missouri had the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>third highest number of steps. Though this is certainly a good beginning,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>members of the National Fitness Challenge in Missouri are encouraging each<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>other and pushing their own personal limits with the aim of ultimately<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>winning the challenge.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In addition to the personal daily goals, the affiliate agreed that<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>members of the NFC would participate in an organized 5k run. To fulfill<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>this pledge, NFC members from across Missouri were in St. Louis on May 7 to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>run and walk to benefit the Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Impairments. This was the twenty-fifth annual fundraiser for the group, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the weather couldn't have been better.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> As a part of our participation, the affiliate will sponsor a<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Paralympic Day and will hold regular meetings to support and encourage all<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>of our participants. Besides the obvious health benefits for those<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>involved, the NFB's participation in this event shows both sighted and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>blind people alike that blindness does not hold us back from being<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>physically active, something which is crucial if we are to live the lives<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>we want.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> In Brief<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Notices and information in this section may be of interest to Monitor<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>readers. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the information; we<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>have edited only for space and clarity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>New Titles for our Children:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Seedlings adds three brand-new titles in UEB to its big-kid book<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>collection!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Seedlings Braille Books for Children has just added three new titles<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>to its all-Braille collection for independent readers: A to Z Mysteries:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The Kidnapped King by Ron Roy, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Magic Tree House 48: A Perfect Time for Pandas by Mary Pope Osborne. All<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>are in contracted UEB!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Seedlings has also made two more of its big-kid books available in<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>UEB: Holes by Louis Sachar and The One and Only Ivan by Katherine<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Applegate. That brings to sixty the number of big-kid books Seedlings<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>offers in contracted UEB! Order today at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>http://www.seedlings.org/browse.php?cat=12<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Seedlings' nearly 300 print-and-Braille books for babies and toddlers<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and beginning readers are already in UEB. Order at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>http://www.seedlings.org/order.php<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> Monitor Mart<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> The notices in this section have been edited for clarity, but we can<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>pass along only the information we were given. We are not responsible for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the accuracy of the statements made or the quality of the products for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>sale.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>En-Vision America:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> En-Vision America is a pioneer in the assistive technology industry<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>offering accessible products for the visually impaired and blind. En-Vision<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>is the inventor of the ID Mate talking bar code scanner; Galaxy is the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>latest version which has a brand-new price check feature. We also offer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>accessible prescription labels through participating pharmacies. Formats<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>include ScripTalk audible labels and prescription readers, large print<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>labels, and Braille labels. These labels are available in seventeen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>languages. En-Vision America has partnered with pharmacies across the US<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>and Canada, absorbing the cost of accessible labels so that the service is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>free. We are very excited to be able to offer this service to those who<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>need it most. We strongly believe our product enhances the quality of life<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>for blind and visually impaired people, and it is our great pleasure to be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>part of that process.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> For more information contact us at https://www.envisionamerica.com/<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>or call us at (309) 452-3088.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>You Sit, I Get:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> At our national convention do you ever find yourself resting in your<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>room and decide you want some ice cream from downstairs? Do you want<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>something from the gift shop but hate the thought of putting your shoes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>back on to get it? If you have cash for your item, for a $3 get-and-deliver<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>charge, you've got it. The Grab It Guy is your man!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> To use my service simply send a text message to (573) 355-0907 or<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>call at this number. My name is Ethan, and I'll be glad to help in any way<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>I can. My goal is a new guitar, so text or call, and I'll do my best to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>help.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> ----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> NFB Pledge<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>abide by its constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> -----------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics. February 2016. Monthly Labor Review. "The<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>life of American workers in 1915."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[2] Taken from This Day In Quotes for the entry posted for May 31, 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[3] For an audio archive and full transcript, visit<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>http://www.npr.org/2017/03/13/519983877/as-braille-literacy-declines-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>reading-competitions-held-to-boost-interest.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[4] Excerpted at<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm98/bm980204.htm<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[5] See http://www.rawstory.com/2014/06/braille-technology-moves-into-the-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>21st-century/.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[6] http://www.rawstory.com/2014/06/braille-technology-moves-into-the-21st-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>century/<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[7] http://www.freedomscientific.com/Products/Blindness/ElBraille<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[8] https://www.jwt.com/en/bangkok/work/touchableink/.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>[9] For a transcript of an explanatory talk Tim Cordes gave about his<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>medical school experience, see<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm10/bm1010/bm101008.htm.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Forwarded by:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Freestyle Script"'>Brian A. Mackey<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Brian A. Mackey<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Owner, Mackey Enterprises, LLC<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Treasurer & Webmaster, National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Webmaster, National Federation of the Blind of Delaware & Illinois<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Member, National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Blind Users Innovating & Leading Design (BUILD) Team<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>609-953-6988<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><a href="mailto:Bmackey88@gmail.com"><span style='color:#0563C1'>Bmackey88@gmail.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><a href="http://www.mackeyenterprisesllc.com"><span style='color:#0563C1'>www.mackeyenterprisesllc.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>“Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to make those dreams come true”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <i>-Vince Papale<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>