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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor="#FDFDFD" lang=EN-US link="#1A1A1A" vlink="#1A1A1A" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> brl-monitor-bounces@nfbcal.org <brl-monitor-bounces@nfbcal.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Brian Buhrow<br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, January 1, 2023 9:20 PM<br><b>To:</b> brl-monitor@nfbcal.org<br><b>Subject:</b> [Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, January 2023<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div id=header><h1><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Braille Monitor, January 2023<o:p></o:p></span></h1></div><h1 id=braille-monitor><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>BRAILLE MONITOR<o:p></o:p></span></h1><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Vol. 66, No. 1 January 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Gary Wunder, Editor</span></em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Distributed by email, in inkprint, in Braille, and on USB flash drive, by the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Mark Riccobono, President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>telephone: 410-659-9314<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>email address: <a href="mailto:nfb@nfb.org">nfb@nfb.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>website address: <a href="http://www.nfb.org">http://www.nfb.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>NFBnet.org: <a href="http://www.nfbnet.org">http://www.nfbnet.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>NFB-NEWSLINE® information: 866-504-7300<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Like us on Facebook: <a href="http://www.Facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind">Facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Follow us on Twitter: @NFB_Voice<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Watch and share our videos: <a href="http://www.YouTube.com/NationsBlind">YouTube.com/NationsBlind</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Letters to the President, address changes, subscription requests, and orders for NFB literature should be sent to the national office. Articles for the <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Monitor</span></em> and letters to the editor may also be sent to the national office or may be emailed to <a href="mailto:gwunder@nfb.org">gwunder@nfb.org</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Monitor</span></em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> subscriptions cost the Federation about forty dollars per year. Members are invited, and nonmembers are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to <strong><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>National Federation of the Blind</span></strong> and sent to:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>200 East Wells Street <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>at Jernigan Place</span></em><br>Baltimore, Maryland 21230-4998<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND KNOWS THAT BLINDNESS IS NOT THE CHARACTERISTIC THAT DEFINES YOU OR YOUR FUTURE. EVERY DAY WE RAISE THE EXPECTATIONS OF BLIND PEOPLE, BECAUSE LOW EXPECTATIONS CREATE OBSTACLES BETWEEN BLIND PEOPLE AND OUR DREAMS. YOU CAN LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT; BLINDNESS IS NOT WHAT HOLDS YOU BACK. THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND—IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR OURSELVES.</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>ISSN 0006-8829</span></em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>© 2023 by the National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Each issue is recorded on a thumb drive (also called a memory stick or USB flash drive). You can read this audio edition using a computer or a National Library Service digital player. The NLS machine has two slots—the familiar book-cartridge slot just above the retractable carrying handle and a second slot located on the right side near the headphone jack. This smaller slot is used to play thumb drives. Remove the protective rubber pad covering this slot and insert the thumb drive. It will insert only in one position. If you encounter resistance, flip the drive over and try again. (Note: If the cartridge slot is not empty when you insert the thumb drive, the digital player will ignore the thumb drive.) Once the thumb drive is inserted, the player buttons will function as usual for reading digital materials. If you remove the thumb drive to use the player for cartridges, when you insert it again, reading should resume at the point you stopped.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You can transfer the recording of each issue from the thumb drive to your computer or preserve it on the thumb drive. However, because thumb drives can be used hundreds of times, we would appreciate their return in order to stretch our funding. Please use the return envelope enclosed with the drive when you return the device.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Hilton Americas-Houston Convention Center Hotel]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=convention-bulletin-2023><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Convention Bulletin 2023<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>There are plenty of reasons one might travel to Houston, Texas, the fourth most populous city in the United States. One might visit for the nearly three-week-long Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The city’s vibrant arts scene boasts the largest concentration of theater seats outside of New York City. And no Houston resident would let a visitor forget that the city is home to the 2022 World Series Champion Houston Astros. There is little question that Houston has a great deal going for it. The city’s real draw, however, is that it will play host to the National Federation of the Blind’s 2023 National Convention.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>It has now been more than fifty years since the largest gathering of the organized blind last convened in Houston, Texas, and our return in 2023 will be an event not to be missed. The Hilton Americas-Houston hotel (1600 Lamar Street, Houston, TX 77010) will serve as our convention headquarters hotel. Situated in the heart of downtown Houston across the street from the beautiful twelve-acre Discovery Green Park, the Hilton Americas is an ideal location for our annual event. Ballrooms, breakout space, and sleeping rooms are all stacked in the same tower housed on a single city block, simplifying navigation and minimizing travel distances. In-room internet is complimentary to all attendees as is access to the health club and swimming pool on the 22nd floor. There are several dining options on the hotel’s lobby level (including a Starbucks for those of you requiring a caffeine fix) and many more choices within easy walking distance from the Hilton’s front door.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The nightly rate at the Hilton Americas-Houston is $119 for singles, doubles, triples, and quads. In addition, the sales tax rate is 8.25 percent, and the hotel occupancy tax rate is 17 percent. To book your room for the 2023 convention, call 1-800-236-2905 after January 1 and ask for the “NFB Convention” block. For each room, the hotel will take a deposit of the first night’s room rate and taxes and will require a credit card or a personal check. If you use a credit card, the deposit will be charged against your card immediately. If a reservation is cancelled before Monday, June 1, 2023, half of the deposit will be returned. Otherwise refunds will not be made.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>We have also secured overflow space at the wonderful Marriott Marquis Houston. The Marriott is only a three-block walk directly across Discovery Green, or attendees can walk entirely indoors through the George R. Brown convention center, connecting both hotels on the second level. You will find many of the same amenities at the Marriott as well as a Texas-shaped lazy river pool. The room rate at the Marriott Marquis is also $119 per night for singles, doubles, triples, and quads. To book a room, call 1-877-622-3056 after January 1. Again, ask for the “NFB Convention” block. Similarly, the same deposit and cancellation policies apply.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The 2023 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will be a truly exciting and memorable event, with an unparalleled program and rededication to the goals and work of our movement. A wide range of seminars for parents of blind children, technology enthusiasts, job seekers, and other groups will kick the week off on Saturday, July 1. Convention registration and registration packet pick-up will also open on Saturday. Breakout sessions continue on Sunday along with committee meetings. Monday, July 3, will kick off with the annual meeting, open to all, of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. National division meetings will follow the board meeting that afternoon and evening. General convention sessions will begin on Tuesday, July 4, and continue through the afternoon of Thursday, July 6. Convention ends on a high note with the banquet Thursday evening so be sure to pack your fancy clothes. The fall of the gavel at the close of banquet will signal convention’s adjournment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Remember that as usual we need door prizes from state affiliates, local chapters, and individuals. Once again prizes should be small in size but large in value. Cash, of course, is always appropriate and welcome. As a rule, we ask that prizes of all kinds have a value of at least $25 and not include alcohol. Drawings will occur steadily throughout the convention sessions, and you can anticipate a Texas-sized grand prize to be drawn at the banquet. You may bring door prizes with you to convention or send them in advance to the National Federation of the Blind of Texas at 1600 E Highway 6, Suite 215, Alvin, TX 77511.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The best collection of exhibits featuring new technology; meetings of our special interest groups, committees, and divisions; the most stimulating and provocative program items of any meeting of the blind in the world; the chance to renew friendships in our Federation family; and the unparalleled opportunity to be where the real action is and where decisions are being made—all of these mean you will not want to miss being a part of the 2023 National Convention. To assure yourself a room in the headquarters hotel at convention rates, make your reservations early. We plan to see you in Houston in July.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Vol. 66, No. 1 January 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=contents><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Contents<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Illustration: Working Together on Literacy<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Corrections with Apology<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Gary Wunder<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Evolution of Independence<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Elizabeth Rouse<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Archaeology Through Touch<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Natasha Ishaq<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS): An Effort by the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey, Northern Chapter, to Address this Concern in Essex County<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Rick Fox and Ellen Sullivan<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The 2023 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Everette Bacon<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>How Going Blind Helped Me Rediscover the Power of Optimism<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Sameer Doshi<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Central Valley Chapter Takes on Challenges in Blind Equality Achievement Month<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Rachel Grider<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Living the Life He Wants: Stoking Employment Opportunities through Movies, Sports, and Achievement<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Jack Chen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Living the Life She Wants: Staying Grounded and Shooting for the Moon with Federation Philosophy<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Deena Lambert<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Passing of Jim Omvig: A State President who Touched the World in so Many Ways<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Gary Wunder<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You’re Golden: Reflections from the NFB National Senior Division’s 2020 and 2021 Senior Retreats, Plus Some Additional Musings on Aging<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Miss Ruth Williams<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Blind to Problems: How VA’s Electronic Record System Shuts Out Visually Impaired Patients<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Darius Tahir<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>2023 Writers’ Division Contest Guidelines<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Seeing that Piano Tuning is for Both the Museum and the Agenda of the Movement<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Don Mitchell<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Rookie Tails: A Seeing Eye Dog Team's First National Convention<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Alyssa and Jan Henson<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>NOPBC Conference Sharing Our CORE Values: Creating Opportunities, Raising Expectations<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Carlton Anne Cook Walker<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Monitor</span></em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> Miniatures<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO/CAPTION: Several tall and wide panels of holes, three down and two across, fill this wall in the NFB Jernigan Institute. Each panel has tennis balls that can be inserted in the holes to create words, sentences, and brief messages. President Riccobono moves some dots to “write” Braille on the wall for Jason Broughton, the director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO/CAPTION: Jason Broughton, the highly energetic director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, visited the Jernigan Institute to explore our many programs promoting literacy for blind and low vision Americans.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO/CAPTION: Jason Broughton takes a turn at writing a Braille message by moving the tennis balls as Mark Riccobono advises.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=working-together-on-literacy><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Working Together on Literacy<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Given the importance of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled in the lives of blind people and the role of the National Federation of the Blind in supporting the library, Jason Broughton visited the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind. In addition to seeing our facilities and discussing a bit of the history of the Federation, he and President Riccobono talked about the importance of literacy and the role of Braille, both hardcopy and softcopy. One of the newest projects of the Library is the distribution of Braille delivered to patrons using the newly-developed and deployed machines created for the Library.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Gary Wunder]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=corrections-with-apology><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Corrections with Apology<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Gary Wunder</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In the December issue we misspelled Trevor Attenberg, instead showing his name as Tattenberg. We regret the error.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In the article about Able accounts, the title should have been “A Way to Save using Able Accounts” rather than “A Way to Save when Receiving Public Assistance.” It is possible to benefit from Able accounts whether or not one receives public assistance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Lastly, we did not include the endnotes that were in the blog in the article “Understanding the <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Orozco v. Garland</span></em> Appeal” by Valerie Yingling. We certainly want to acknowledge the work of all of the attorneys who worked on this case, so here are those notes:<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=footnotes><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Footnotes<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>1. <a href="https://nfb.org/sites/nfb.org/files/2022-10/2022-08-03_Orozco_P_Reply_Brief_for_Plaintiff-Appellant.pdf"><em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Orozco v. Garland</span></em> Reply Brief for Plaintiff-Appellant</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>2. <a href="https://www.access-board.gov/ict/">https://www.access-board.gov/ict/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>3. <a href="https://nfb.org/sites/nfb.org/files/2022-09/Orozco_v_Wray_1_P_Complaint.pdf">https://nfb.org/sites/nfb.org/files/2022-09/Orozco_v_Wray_1_P_Complaint.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>4. <a href="https://nfb.org/sites/nfb.org/files/2022-10/2022-08-03_Orozco_P_Reply_Brief_for_Plaintiff-Appellant.pdf"><em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Orozco v. Garland</span></em> Reply Brief for Plaintiff-Appellant</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Elizabeth Rouse]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=the-evolution-of-independence><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Evolution of Independence<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Elizabeth Rouse</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: Elizabeth promised me this article some time ago. True to her word, she delivered. I love what she has to say about independence and hope you do as well. Here is her story:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When I was young, the concept of independence seemed simple. Independence meant learning to ride my bike without training wheels or receiving permission to ride said bike to the end of our curved road and back (without parental supervision). It meant staying at the community pool for a few hours after my parents left to go home if I promised to be home by dinner. But as I grew, so did my understanding of this not-so-simple concept. In middle school, independence meant having my first flip phone (with parental monitors, of course). It was not until my second year of high school that independence became a concept that left a nasty aftertaste in my mouth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>A large-scale milestone in a young person’s life is the ability to drive a car. Because of my blindness, I was unable to learn this skill along with my sighted peers. Add in the fact that my parents both served in the roles of driver’s education instructors and that my sighted brother had learned to drive about two years before, and you can imagine that I was a cocktail of bitterness, anger, and a myriad of other negative emotions. It took me most of my sixteenth year to recognize how much this denial of independence affected me emotionally. Almost ten years later, the only thing I can say now is that I was immensely lucky my parents did not reciprocate my disrespectful angst with whatever punishment I truly deserved. Instead, they chose to try and understand my confusion. After all, it was no secret that our one-square-mile town could make anyone feel claustrophobic from time to time, regardless of their level of vision.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>At the end of my high school career, my understanding of independence shifted drastically once again. I chose to attend a private college about two hours down the road from my hometown that no one else I knew would be attending in the fall. Although I felt a wave of nervousness and more than a little sadness as my parents moved me into my first-year dorm, I knew that this was my chance to grow into a new version of myself, starting with my name. At my first floor meeting, I introduced myself as Elizabeth instead of Beth for probably the first time in my life, and the rest was history. Over the next four years, I made friendships that will last a lifetime, received mentorship and guidance from some of the most amazing professors I will ever know, and, quite possibly the most important, applied for a National Federation of the Blind Scholarship.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In the summer of 2018, I said goodbye to my parents about halfway through my summer break and boarded a plane to Orlando, Florida, for my first-ever national convention. I remember changing flights in St. Louis, Missouri, and finding other blind people boarding my second flight, which, even though I had been relatively active in my state affiliate over the past two years, still managed to surprise me. For the next six days, I was awed to meet blind people in so many different career fields, living these successful lives that I had always imagined for myself but never fully believed were attainable. After that week, I returned home, began carrying my cane full-time, and started self-identifying as blind instead of visually impaired, which was its own monster to tackle with my mom; however, the greatest period of growth was still yet to come.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>During my senior year of college, I made the decision to attend the Louisiana Center for the Blind post-graduation. I knew many confident individuals who had gone through the program previously, and even more, I knew I wanted more of their independent spirits instilled in me. So, on January first of 2021, I began the twelve-hour journey to Ruston, Louisiana. The following nine months challenged me in more ways than I can count. I remember having conversations about failure with one of my home management instructors that left me in tears after not pouring enough oil onto a baking sheet. I remember threatening to throw my laptop against a wall when assistive technology became so frustrating that I wanted to rip out my hair. But I also remember feeling a distinct sense of empowerment the first time I successfully and safely operated the full roster of power tools in my wood shop class, and nothing has ever made me feel the sense of pride I felt the day I completed my first independent drop route in cane travel. Walking into the Center that day and hugging my travel instructor is one of the moments I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Do I know everything there is to know about independence? Absolutely not. I have had to make some decisions in my life within even the last three months that have forced me to redefine independence entirely; however, I know that independence is a choice I get to make each day. Whether I choose to walk to a destination or call a Lyft is my decision. Whether I ask for help in a given situation is my decision, too. I do know this for certain: the National Federation of the Blind has given me the knowledge and sense of determination that allow me to continue shaping the presence of independence in my life. Through my day-to-day interactions with friends, mentors, and strangers both in and out of the Federation, I get to take pride in being an independent blind person. I actively choose to follow the wise words of William Faulkner, “We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” I will always be grateful to my Federation family for showing me not only that we can change what it means to be blind, but also that choosing to embrace independence can be one of the most remarkable changes of all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>---------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Natasha Ishaq]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=archaeology-through-touch><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Archaeology Through Touch<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Natasha Ishaq</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: This article is about playing in the dirt, something I once did with gusto, but this is all about playing in the dirt with a purpose. When Natasha promised me this article, I thought it would be good to have because we don't get much about people talking about how they do their work. Her work makes it especially interesting. Enjoy:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>My name is Natasha Ishaq and I am a senior at The College of New Jersey. I am also a proud member of the National Federation of the Blind and was a recipient of a national scholarship this past year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I am majoring in anthropology and have a minor in political science. For the last year and a half, I have been fortunate enough to conduct original research in paleoanthropology. In fact, I am hoping to publish my work in an academic journal in the near future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>This past summer I took part in my first-ever excavation and archaeological dig. The site was a historic one, and although historical archaeology does not necessarily align with my research interests, I figured that the hands-on experience of working in the field would be worthwhile. I joined a team of two archaeologists and several other college students to carry out this excavation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Our team excavated a historic farmhouse and property located at the edge of my college campus. This farmhouse is called the William Green House. The house was used as a billet for Washington’s cavalry during the American Revolution. Additionally, archival research has revealed that enslavement occurred on the property as well. For several years the school’s anthropology faculty and students have been excavating this historic site in search of artifacts to help tell the story of the house, its history, and its inhabitants. So far, hundreds of artifacts have been excavated and cataloged.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Although I was excited for the opportunity to gain experience in the field, I could not help but wonder how I would navigate this experience as a blind person. I have always been comfortable with finding innovative ways to accomplish visual tasks, but this was completely new territory for me. When I tried to find information online about blind archaeologists and anthropologists, I had very little luck. I was shocked and saddened to learn about the lack of blindness representation in my field of study.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Nonetheless, I had a fantastic time out in the field and found that I was able to use my sense of touch extensively. For example, I would dig with a trowel in my right hand and then use my left hand to feel the dirt for artifacts. After filling my bucket with dirt, I would then head over to the sieve. Using the sieve allowed for the dirt to fall out, leaving behind rocks and artifacts. At this point I was able to use both of my hands to feel and search for artifacts. What I found included shards of glass, a brown eighteenth or nineteenth-century bottle cap, shell, and brick. While my peers examined the artifacts with their eyes, I examined them with my hands and fingers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>A key component to the excavation was the collection and recording of field notes. When one is out in the field digging, it is vital to write down everything. Keeping track of how far down one has dug and what they found in that soil layer is important. Noting something like the soil stratigraphy is also helpful. Typically, field notes are recorded in a field notebook. I, on the other hand, recorded my field notes on my iPad using my screen-reading software and accessibility features.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Overall, the team came across a variety of artifacts. While each person’s individual archaeological finds were interesting and unique, we made some extraordinary discoveries as a collective group. One such discovery included the unearthing of the stone and brick foundation of a late nineteenth and early twentieth-century springhouse in the heart of a bamboo forest that stands next to the house.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In no shape or form was my blindness a hindrance to my ability to succeed out in the field. Fields of study and careers like archaeology that are often presumed to be visual in nature are by no means unreachable for blind people. I encourage other blind people not to fear archaeology, science, or fieldwork. Embrace it. Challenge yourself. You will find that you will gradually adapt to the environment and will find, or perhaps even create, innovative ways to succeed within it. I sure did.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Rick Fox]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Ellen Sullivan]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id="accessible-pedestrian-signals-aps-an-effort-by-the-national-federation-of-the-blind-of-new-jersey-northern-chapter-to-address-this-concern-in-essex-county"><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS): An Effort by the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey, Northern Chapter, to Address this Concern in Essex County<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Rick Fox and Ellen Sullivan</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>: <strong><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>This article is taken from </span></strong><em><b><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>The Sounding Board,</span></b></em><strong><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'> Spring/Summer 2022. Rick Fox and Ellen Sullivan are both wonderful leaders who dream and then give those dreams form. Here is something they have done recently that shows what work and determination can do:</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=introduction><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Have you ever had one of these days? Rick needs to walk his service dog, Flash, and Ellen is literally dashing out the door to her appointment at the dentist nearby. The weather is dreary, and we are on the go! We both live in very walkable environments—let us say a walkability score of 87 percent (out of 100, according to standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency for the ease of living, shopping, and using one’s local amenities without having to drive a car.) Rick lives in Bloomfield and Ellen in Maplewood.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Oh yes, we are both blind and sometimes have difficulty crossing complex and often confusing intersections because the access button to cross the street can be non-existent or, literally, twelve feet away from the intersection. Yes, indeed, Rick and Ellen are in a hurry and listen carefully for the traffic flow and surge, and say that “Hail Mary” as they each bolt across the street.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Oh no! We forgot about that invisible “delayed green” button signaling cars to turn right, and so did the driver, so Rick and I find our lives in peril for a brief moment! Hence, you can see why Rick and I and the members of the Northern Chapter are interested in Accessible Pedestrian Signals. For blind people, it may be the difference between life and death.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=definition><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Definition<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Many people have asked us what Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) are. There are many definitions for these devices and the one we’re using here is:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Devices that communicate information about the WALK and DON'T WALK intervals at signalized intersections in non-visual formats to pedestrians who are blind or who have low vision. They involve both auditory and tactile information about the location, direction, and timing to cross an intersection.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=information-provided-to-pedestrians-by-aps><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Information Provided to Pedestrians by APS<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Existence of and location of the pushbutton<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Beginning of the WALK interval<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Direction of the crosswalk and location of the destination curb<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Intersection street names in Braille, raised print, or through speech messages<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Intersection signalization with a speech message<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Intersection geometry through tactile maps and diagrams or through speech messages<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=benefits-of-aps><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Benefits of APS<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Since intersection controls are now computerized, traffic patterns can vary depending on time of day and traffic flow. Research has found that APS improved crossing performance by blind pedestrians including:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• More accurate judgments of the onset of the WALK interval<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Reduction in crossings begun during DON'T WALK<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Reduced delay<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>• Significantly more crossings completed before the signal changed<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In addition, sighted pedestrians begin crossing more quickly and safely. Okay, that was a lot of background information. So, back in early March 2020—just prior to the Covid lockdown—Rick Fox, president, and Ellen Sullivan, vice president of the Northern Chapter, suggested identifying some useful locations for APS in Essex County and then doing what was necessary to have the APS installed. This is an objective for the Northern Chapter—and worth considering as a possible project for your NFBNJ chapter, too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Progress was quite slow at first, but we started by identifying intersections in Essex County where these signals would be most beneficial in terms of blind pedestrian safety.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In October of 2021, Rick Fox met with Lukas Franck, a senior consultant at The Seeing Eye who has trained guide dogs and their handlers for many years. Lukas was a wonderful source of information and guidance and, from this time on, we felt like we were finally moving ahead with our project.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Under Lukas’ guidance, Rick and Ellen reached out to County Commissioner Carlos Pomares of Bloomfield and Wayne Richardson, president of the Essex County Board of Commissioners. They just happened to be Rick and Ellen’s elected representatives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Rick and Ellen received immediate feedback from Commissioner Richardson’s office and were invited to meet with the Commissioner and his staff, including the Essex County Engineer, to discuss this issue. We developed a mutually agreeable agenda and scheduled a meeting at the Commissioner’s office on October 28, 2021. At the meeting, we explained our roles in the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey, the primary purpose of our organization, why Accessible Pedestrian Signals are so important to us, and outlined specific examples in Essex County.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Together we developed an action plan that included:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>1. NFBNJ to provide a list of high priority intersections to be evaluated for APS.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>2. NFBNJ to provide an engineering guide (given to us by Lukas Franck) to the Commissioner’s office that would help prioritize intersection and APS needs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>3. The Commissioner’s office agreed to work with the NFBNJ to access and install APS at new and planned upgraded intersections in Essex County.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>4. The Commissioner agreed to alert the NFBNJ when these devices are added and allow assessment by our blind members.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Coincidentally, on Tuesday, December 28, 2021, the <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>New York Times</span></em> published a front-page article on the subject. Here is an excerpt:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #E6E6E6 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 12.0pt;margin-left:20.4pt;margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt'><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>A federal judge ordered New York City to install more than 9,000 accessible pedestrian signals at city crosswalks. In a response, Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city's Law Department, said that the ruling acknowledged the "operational challenges" the city has faced in its attempts to install the systems over the years. We are carefully evaluating the court's plan to further the city's progress in increasing accessibility to people who are blind and visually impaired, Mr. Paolucci said in a statement.<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>This ruling in New York City is encouraging news for its neighbors in Essex County, New Jersey, and Rick and Ellen continue to keep the lines of communication open with Essex County Commissioner Wayne Richardson. While the fluctuations in the COVID pandemic and the icy winter weather have presented immediate challenges to our meetings at this time, we are grateful for the encouragement given to us by Commissioner Richardson and his staff. This may be a long journey, but we believe the outcome will be what blind and vision-impaired people in our state need.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Note: For additional information on walkability and its importance to human health, the environment and other impacts, visit: National Walkability Index Methodology and User Guide.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/documents/national_walkability_index_methodology_and_user_guide_june2021.pdf">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/documents/national_walkability_index_methodology_and_user_guide_june2021.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>-----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Everette Bacon]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=the-2023-dr.-jacob-bolotin-awards><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The 2023 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Everette Bacon</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: Everette Bacon is a member of the National Board of Directors and the affiliate president in Utah. He also chairs the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Committee. Here is his announcement about the 2023 Bolotin Awards program:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The National Federation of the Blind is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards. These prestigious awards, granted each year as funds permit, seek to honor initiatives, innovations, and individuals that are an exemplary positive force in the lives of blind people and advance the ultimate goal of helping them to live the lives they want. Award winners will be publicly recognized during the 2023 annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Houston, Texas. Each recipient will receive a cash award determined by the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Committee and will also be honored with an engraved medallion and plaque.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Dr. Jacob W. Bolotin (1888-1924) was a pioneering blind physician, the first in history who achieved that goal despite the tremendous challenges faced by blind people in his time. Not only did he realize his own dream; he went on to support and inspire many others in making their own dreams a reality. The awards which bear his name are supported in part by the Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust, left as a bequest by Dr. Bolotin’s late nephew and niece to the Santa Barbara Foundation and the National Federation of the Blind to present the annual cash awards.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As chronicled in his biography, <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>The Blind Doctor</span></em> by Rosalind Perlman, Dr. Bolotin fought ignorance and prejudice to gain entrance to medical school and the medical profession. He became one of the most respected physicians in Chicago during his career, which spanned the period from 1912 until his death in 1924. He was particularly known for his expertise in diseases of the heart and lungs. During his successful career, Dr. Bolotin used his many public speaking engagements to advocate for employment of the blind and the full integration of the blind into society. Interested in young people in general and blind youth in particular, Dr. Bolotin established the first Boy Scout troop consisting entirely of blind boys and served as its leader.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Jacob Bolotin’s wife Helen had a sister whose husband died suddenly, leaving her to raise a son, Alfred Perlman. The Perlmans moved in with the Bolotins when Alfred was eleven, and for four years (until Jacob Bolotin’s untimely death at age thirty-six), “Uncle Jake” became Alfred’s surrogate father. Alfred later married Rosalind, and the couple worked on a book about Dr. Bolotin’s life. After Alfred’s death in 2001, Rosalind dedicated the rest of her life to completing and publishing the book, <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin Story,</span></em> published by Blue Point Books. The book is available in digital audio format from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) program.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Past award winners have:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ol style='margin-top:0in' start=1 type=1><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Broken down barriers facing blind people in innovative ways.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Changed negative perceptions of blindness and blind people.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Pushed past existing boundaries to inspire blind people to achieve new heights.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol><h3 id=award-description><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Award Description<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In 2023 the National Federation of the Blind will again recognize individuals and organizations that have distinguished themselves in accordance with the criteria established to receive a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award. The committee will determine both the number of awards and the value of each cash award presented. The Federation determines the total amount to be distributed each year based on income received from the trust supporting the award program. The award categories for each year are blind individuals, sighted individuals, and organizations, corporations, or other entities. Individuals may apply on their own behalf or may submit a third-party nomination, or the committee may also consider other individual or organizational candidates.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=who-should-apply><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Who Should Apply?<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Individuals:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> Only individuals over eighteen years of age may be considered for a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award. Applicants must demonstrate that they have shown substantial initiative and leadership in improving the lives of the blind. Examples of such initiative include but are not limited to developing products, technologies, or techniques that increase the independence of the blind; directing quality programs or agencies for the blind; or mentoring other blind people. All individual applicants or third-party applicants nominating other individuals must demonstrate that the work to be recognized has been conducted within the twelve months preceding the application and/or that the work is continuing. Applications by or on behalf of individuals must include at least one letter of recommendation from a person familiar with or directly affected by the work to be recognized.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Organizations:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> Organizations may apply for a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award in order to further programs, services, technology, or techniques of unique and outstanding merit that have assisted and will continue to assist the blind. Applications from third parties nominating an organization will also be considered. The organization category includes for-profit or nonprofit corporations or organizations or other entities, such as a specific division within an organization. Organizations or third-party applicants must demonstrate that the programs or services to be recognized include substantial participation by blind people as developers, mentors, administrators, or executives and not merely as clients, consumers, or beneficiaries. For example, an organization operating a program for blind youth might demonstrate that a substantial number of the counselors, teachers, or mentors involved in the program are blind. The organization or third-party applicant must demonstrate that it has substantially aided blind people within the twelve months prior to application and that an award would support efforts to build on previous successes. The application must also include at least one testimonial from a blind person who has benefited substantially from the programs or services.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>To qualify for an award, both individuals and organizations must provide programs, services, or benefits to blind people in the United States of America.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=procedures><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Procedures<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>More information, including an online application, can be found on the National Federation of the Blind website at <a href="https://nfb.org/bolotin">https://nfb.org/bolotin</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Online submission of nominations, letters of support, and other relevant materials is strongly encouraged, but applications sent by mail and postmarked by the deadline will also be accepted. The 2023 deadline for application submission is April 15, and recipients chosen by the committee will be individually notified of their selection no later than May 15. Receipt of all complete applications will be acknowledged, but only those applicants chosen to receive an award will be notified of their selection. All decisions of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Committee are final.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The awards will be presented in July during the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind. Individuals selected to receive an award must appear in person, not send a representative. Organizations may send an individual representative, preferably their chief executive officer. Recipient candidates must confirm that they will appear in person to accept the award at the National Federation of the Blind annual convention. Failure to confirm attendance for the award presentation by June 1 will result in forfeiture of the award.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=ineligible-persons><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Ineligible Persons<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Those employed full-time by the National Federation of the Blind may not apply for a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award for work performed within the scope of their employment. Students may not apply for both a Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award and a National Federation of the Blind Scholarship in the same year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO/CAPTION: Sameer Doshi]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=how-going-blind-helped-me-rediscover-the-power-of-optimism><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>How Going Blind Helped Me Rediscover the Power of Optimism<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Sameer Doshi</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: Sameer has gotten some publicity lately as he promotes his book, </span></strong><em><b><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Work Ahead</span></b></em><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>. As you will see from this article he wrote for the </span></strong><em><b><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Braille Monitor</span></b></em><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>, he works at Microsoft, went blind in his early working years, had some difficulty adjusting, and now believes he is onto something that not only can help blind people but the rest of the world as it struggles with being positive in a time when negative makes the headlines. Here is his offering, which we receive with thanks:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>We’ve all been there. Just when things are going great, life unexpectedly throws you a lemon or a curveball. What do you do? When you have no other option, you make lemonade. You catch the curve ball. I learned this at thirty-one when I went blind overnight. In the years since this devastating surprise, I’ve made all my dreams come true.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>How did this happen? It all comes down to the power of optimism. That’s it! Optimism helped me to adapt and continue working in tech, where along the way I’ve excelled and landed my dream job at Microsoft. I even wrote a novel—about optimism. Stay with me here. I’m about to give you the secret code to develop a forcefield that will repel any nasty situation that comes for you. Here we go!<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=whats-the-deal-with-pessimism><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>What’s the deal with pessimism? <o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The events that shape us are like Double Stuf OREOs, a fascinating juxtaposition of good and bad. Long term, we tend to forget the good (<em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>these things are delicious!</span></em>) and dwell on the bad (<em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>OMG I ate the entire package?!)</span></em> This is human nature. But, when we spend too much time worrying, it becomes part of our daily thought process and clouds our perception with negativity. Life becomes tedious. You feel like you’re in a rut. This is where optimism comes in! Changing the way your brain frames daily life will change <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>your</span></em> life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=the-power-of-optimism><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The power of optimism<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Remember what I told you about me going blind when I was thirty-one? Now is when I tell you it also happened to be about a month after my daughter was born. I went blind overnight. There was no warning. In a time of great joy and transition in my life, everything around me was dark. For months, all I could think of was what I could <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>not</span></em> do. I mean, I was struggling to just put toothpaste on my toothbrush! The only thing I could do to help my wife was simply holding our newborn daughter. I felt like a total failure.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Then, little by little, I switched over to the power of positive thinking. I got an appointment with the Spectrios Institute for Low Vision, and it was there that I was reminded I still had unlimited potential. A counselor, who herself was blind, taught me about a special software to allow me to use a computer again. Then came other lessons, including how to put that toothpaste on my toothbrush. I thought, hey, if I could learn so much in so little time, maybe just maybe, life might get back to the way it was before.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=embrace-the-new-normal><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Embrace the new normal<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Did life get back to the way it was? No. It did not. It took another two years of learning and practice, but I slowly mastered skill after skill. I trained my inner dialogue to help rather than hinder. <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>I just learned how to pour a cup of coffee. That’s a win! I just signed up to learn Braille. Win!</span></em><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Gradually, the pile of small victories turned into a mountain of accomplishments, and I forged ahead doing the things I wanted to do, at every turn thinking of it as a win. Walking the dog became a win. Working out became a win. I had turned into a winning machine! My life wasn’t the way it was before. It was better.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=focus-on-the-work-ahead><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Focus on the work ahead<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>With so many wins and successes under my belt, I found the energy to keep challenging myself. I built a tactile Rubik’s Cube and solved it! I learned to play the guitar. If you keep yourself busy, you don’t think of your challenges as obstructions. I know you’ve probably got your hand raised, ready to ask, “But, you said life has a way of throwing bad stuff at me?” First of all, it’s very polite of you, but no need to raise your hand. I’m blind. (Thank you – I’ll be here all week, folks!)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I’m not saying you have to avoid bad situations. I’m saying you should have a plan for handling them and turning them into wins. This is the work ahead. I left Spectrios with a long list of tasks. I forced myself to forget about the distant future and zero in on what I could do <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>now.</span></em> Imagine the loftiest goal you’ve ever had. Now center down and realize that every small step you take gets you closer to that goal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=shape-your-reactions><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Shape your reactions<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I can’t control my emotions, but I <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>can</span></em> control how I react. You can too. When I was deep into learning Tom Petty’s <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Free Fallin’</span></em> on the guitar, I’d miss a chord here and there and get so frustrated! I sighed. I frowned. Then, I took a breath. I let the frustration evaporate and then do you know what I did? I subjected my loved ones to yet another <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Free Fallin’</span></em> attempt. I just kept playing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I trained myself to make a conscious effort to modulate my reactions. The world is complicated. There’s already a lot of bad stuff. I vow to resist the temptation to make it worse.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=flex-your-good-memory-muscles><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Flex your good memory muscles<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Optimism takes practice. One of the best ways to do this is to reinforce memories of your accomplishments. I like to pretend I’m giving myself an annual performance review, except I don’t list any bad feedback. Instead, I focus on all the growth I’ve had in the last year. Simple things like <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>emptied the dishwasher before I went to bed most nights</span></em> count. I’ll include any new places I’ve been, books I’ve read (<em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Thanks, Talking Books!</span></em>), shows I’ve watched (<em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Thanks, descriptive audio!</span></em>), or new recipes I’ve made. Make a list of the good stuff. You’ll realize just how awesome you are!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Going blind forced me to rediscover optimism and create techniques to infuse it in everything I do. This has helped keep the darkness at bay and taught me to push myself to grow. It’s been a decade since I lost my sight, and just recently I re-learned how to ride a bike. My daughter and I biked along a nature trail! <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Win!</span></em><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Six final points:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l8 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>When life brings bad news, you can choose to be angry and devastated or to look for the bright spots and move toward them.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l8 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>When you push through the hard times, there are always better times on the other side.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l8 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Surviving big setbacks and failures makes failure feel okay. And that is a superpower.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l8 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Overcoming huge challenges shows you how adaptable the human brain is and teaches you that you can accomplish just about anything. It also makes you more curious and eager to continually learn.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l8 level1 lfo2'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Being an optimist and spreading optimism really does help make the world a better place.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Rachel Grider]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=central-valley-chapter-takes-on-challenges-in-blind-equality-achievement-month><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Central Valley Chapter Takes on Challenges in Blind Equality Achievement Month<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Rachel Grider</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: Rachel is familiar to </span></strong><em><b><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Monitor</span></b></em><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> readers because of her work in coordinating the work of one hundred singers who harmonized when in-person contact was impossible, an electronic miracle if ever there was one. She is very active in our California affiliate and certainly represents leadership at its best. Here is her report of what her chapter did during Blind Equality Achievement Month:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Central Valley Chapter helped with a voter education workshop on October 8 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Stanislaus County Elections Office at 1021 I Street in Modesto. We demonstrated the remote accessible vote-by-mail system with different types of screen-reading software, and attendees had the opportunity to try out the Touch Writer ballot marking device. Members of election staff were on hand to answer questions so that everyone who wishes can be prepared to vote independently during the November election.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>On October 15, White Cane Awareness Day, the Central Valley Chapter will be participating in a White Cane Walk with the Stanislaus County Office of Education at JFK School, 1202 Stonum Rd. in Modesto. This event will include fun activities for our local blind children, including an obstacle course, cane decorating, and games with tactile emojis. Members of the chapter will be on hand to answer questions and to demonstrate that blindness should not hold anyone back from living the life they want.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>On October 29, the Central Valley Chapter will have a booth at the Modesto Farmer’s Market, located on 16th Street between H Street and I Street, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. We will be demonstrating Braille and assistive technology, and we will have some fun Halloween-themed activities, including a descriptive costume game.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>---------<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=you-can-make-a-difference><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You Can Make a Difference<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Blind children, students, and adults are making powerful strides in education and leadership every day across the United States. For more than eighty years, the National Federation of the Blind has worked to transform the dreams of hundreds of thousands of blind people into reality. With support from individuals like you, we continue to provide powerful programs and critical resources for decades to come. We sincerely hope you will plan to be a part of our enduring movement by including the National Federation of the Blind in your charitable giving and in your estate planning. It is easier than you think.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>With your help, the NFB will continue to:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Give blind children the gift of literacy through Braille.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Promote independent travel by providing free long white canes to blind people in need.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Develop dynamic educational projects and programs to show blind youth that science and math careers are within their reach.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Deliver hundreds of accessible newspapers and magazines to provide blind people the essential information necessary to be actively involved in their communities.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Offer aids and appliances that help seniors losing vision maintain their independence.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><h3 id=plan-to-leave-a-legacy><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Plan to Leave a Legacy<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The National Federation of the Blind Legacy Society, our Dream Makers Circle, honors and recognizes the generosity and vision of members and special friends of the National Federation of the Blind who have chosen to leave a legacy through a will or other planned giving option. You can join the Dream Makers Circle in a myriad of ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=fixed-sum-of-assets><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Fixed Sum of Assets<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You can specify that a fixed sum of your assets or property goes to the National Federation of the Blind in your will, trust, pension, IRA, life insurance policy, brokerage account, or other accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=percentage-of-assets><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Percentage of Assets<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You can specify that a percentage of your assets or property goes to the National Federation of the Blind in your will, trust, pension, IRA, life insurance policy, brokerage account, or other accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=payable-on-death-pod-account><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Payable on Death (POD) Account<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You can name the National Federation of the Blind as the beneficiary on a Payable on Death (POD) account through your bank. You can turn any checking or savings account into a POD account. This is one of the simplest ways to leave a legacy. The account is totally in your control during your lifetime and you can change the beneficiary or percentage at any time with ease.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=will-or-trust><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Will or Trust<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>If you do decide to create or revise your will, consider the National Federation of the Blind as a partial beneficiary.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Visit our Planned Giving webpage (<a href="https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/ways-give/planned-giving">https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/ways-give/planned-giving</a>) or call 410-659-9314, extension 2422, for more information.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Together with love, hope, determination, and your support, we will continue to transform dreams into reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=ways-to-contribute-now><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Ways to Contribute Now <o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Throughout 2021, the NFB:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Sent nearly one thousand Braille Santa and Winter Celebration letters to blind children, encouraging excitement for Braille literacy.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Distributed over five thousand canes to blind people across the United States, empowering them to travel safely and independently throughout their communities.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Delivered audio newspaper and magazine services to 126,823 subscribers, providing free access to over five hundred local, national, and international publications.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Gave over six hundred Braille-writing slates and styluses free of charge to blind users.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Mentored 232 blind youth during our Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning® Academy in-home editions.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Just imagine what we’ll do next year and, with your help, what can be accomplished for years to come. Below are just a few of the many diverse, tax-deductible ways you can lend your support to the National Federation of the Blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=vehicle-donation-program><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Vehicle Donation Program<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The NFB accepts donated vehicles, including cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, or recreational vehicles. Just call 855-659-9314 toll-free, and a representative can make arrangements to pick up your donation. We can also answer any questions you have.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=general-donation><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>General Donation<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>General donations help support the ongoing programs of the NFB and the work to help blind people live the lives they want. You can call 410-659-9314 and elect option 4 to donate by phone. Donate online with a credit card or through the mail with check or money order. Visit our Ways to Give webpage (<a href="https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/ways-give">https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/ways-give</a>) for more information. <o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=pre-authorized-contribution><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Pre-Authorized Contribution<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Through the Pre-Authorized Contribution (PAC) program, supporters sustain the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind by making recurring monthly donations by direct withdrawal of funds from a checking account or a charge to a credit card. To enroll, call 410-659-9314, extension 2213, or fill out our PAC Donation Form (<a href="https://www.nfb.org/pac">https://www.nfb.org/pac</a>) online.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>If you have questions about giving, please send an email to <a href="mailto:outreach@nfb.org">outreach@nfb.org</a> or call 410-659-9314, extension 2422.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Jack Chen]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=living-the-life-he-wants-stoking-employment-opportunities-through-movies-sports-and-achievement><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Living the Life He Wants: Stoking Employment Opportunities through Movies, Sports, and Achievement<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Jack Chen</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: I love it when I am moved by a speech. This is the second in the Living the Life series we experienced at our 2022 Convention, and I feel blessed to have sat through it and equally blessed to run it here. We begin with remarks by President Riccobono:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The presenter for this item is a blind person who is using his life experience to raise expectations for all blind people. He is a blind person who is pursuing his dreams in many ways. One way he has raised expectations in his own life is by riding a bike from coast to coast. He has committed to using his story to bring attention to the underemployment issue that exists for the blind community and the low expectations that are at the root of our underemployment. We got to know him virtually during the pandemic, so it's great to have him here in person at this convention.</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I first got to meet him in person a couple of months ago at our national office. I got to meet his whole family. Here to talk to us about his experience and the work we've done together is Jack Chen:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When I was growing up people didn't look at me like they do today. I am Chinese American, and my extended family lives in Taiwan. My brother and I both are visually impaired. When we were growing up, our relatives in Taiwan wrote us off. They didn't know what to do with us. They had no experience with people who are blind or have low vision.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I want to tell you a bit of my story, but it is really with the help of other people that I've been able to do what I have done in my life. I want to thank my wife and my four kids, and also my God whom I serve.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>New Orleans is a city of resilience. You may not know, but there was a fire here in 1788 that threatened to wipe New Orleans off the map. They started to build the city back up, and then, six years later, in 1794, another fire came and threatened to wipe New Orleans off the map again.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>During the Civil War, political unrest and daily torchings again threatened the city. Then came Hurricane Betsy in the 1960s, Katrina in 2005, and most recently, Ida—that one-two punch! They thought they could take New Orleans down, but they couldn't. New Orleans is a cultural icon in our country. Everyone knows New Orleans for great music and great food.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>New Orleans is a city of resilience, and for me this has been a powerful homecoming. I was here thirty-one years ago. I came to New Orleans for a cornea transplant. I went to Louisiana State University Eye and Ear Hospital, and, as I flew here from New Jersey, I remember seeing the blue sky above and the white clouds below. I thought to myself, How much more will I see on the way back? They told me I would be able to read a newspaper! I would be able to go shopping and see the price on a box of cereal!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>This happened during my sophomore year in high school. I had been to New Orleans many times in the past before 1991 for other corneal transplants that didn't go well. This time, though, they said they had developed DNA technology that would help them find a tissue donor that my body would not reject.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When I came out of the surgery they had put a big thick gauze patch over my eye and taped it up tight. I sat in my bed for a couple of days before I went to the examination room. I remember sitting on a big hard plastic chair. I remember the doctors coming over and peeling off one layer of bandages. My mom and the doctors were in the room. Nobody moved. I was puzzled; I wondered, <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>what’s going on?</span></em> Impatient as I was, I touched my face, and when I felt the skin of my eyelid, I knew something was very wrong. I couldn't see anything. I had become totally blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Despite the sweltering weather outside, I felt like someone took a bucket of ice and poured it to the deepest reaches of my soul. I was without hope. I was completely fearful about what the future was going to be. I imagined myself walking down a long hallway, and a door on the left was slamming, and a door on the right was closing, and there were closing doors behind me and above me and below me. What could I do but put one foot in front of the other? The alternative was terrifying—to sit down and do nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>So I put one foot in front of the other.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Before I went to New Orleans I was studying for my SATs. To block out the fear, I went back to study for my SATs when I returned home. I put one foot in front of the other, not knowing what was to come. I was a mediocre Braille reader at the time, I have to admit, but I dug hard into my studies. Does anyone here remember the 3,500-word Barron's SAT book? I decided to memorize the whole thing. (That's not a testament to my ability, but to my pigheadedness!) The SATs were in three months, and I was going to give it all I had.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I was frightened to go back to school. I had always gotten around with my limited eyesight, and navigating the school with a cane was frightening to me. Most of my friends wouldn't hang out with me anymore. Seeing another young person go through something so difficult was hard for them, and they didn't know how to react. Their fear left me alone.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I was on the wrestling team as a sophomore, and I jumped back into wrestling. If my record were to predict my future success, it would be one win and a whole lot of losses.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In December of that year my SAT results came back. My parents opened the envelope for me, and I was shocked. I had scored just ten points lower than my brother, who was off at his freshman year at Harvard. I could not believe what was happening!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>At the end of the wrestling season, past results were not a predictor of future success. I wound up with a winning record for wrestling at Districts. But the biggest test of all was coming. My friend Oliver and my friend Ryan and I walked into the guidance counselor's office for that fateful call to the college admissions office to find out whether you got in. Only one person from my school each year had ever gotten into Harvard. When Oliver got on the phone he whooped and hollered and said he had gotten in. I was so happy for him, but I was fearful for myself. Then I got on the phone and managed to stammer out my name. I heard, "Mr. Chen, you have been accepted to Harvard!"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I felt as though my whole future had been squeezed into a really tight package. I had cut off the zip tie, and it was exploding. My future had seemed really dark, but now it started to have some light and some life. It was kind of like what I said about New Orleans, how it rose from the ashes again and again.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Harvard wasn't easy. I only had about 20 percent of the reading materials I needed. Going to class was hard. It was like putting together a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. I had some lectures and some readings, but that was the easy stuff. That was like the edge pieces and the corner pieces. But you had to extrapolate all the stuff in the middle. You had to guess. Sometimes you were right, and sometimes you were wrong. But I did get through, and I managed to graduate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I graduated with a computer science degree, and I went to work for a startup building home-automation technology, way before the internet was even a term. They asked me to manage the data center at the company, but the operating system for those sophisticated pieces of equipment wasn't accessible, and I couldn't read what was going on. I couldn't see the lights on the front of the machine to know whether I had to replace the hard drives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>At the same time they also asked me to help design the second generation of their product. In doing so I helped them build a patent portfolio. I emerged from the company a few years later with my name as a listed inventor on over forty patents.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I got a little tired of computers and jumped into law. I went to law school at night and graduated, and then I went to take the bar exam. The National Conference of Bar Examiners told me, "Mr. Chen, you're not going to be allowed to use a computer to take the test. We'll give you a cassette tape, and you can take the exam on tape." It was like taking a two-hundred-page exam on a one-line teleprompter! I did pass, in New York and New Jersey.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I've been blessed to work on so many things in my lifetime. I've had so many experiences! I have the most wonderful family ever. I've had the chance to work as product counsel for Google for over ten years. I worked as a member of the public policy team as a product manager for Chrome LS. For the past year and a half, I've had the opportunity to support the product team that builds the technology that supports 99 percent of Facebook's revenue. I've run marathons and Iron Mans, and I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Do I share all these things to tell you how great I am or to inspire you, to show you that blind people can do anything? No, not really.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Let me tell you a story. Five weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to my twenty-fifth college reunion at Harvard. I was standing in Harvard Yard having lunch one day, and my friend Edwin Lin came up to me. He told me, "Jack, I have one big regret from college. I couldn't help you more." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Remember, you and I were roommates for one summer. You had to take differential equations, a math class. I volunteered to go with you to class and help you understand what was going on on the board. I went with you that first day, and the teacher was going so fast and was putting so many things in the equations up on the board that I couldn't help you. It was impossible."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>He watched me struggle and suffer for the next three years, but he did see me graduate with honors. Edwin is now a senior executive at City Group, and he told me this story. "I had the opportunity to interview a blind person for my group." He said that when he was about to extend the offer letter, his coworkers told him, "You must be crazy! Do you think a blind person can be successful at an organization like ours?" And Edwin said, "Yes, he can. I know, because I've seen it done before."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>That sentiment inspired me and my cofounder, Dan Berlin, to create a movie about blindness and success. Here's the trailer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[The trailer introduced the film "Surpassing Sight," with vignettes of Jack Chen, Dan Berlin, and other successful blind people. It presents the idea of a bike ride across America.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Race Across America was a 3,100-mile cycling race from San Diego to Annapolis, crossing thirteen states and three mountain ranges and including 175,000 feet of elevation gain. Put forty people into two 400-square-foot RVs, give them no sleep, make them work sixteen hours a day, bring eight cyclists from one country to another—nothing can go wrong. Right? Actually that trip was the toughest thing I've ever done in my life by far!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>On the second day of the race, I got a calf cramp. Who gets a calf cramp on the second day of a nine-day race? What was I going to do? If I dropped out, our chances of finishing would be less than 30 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Then I got an infection in my toe. The crew chief had to go online to YouTube to watch a video on how to do minor surgery to lance somebody's toe. I got yelled at by a number of people on my team for something I said. We had to stop the race and have a come-to-Jesus moment because it threatened to tear the whole team apart!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Like I said, you work sixteen hours a day and shove people into a tight confined space, and nothing will go wrong . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In the movie my cofounder, Dan Berlin, said, "It's in the deepest struggles that you will find the vitality of life." My friend Edwin personally watched me struggle, and he watched me find victory and rise from the ashes. The thing that really impacted me and Dan was the fact that some statistics say that 70 percent of college-educated blind people in America can't find a job. Dan and I wouldn't stand for that! Dan was the CEO of his own corporation, a very successful vanilla extract company that produced 75 percent of the vanilla extract in our country. I was an attorney working for Google, having been transferred over to Facebook later on. The two of us said, "We have to do something about this."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When you think about Edwin, when you think about what other people see in us, when they see us becoming victorious and surmounting challenges, we tell our own stories. We wanted to tell our own story, but we could only do it on a one-on-one basis. I know each of you does that as well. We wanted to solve this problem at scale. We said, "We're going to take on the toughest cycling race in the world, and we're going to do it as blind professionals. We want to tell a story of success, both on and off the bike." We wanted every person, every hiring manager, and every chief executive of every corporation in America to see our story and have that Edwin experience. We wanted every fully sighted person in the world to say, "Yes, he can, because I know. I've seen it done before."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>To close, I ask each of you to come on this journey with us, to partner with us. First of all, we're incredibly honored that the National Federation of the Blind has partnered with us as an executive producer of this film, and that we'll have the worldwide premier at this convention. Each of you is invited. It will be shown at an independent theater at 333 Canal Street, on the big screen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I want each of you in this room and each of you online to tell people about this film. When the full release comes out, I want everybody to see it. Please help us spread the word!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>For the folks in the room who are blind or have low vision, sometimes it feels like the doors are going to be slammed in your face. I've had that experience myself. You have no idea where things are going to go. But when we face those challenges together and we emerge victorious, you know you lift me up. I'll continue to do the same, battling through challenges; I hope I'll lift you up as well. Together let's create more Edwin Lins in this world, people who can say, "Yes they can, because I've seen it done before." Together we're going to take the 70 percent unemployment rate and knock it down to 7 percent or lower!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Deena Lambert]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=living-the-life-she-wants-staying-grounded-and-shooting-for-the-moon-with-federation-philosophy><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Living the Life She Wants: Staying Grounded and Shooting for the Moon with Federation Philosophy<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Deena Lambert</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: This stellar presentation was given on Saturday, July 9, 2022, at the convention of the National Federation of the Blind in New Orleans. Here is the way President Riccobono introduced it:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Introduction by Mark Riccobono: We have a member who has been building a career at NASA and also in her own life. She and I came into the Federation at a similar time, so it's been a joy to observe her journey and her strength in applying the Federation philosophy. She is truly an example of what thousands of blind people do in this movement on a daily basis. Here from Maryland to talk to us about her journey is Deena Lambert.</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>A few months back President Riccobono reached out to me and said, "Hey, are you interested in sharing part of your story?" I was like, "Who, me? What part of the story do you want me to share—the part where I have more gray hairs than I had three years ago? Or that story about my girls on New Year's Eve with a few mimosas in us decorating our vision boards, but failing to include a whole pandemic where we would be stretched and tested beyond our wildest dreams and fears? Or the part that says I would have to dig down deep in my soul for all the courage I would need to pursue my dreams of working in the aerospace industry and becoming a mom, even if it meant there was failure and that I would be walking much of that journey alone?" He said, "Yes, all of it."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Twenty years ago almost to the day, I introduced myself at the 2002 Louisville Convention as an NFB scholarship finalist. I was excited, I was nervous, I was hopeful because I saw and heard so many things at that convention! I met businessmen and women, engineers, parents, and students. I went to the parties—<em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>all</span></em> of the parties! Some of us are just waking up now from those parties! Basically, I experienced a microcosm of our society as a whole. Everyone was there.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As someone who is twenty years older, with a few more gray hairs and hopefully some wisdom to share, I'd like to take a few moments with you to have a conversation. Mark said talking to you would be like talking to family.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>There's a saying: "Teach the young early what we have learned late." I hope that some of you will gain something that is helpful and challenging, but that will feel real, which is a part of my story. Even though I am the one standing here before you with this honor, hundreds, even thousands of our Federation family members are in the room and in our affiliates who can share wisdom and insight. That wisdom could positively shift the trajectory in your life as an individual toward living out the version of your life that you deeply desire, even if you haven't realized it yet. Two and a half years of living in a pandemic have forced us to shorten our time horizon, meaning that we have to place more urgency on the decisions and actions we take.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I can only imagine what the original NFB founders and leaders faced when they formed this organization that would provide strength, unity, and community to blind people who were fighting just for the right simply to live and attain self-determination. I grew up in a home where there was absolutely no doubt that my mom and dad loved me deeply. But as a young adult, I realized a sense of urgency to finding that sense of confidence to pursue my dreams and make my own decisions. It wasn't just about going to college and picking a degree. It was something more basic, like choosing what I wanted to wear or doing my own hair as a sixteen-year-old. It was even about choosing to use a white cane without my mama's disapproval and fear or shame about what she would say. Building that confidence did not come from just one instance. It took understanding that, while I would survive and likely even earn a degree, I might not seize that gift of freedom and self-agency that you can observe in so many people here. I would likely end up living a life where others would make decisions for me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Then I attended a voc rehab transitions seminar in Arkansas and met a ragtag bunch of staff from the Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB). I was shook! A few weeks later, Joanne Wilson, with all of her gusto, helped me navigate a conversation with my parents that led to me attending LCB. That simple phone call was the Federation in motion. The core values of the NFB leaders were fully alive in that conversation and in subsequent conversations during my brief time at LCB.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When you get that feeling in your gut that says there is more for you, don't wait! Don’t second-guess yourself! Do not short-change yourself or the process of training.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You may have noticed that I said I was a student at LCB for a short period of time. I left LCB after only eight weeks of training to go off to college. Later I realized that I had indeed short-changed the training and mentorship I needed. Even though attending a training center is not the only way to gain confidence and independence, there is something about the process and the method, the positive philosophy about blindness in Structured Discovery that is potent and well-measured.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I went off to college as an electrical engineering student at the University of Arkansas. My head was full of knowledge but short on wisdom. For example, a few blind freshmen—we had our own little crew—found that the laundry facilities were not fully accessible. When we raised this issue to university leadership, the university offered for the university's housekeeping staff to do our laundry for us! Now, to the seventeen-year-old version of me, that seemed like a victory! But even my short time at LCB helped me identify the ugly, sinking feeling that this was perpetuating lower expectations of the blind, and that it needed to stop. I share this story with a bit of embarrassment—I haven't told it to anyone before.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>We presented a tangible example of the power that can be wielded by a collection of blind people. But wisdom would have said, "Are you for real? Are you kidding me?" We had won the battle of making the university do something, anything. But we were well on our way to losing the war on misconceptions and poor beliefs about the capabilities of the blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>What impression did that one housekeeping staff member have when she had to deliver multiple loads of laundry to the blind students? Maybe she would share with her family what she had to do to help the blind students. It wasn't right.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I did eventually learn to do my own laundry, and I went on to complete my degree. After graduation I encountered rejection after rejection when I applied for jobs. I had to shift gears and get creative. I started attending regional and national conferences of organizations such as the Society of Black Engineers, Microsoft, and others. I got assistance from voc rehab and a small grant from my university, and I used my own personal funds from work-study jobs. This was called self-investment. I broadened my mentor base, not only with academic advisors but with experienced professionals from my Greek organization, Delta Sigma Theta Incorporated, and my frat, Alpha Phi Alpha. I drew upon my local community of sighted and blind leaders who I could learn from.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Finally, almost a year after graduation, I received the call I had dreamed of. It was NASA calling!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Fast forward to today. I am now the DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) lead for NASA'S early-stage innovations and partnerships. It's a functional leadership position within a $350-million-dollar portfolio. We are tasked with identifying, promoting, and advancing the transformational space technology that helps NASA achieve its on-Earth and long-duration missions. We are the widest and lowest entry point into NASA’s space technology readiness level, or TRL. With over seven hundred funding opportunities, we are the most outward-facing technical component NASA has, with funding vehicles that reach small businesses, researchers, citizens, and students.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Fifteen years ago, probably more, I remember hearing hesitations as to why the NFB was funding and moving out on the Blind Driver Challenge. At the time it did seem a little farfetched. But, as I review proposals and engage in topic-specific technology research opportunities outside of blindness, I realize that what the NFB has been doing is the first step toward radical innovation. We may not see all of the rewards and benefits right now. However, I am confident that we will see them in the near future with spinoff technology and techniques that we will advance with more innovation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Right now I want to make you aware of a pilot program that we just started, targeting students, entrepreneurs, and researchers who have an idea and need some support to bring it to market. It's our Innovation Corps or I-Corps Pilot. We will provide ten thousand dollars to applicants coming in. We'll offer technical assistance in order to accelerate your idea, and we'll help you build the network you need to move on toward larger funding tiers, possibly to the tune of four hundred thousand dollars! I would like to see more people in this room and people on the scholarship winner list as applicants for our funding opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I want to close with a personal experience. Many of you may remember that I wanted to be a mom. After much thought, prayer, and skepticism, I landed on one question. Would I be happy with how I lived my life and the decisions that I made if I did not pursue this dream? With the support of my chosen community and my family within the NFB, I asked, "Can I choose to say yes to this life I want?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>This question was specific to my choice to become a single mom, but it has applications elsewhere. For you in the audience this question may hit home in other ways, whether it is about employment, education, relationships. Many people outside the adoption community, which is where I chose to pursue motherhood, may not know that in private adoption the expectant mom who is voluntarily choosing to place her child is offered an opportunity to choose the family she wants. The sixteen-year-old me would have said, "Why would she choose me? I am blind." The version of myself at that time didn't have many blindness or independence skills. Why would any expectant mom choose me for one of the biggest and most permanent decisions in her life? But the thirty-seven-year-old me was bold enough to say, "Why not?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I've observed in myself over and over again, and sometimes in the blind community at large, that we can easily talk ourselves out of opportunities and choices. It happens when we listen to the lingering voices of doubts and misconceptions. I dare each of us to say, "Why not me?" and have the actions and decisions that reflect that energy. "Why not me?"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Let me go back to that ripple effect I mentioned earlier. Indeed, it came back full circle. To be approved to become an adoptive mom, I had to pass a home study test with a licensed social worker. Let's call it the white glove test. It covers all—and I mean <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>all</span></em>!—areas of your life. My fear of rejection drove me to sign up for courses that were above and beyond my agency's requirements for prospective families. After one frantic call the social worker said, "Deena, please stop! For one, you're causing too much paperwork. These courses are way too expensive. I know that you are quite capable of being a well-rounded and safe mother." After she completed her report (of course, she couldn't tell me what she was thinking while she was writing it), I said, "How did you know?" She shared that she had observed multiple blind people raising families, managing classrooms, and going about their lives with dignity, respectability, and grace. That was enough for her. So if you are one of those blind people she observed, I want to say thank you!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I leave you with the charge to feel empowered, knowing that you have influence in positively shifting not only your life as a blind person but the lives of others whose names you may never even know. Thank you so much!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Jim Omvig]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=the-passing-of-jim-omvig-a-state-president-who-touched-the-world-in-so-many-ways><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Passing of Jim Omvig: A State President who Touched the World in so Many Ways<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Gary Wunder</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>It is with sadness that we report the death of James Omvig, a former president of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland and a very active member anywhere he happened to live and work. Jim was born February 12, 1935, and died on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. At the time of his death, he and Sharon were living in Des Moines, Iowa, and though health somewhat limited where and how often he could go, Jim maintained his can-do spirit, his feelings about being blessed to have known Dr. Jernigan and other leaders in the Federation, and the pride he took in all he was able to accomplish.</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>It is fortunate that the</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> <em><b><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Braille Monitor</span></b></em><strong><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'> did an extensive write-up on Jim while he was alive and able to appreciate and share it. He said he loved it, so it is with the deepest respect that we run it again to commemorate this towering figure in our Federation's history.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=a-modern-day-pioneer-in-our-midst-an-attempt-to-say-thank-you-to-a-civil-rights-leader-for-the-blind><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>A Modern-Day Pioneer in Our Midst: An Attempt to Say Thank You to a Civil Rights Leader for the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Gary Wunder</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>One of my jobs as the state president in Missouri has been to deliver eulogies for Federationists whose long service and love of the organization deserve a tribute. I have written them for two past affiliate presidents, several other leaders of prominence, and many friends. The honor in being asked to deliver a eulogy is that you may be saying the most important words that have been or will ever be said about someone's life. The sadness is that it isn't being said to the person we are honoring. At best one must take on faith that the remarks will be heard, felt, sensed, or known by the one being honored, and at worst the comments come too late to matter to that person.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>What a pleasure it is when sometimes we are able to say thank you to a gem while he or she is still around to appreciate it, correct us when we don't quite get it right, and tell us just a bit more that we don't quite know as we write the remarks to share their lives with those who may not have known them as well as their family and friends. So it is that I have drawn an ace from the deck and have the honor of putting down some part of Jim Omvig's life story: an inspiration, a tribute to what can happen when one works hard, meets the right people, is encouraged, and takes advantage of the opportunities offered.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Jim was raised in Slater, Iowa, and for a time attended the public school there. Though he tried hard, much of his effort focused on using vision he simply didn't have. Eventually he went to the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton. While competing academically and athletically was made easier by the lack of emphasis on vision, the school brought with it other difficulties. Foremost among these was the attitude held by the school about its blind charges. Those with the most sight were the most blessed: those called upon for giving the school tours, for pitching the tents during scouting events, and for looking after “the totals” (those without any usable vision). The school believed the blind could be educated, but the fields in which they could participate were quite limited, and, given this philosophy, the school provided vocational technical training in the few jobs they believed their graduates could do. The staff members were good, honest people, but they saw their calling to be to teach the blind some academic skills, help them compete with other blind people athletically, and acquaint them early on with the limitations of blindness. These would not have been the words they used, but certainly the attitude they conveyed to Jim and his fellow students.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>After high school Jim lived at home almost eight years. Most of his days were not so much living as existing, always waiting for that piece of medical news that would change his life. His mother so wanted him to see that she went to eye doctors, offering one of her eyes if only they could give it to Jim so that he might have vision. Since no operation, regardless of the sacrifice, could give him the vision he would need to be a productive citizen, he and his family lived from day to day, with Jim doing what little he could to help with family chores. Occasionally he got work in a local creamery, where his strength could be used in moving butter and loading trucks with products bound for the city. This was not the kind of work that could provide a real income, but any extra money was helpful, and so too was any reason to get up in the morning. This was not the life he wanted, but it was the life he had been given, and people from Iowa knew there was only so much time that could be given over to grief about what one had lost and wanted back.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Jim lived what he now regards as an isolated life. Though tall and good looking, he decided early on that it would be irresponsible to get involved with women. In his mind a man's role was to be the provider, the leader in his home. He believed that being blind precluded this, so there was no reason to offer his heart or to ask for the heart of another.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When he was twenty-five, Jim was contacted by the Iowa Commission for the Blind and invited to go to Des Moines to tour the agency. His sister Jan was then a student and encouraged him to come. He figured he already knew much of what there was to know about what blind people could do and become from his time at the school in Vinton, but he agreed to visit if for no other reason than for the brief change in daily routine the visit would afford.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Mr. Omvig remembers his first interview with agency Director Kenneth Jernigan and the questions that set him on a path he never thought possible. The first question was whether or not he was blind, and Mr. Omvig gave what he regarded as a cutesy but accurate answer. "I am hard of seeing," he said, at which point Mr. Jernigan asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?" and then told Jim unequivocally that he was blind. Jim remembers that this answer cut deeply and stung bitterly. Mr. Jernigan asked Jim his age. When Jim said he was twenty-five, Mr. Jernigan said, "My, my, twenty-five. So a man your age can expect to live for another fifty years. Jim, what are you going to do for the next fifty years?" As he considered his answer, he remembers feeling sick at heart. Fifty years was more a sentence than a promise. Jim's reply was that he didn't know, but what he feared was that he did and that those years would be spent doing just what he had done since high school graduation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>But the very asking of the question hinted that there were possibilities beyond returning to Slater and living out his life as the dependent son and brother. Kenneth Jernigan suggested that Jim come to the Orientation and Adjustment Center for training and told him that a man with some motivation and brains could be a productive citizen. Jim wasn't sure he believed it, but he could clearly see that the man offering the opportunity did. What was the risk? Unrealized hopes would hurt, but so would returning to Slater, where nothing was happening or likely to happen for a blind man named Omvig.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Although Jim agreed during his visit to come to the center for training, he still had one hope—that he might regain his vision. Friends told him about a doctor in South Dakota doing miraculous work, so he took all of his money, got a friend to drive him, and once again got the sad news that vision was not in his future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Jim spent nine months at the center: learning Braille, cane travel, typing, woodworking, and engaging in challenge activities he had previously thought to be well beyond what blind people could do. Nearing the end of his training, Jim was asked what he would like to do with his future—what he might like to do for a living. Full of enthusiasm for what he was experiencing, he replied that he would like to run a training center and do what Mr. Jernigan was doing to help the blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Mr. Jernigan responded with a question: "Mr. Omvig, do you want to go into work with the blind and run a center because you think you would truly love it and be good at it or because you really believe you can't succeed at anything else and that getting into work with the blind will be easy?" When Jim said that he didn't know if he could answer the question honestly, Mr. Jernigan suggested that he consider another career.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>What Jim had considered foolish and impossible only a year before was reshaping his life. Those crazy people from the commission were offering him the chance to go to college and promised financial support that his family could never hope to provide. Beyond the financial support, they convinced Jim that they believed in him, let him observe a few blind people who were successfully pursuing careers and raising families, and suggested to him that he could do the same. What he came to understand later was that he was being given the opportunity to be a modern-day pioneer, to assume a special place as part of a social experiment to determine if the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind was simply a fine-sounding theory or whether it would prove to be true and could change lives in the way its proponents proclaimed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Jim finished his training at the commission, went to college, and was the first blind person to attend and graduate from the Loyola University of Chicago's School of Law. He recalls that 144 students entered the school, and of those only thirty-six were granted law degrees. Having this degree meant that the man who once had nothing to do and plenty of time to do it in would find himself busy for the rest of his life, taking his place as a senior warrior in the civil rights struggle of the blind and eventually appearing before the justices of the United States Supreme Court to be granted the right to practice law before that august body.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>But, after graduating in 1966 with good grades and a degree from a prestigious law school, Jim had to arrange and participate in 150 interviews before he landed a job. Even this took some political intervention from his friend and mentor, Kenneth Jernigan. Mr. Omvig moved to Washington, DC, and became the first blind employee of the National Labor Relations Board. Although he was admired and well-liked by his fellow employees, several did try to convince him that his long hours and prodigious output raised the bar for them and let it be known that they were none too happy about this. Jim told them that they were free to work as much or as little as they liked, but he was there to do more than earn an income and provide for himself: he was there to convince the world that blind people could do high-quality work and do it as well as their sighted coworkers. His fellows saw the logic in this, and it added to their respect for him. But the secretary who had been assigned to him said, "Mr. Omvig, you are a damned workaholic, and you're not going to make one out of me." Given the friction, Mr. Omvig asked for a different secretary and got one, and his former employee was transferred.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>While rewarding, his job in DC primarily involved doing administrative research and paperwork. But Jim wanted real courtroom experience and requested a transfer. It was granted, and he moved to New York to continue his work with the agency. He found the work more rewarding, but it posed some challenges he had not faced in DC. He had relied primarily on volunteer readers in his first appointment, but when, as a field attorney, he began serving as a hearing officer, there were times when he was presented with written material and required to decide whether or not it should be admitted into the record. In these cases it is traditional for the hearing to be recessed while the hearing officer studies the material. It was not practical for Jim to send the material out for recording or to expect a volunteer to sit with him throughout his workday. The solution he arrived at was ideal: he asked that the stenographer, who was already being paid, act as his reader during the recess, and in this way he had access to printed documents without incurring additional cost or inconvenience to himself or his employer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As he settled into his job, Jim began to be asked by President Jernigan to visit state affiliates as a national representative. He appreciated being asked, thrived on being able to serve, and gladly took up the task. What he found surprised him. At some level he knew that Iowa represented something tremendously different in rehabilitation than could be found in the rest of the country, but knowing this wasn't quite the same as seeing firsthand the denials that blind people were facing when they sought to become self-sufficient and to exercise some control over their education and careers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Jim recalls meeting a woman from New Hampshire who had always wanted to be a teacher. Having gone blind in her teens, she approached the rehabilitation agency there and was told by her counselor that her goal was unrealistic and that certainly he would not approve the college education that teaching would require. Having read in the <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Braille Monitor</span></em> about Judy Young, a blind teacher in Iowa, the woman in New Hampshire took her case to the agency director. He agreed with the counselor, telling her that a college education was unrealistic and that any thought of landing a teaching job was foolish. When she told him about the article she had read in the magazine of the National Federation of the Blind, he said that he knew about that Jernigan guy, a crazy man who was setting blind people up to fail. He, the agency director, would have none of it, and he suggested that she continue at the workshop, where she was making twenty-four dollars a week. In this case, like so many, Jim knew that the answer was not for everyone to move to Iowa, but to build and strengthen the Federation in each state and then to bring about the changes that the National Federation of the Blind and the Iowa Commission for the Blind were proving possible. Encounters such as these pushed Jim in the direction of trying to answer the question Mr. Jernigan had posed to him on his graduation from the orientation center.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Eventually Jim gained enough self-confidence to say to Mr. Jernigan that he really did want to learn to direct a training center, that he had convinced himself and others that he could cut it alongside his sighted colleagues, and that his turning to the blindness field for employment was not to hide but actively to contribute to what had so changed his life and the way he would spend the most productive years of it. Jim wanted to be a part of encouraging blind people to dream and to see those dreams become reality. Mr. Jernigan agreed, and Jim moved back to Iowa, first to work as a rehabilitation counselor and later to head the orientation center.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>While in training to become a counselor, Jim accompanied coworkers to learn the ropes. Knowing that his primary job was to observe, Jim nevertheless wanted to become involved in the sessions so clients would come to know him. One day he asked a client how long he had been blind. The newly blinded client was angered and put off. On the drive to their next appointment, Jim learned from his coworker that coming to understand that one is blind is often a gradual process and that asking how long the client had been having trouble with his vision would have been more appropriate. Coming to understand and admitting that one is blind is crucial to acceptance and getting on with one's life, but for some people the subject should be approached with gentleness and understanding. Jim took the advice as sound and has tried to be mindful that the journey to accepting one's blindness and a new understanding of what it means to be blind sometimes takes a firm, direct approach and that sometimes it takes time, patience, and gentleness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Although Jim's return to Iowa put the right man in the right place, the transition was not without difficulty. He had decided that he could be a provider and that risking to become involved with another was not precluded by being a blind man. He married Jan, a fellow Iowan, and together they brought Jamie Omvig into the world in 1966. But their marriage ended in 1972, and the door that closed led to the opening of one that would lead James Omvig and Sharon Lewis to find that they were soul mates. Meeting for a casual drink one evening in the fall of 1973, they found that their talking kept them for hours. Sharon describes their courtship and marriage this way: "It may not have been the love story of the century, but I'm sure it was the love story of the decade." On January 31, 1974, Jim and Sharon Omvig were united in marriage, and since then they have been inseparable in their faith, love, and work. From the time they became two hearts beating as one, any mention of Jim could, if not for the cumbersomeness of the construction, be Jim and Sharon or Sharon and Jim.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The man who once believed that he could never share his heart not only has enjoyed a wonderful marriage but has composed two songs in honor of his soulmate. One of them, titled, “She’s My Wife,” says:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #E6E6E6 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 12.0pt;margin-left:20.4pt;margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt'><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>Have you seen her?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>She's the loveliness of spring.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>Have you seen her?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>She's the song that I sing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>With her tender lips and her glowing eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>Her smile is a wondrous thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>And her arms can make a man a king.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>You should know her.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>She's an angel from above.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>With a heart that's filled with love.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>Oh, you should know her; she is my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#606060'>She's my lady, she's my lover, she’s my wife.<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Before leaving the National Labor Relations Board, Jim learned from a colleague that a decision of the NLRB made in 1960 declared that blind people did not enjoy the same rights as other workers when it came to organizing and being represented by a union. He highlighted this unfair segregation of the blind in a speech delivered at the NFB convention in 1969. Appearing with him were prominent members of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) who agreed, after some tough questioning from President Jernigan, to help the blind change laws forbidding blind people from organizing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Work started that year to build a Sheltered Shop Division in the NFB and to find blind people who wanted to be represented by a union. Mr. Omvig warned that gaining the right to organize and be represented would take a long time. A request to organize had to be made and rejected, and an appeal would have to be made to the members of the National Labor Relations Board. It took more than half a decade, but in 1976 the NLRB reversed itself and said that blind people, like other workers, did indeed have the right to be represented by a union if they chose. This delightful news came the day before Jim was to attend the national convention in Los Angeles, so he hurriedly constructed and delivered a speech at the convention.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Federation knew from long years of experience that blind people were the victims of discrimination in the sale of insurance. Deciding to test the waters for themselves, Jim and Sharon went to the ticket counter prior to their trip to the Los Angeles convention, purchased insurance for Sharon in the amount of $350,000, and then tried to purchase insurance for Jim. To his surprise, Jim learned that he could purchase insurance, but the maximum amount he could buy was $20,000. The ticket agent could offer no reason for the rule, and arguments that Jim did not want to fly the plane but only ride on it were wasted. Rules were rules.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>On his return from Los Angeles, Jim contacted the insurance commissioner for the state of Iowa, Herbert Anderson, and convinced him to accept a charge of unfair discrimination against the blind using the Iowa Unfair Trade Practices Act. The commissioner conducted a survey of all insurance companies doing business in Iowa, and the findings were so disturbing that he caused regulations to be created prohibiting discrimination against the blind by any company licensed to do business in the state. Mr. Anderson then took his findings to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and that organization passed a resolution condemning such discrimination. Just as it did with the Model White Cane Law, the national body of the Federation drafted a model insurance regulation and encouraged its enactment by state insurance regulators. Jim was extremely helpful in providing guidance to state affiliates and even testified before state insurance commissions in support of the prohibition.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As Fredric Schroeder observes: "Today, we do not think much about the ability to purchase life insurance, and that is due in large part to Mr. Omvig. In the 70s and 80s, many blind people were denied life insurance on the assumption that blind people were more likely to die as a result of accidents. Mr. Omvig understood that assumptions about blind people were at the heart of lost opportunities: lack of access to a good education, lack of access to employment, lack of access to renting hotel rooms, and lack of access to buses and trains. In short, Mr. Omvig knew that discrimination was the major barrier facing blind people, and discrimination in all its forms had to be opposed."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>After nine wonderful years working at the Iowa Commission for the Blind, Jim accepted a Federation assignment and moved to Baltimore to work for the Social Security Administration. At the time about 150 blind people were working for the agency, but they were limited to answering telephones and fielding questions from the public. James Gashel, the head of the National Federation of the Blind's Washington office, was instrumental in convincing officials of the agency that the way to greater employment opportunities for the blind and avoiding a lawsuit from the Federation lay in hiring someone who could look at the procedures of the agency and figure out how to open other employment opportunities. It seemed to President Jernigan and Mr. Gashel that Jim would be the perfect fit, being a lawyer and having previous experience in the federal government.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Jim was hired, and in 1981 the glass ceiling preventing blind people from accepting other positions within the agency was shattered. Nearly three years of work resulted in the following policy statement being read by the newly appointed director of the Social Security Administration: "Today, I wish to announce a clarification of the policy which affects employment and promotional opportunity for otherwise qualified partially and totally blind SSA employees. I have determined that there are no significant factors which make it impossible for blind persons to perform the full range of the GS 10 claims representative (CR) position. Therefore, it is SSA policy that otherwise qualified partially or totally blind individuals may be promoted to the journeyman GS 10 CR position within the standard CR position description . . . . I am committed not only to providing equal employment opportunity for blind persons, but also for all qualified handicapped individuals." This breakthrough was significant not only for the Social Security Administration but for other agencies in the federal government that had good, quality jobs blind people were capable of performing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In the late 1970s the National Federation of the Blind found that regulations which had been passed to assist the blind and otherwise physically disabled in air travel were being used to limit them. Many Federationists were arrested for insisting on their right to use and keep with them the canes that provided independent mobility. Some of us were asked to sit on blankets, the logic being that some handicapped people had accidents and soiled airline seats. Mr. Omvig was one of those who were arrested, and he and many others testified at hearings sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration. As a result of those hearings blind people can now travel with their guide dogs and canes; there is no limit as to the number of blind passengers who can fly on an aircraft; there is no requirement that we sit on blankets or other items used in dealing with incontinence. We are prevented from sitting in exit rows, but the frustration we encounter with airlines today is far less than it was, and this is due in no small part to the work of Mr. Omvig's talent in writing, speaking, and developing important relationships with the policymakers of that era.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>After five years working for the Social Security Administration, Mr. Omvig once again returned to the pursuit of his dream to direct an orientation and training center. This took him to the state of Alaska in the fall of 1984. When he arrived, he found himself in charge of an agency that was housed in a World War II Quonset hut. Bleakness and despair were in evidence in the blind people seeking services. In January of 1985 Mr. Omvig went to the governor and the legislature, and the funds to run the agency were doubled. A new five-unit apartment building was purchased and remodeled to become a residential training center for blind adults. It contained sleeping rooms for twelve residents, one staff apartment, and administrative offices. Putting the building into service as a training center required asking the city of Anchorage to rezone the property, which they did. In the spring of 1986 Governor Bill Sheffield dedicated the Alaska Center for Blind Adults. Though the willingness of state officials to purchase and remodel the center was commendable, they did not provide funds to furnish the building. To Mr. Omvig and other leaders of the NFB in Alaska fell the task of going to Lions Clubs with the request that they help in furnishing the center. Through the work of individual clubs and the statewide body, the center was furnished and began serving students.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In 1987 Jim found himself troubled with bad health, and by the end of that year his doctor told him that he had no choice but to stop working. It would take several years for Jim to be diagnosed with a rare condition known as porphyria. Jim and Sharon moved to Arizona, and both became active in the affiliate, assisting significantly and advancing its legislative agenda for providing better services to blind people. He continued writing about the value of separate agencies for the blind and what proper training in those agencies could do, and, as he began to exert better control over his health, he was asked to visit many states to evaluate their programs and make recommendations for improvement.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Although one of the goals of the Federation is to see that quality rehabilitation is available to all blind people regardless of where they live, the reality is that not all rehabilitation centers are equal, and not all of them are guided by the positive philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. In 1992 amendments to the Rehabilitation Act were passed and signed into law. One of those amendments introduced the concept of “informed choice” into the Act, providing in federal law the opportunity for recipients of rehabilitation services to decide where they would go to receive service. In theory this would mean that a person living in Montana could go to a rehabilitation center in Louisiana, or that a person living in Maryland could go to Colorado or Minnesota. Practically speaking, however, rights guaranteed in federal law have been slow to be implemented in the states, and they have strongly favored either rehabilitation centers that they fund or centers with which they have done business in the past. Implementing informed choice in practice has often meant finding people who want to go to a center outside their state, helping them to appeal the denial of the rehabilitation counselor, and getting and winning a fair hearing. Mr. Omvig has used his skills as a lawyer and an advocate in helping to draft these appeals and has traveled extensively to participate in these hearings.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In all of the assignments he has been given as a Federation member, none was more difficult than the one that brought him to work to advance the rights of blind people working in sheltered workshops. President Maurer and other colleagues in the National Federation of the Blind believed we needed someone to work from the inside to make changes in the system that employed thousands of blind people at wages that were far below their productive capacity. Mr. Omvig was persuaded to apply for and was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President's Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled. He was initially appointed in 2003 and was reappointed in 2007. During his tenure Mr. Omvig served on a number of important subcommittees and task forces and was elected as vice chairman of the committee.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When accepting his newest Federation assignment, Jim knew that there was little the National Federation of the Blind and what would come to be called the AbilityOne Commission had in common. Certainly each group had little respect for the other. What the organizations knew about one another they didn't like. The committee viewed the NFB as a group of malcontents and rabble-rousers who knew nothing about running businesses that employed the blind. The NFB believed the committee to be composed of self-serving agency directors who cared less about uplifting the blind people they were to serve than they did about increasing their own prestige and income. In the opinion of the Federation, these were people who may have come to do good but who stayed to do well. Their salaries and their place in the community came on the backs of hard-working blind people, who got little from their effort in money, benefits, or their productive work.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When Mr. Omvig began his work with the committee, he followed a strategy that had evolved from a question Dr. Jernigan had once asked him and his fellow students: "What is the purpose of a speech?" The answer was "To get people to love you. If you can't get them to love you, they won't pay much attention to what you have to say." This became Jim's compass. He would not go to make war—soldiers on each side knew full well how that could be done. Instead, he would go as an ambassador, a man in search of friends, a human face that would go the first few steps in dispelling the myths about Federationists as unreasonable, militant, and foolish dreamers who believed in a future the blind could never have because they weren't capable enough to earn or retain it. Jim would build relationships based on common traits and would show that this commonality could be used as a foundation to build trust. On that trust he and his new-found friends could begin to make change that might one day revolutionize the sheltered workshop system where thousands of blind people worked and sometimes lived.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>But the Omvig strategy was not obvious to some of his Federation colleagues and disappointed more than a few of his friends. He had gone to the committee to represent the Federation, so where were his protests? Why wasn't he using his seat to make changes so long overdue? Because Jim was a part of the Federation family, some who loved and cared about him and who cared deeply about rights for shop workers came to him with their concerns. Although he appreciated the chance to clarify his strategy, to explain his understanding that most fundamental changes take time, and to show the incremental changes his participation was having, the idea that he might not be trusted hurt, and carrying out this work proved to be one of the hardest assignments he ever undertook. He gave nine years of his life to traveling, negotiating, and trying to change how those in the system felt about blind people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Even with his sadness at having his motives—or at least his strategy—questioned, Mr. Omvig is proud of the change in workshops he has witnessed over the past forty years and is proud to count among his friends people who once thought that he and his fellow Federation members were meatheads—people who were dead from the neck up. He is proud of the expanded employment opportunities that have resulted from his service on the committee, and he is proud to have played some small part in National Industries for the Blind paying at least the minimum wage in all of its sheltered shops having AbilityOne contracts and requiring that any agency doing business with it do likewise. In its most recent move, National Industries for the Blind has decided that no person affiliated with a workshop that holds a Section 14(C) certificate can hold a position on its board of directors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Jim has been active in a number of other efforts to help in the education and rehabilitation of the blind. He has served on the board of directors of the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. This is the first institute of its kind to implement the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind in teacher-training programs. In addition to needing better teacher training, Jim and other Federation colleagues realized that the certifying authority for providing training to the blind often used vision as a requirement for certification. And so was born the National Blindness Professional Certification Board (NBPCB), whose purpose was to develop standards that did not discriminate against the blind and which also emphasized competence in teaching the skills that were most likely to lead to an education, a job, and a life equal to those enjoyed by sighted Americans. He also served proudly on this board and has also been instrumental in helping to develop the policies and standards of the body.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Increasingly over the last two decades Mr. Omvig has turned his attention from writing articles to writing books. <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Freedom for the Blind: The Secret is Empowerment</span></em> has won widespread praise in the field of rehabilitation, and many students credit this book with encouraging them to go into the field. <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>The Blindness Revolution: Jernigan in His Own Words</span></em> has also figured prominently in documenting the challenges and triumphs of what many have called "the miracle of Iowa," but Mr. Omvig concludes that there was no miracle there, only the application of good, solid attitudes and the willingness to believe in blind people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>One of the things Mr. Omvig is most proud about is that his service extends well beyond organizations of and for the blind. He became the founding president of the Des Moines East Town Lions Club and was elected as president of the congregation of the Grant Park Christian Church in Des Moines. He was vice president of the Catonsville, Maryland, Lions Club and was a deacon (which came with the job of serving communion) and a member of the board of trustees of the Christian Temple in the Disciples of Christ Church in Baltimore. He has also served as the president of the International Air Crossroads Lions Club in Anchorage, Alaska.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Of all the honors and awards Mr. Omvig has received, none has touched him more deeply than the Jacobus tenBroek award in 1986. He received this award for helping gain the right of blind shop workers to unionize, for leading the effort to eliminate insurance discrimination against the blind, for helping to end discrimination against blind air travelers, and for his writings on how to provide quality training to vocational rehabilitation clients.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>No single article can do justice to the life's work of Jim Omvig. Thankfully there are others who have committed his story to paper and places where he gives first-hand accounts of what it has been like to be one of the pioneers in the civil rights movement for the blind. I can think of no better way to conclude this article than with comments made by two of Mr. Omvig's finest friends and admirers. Not surprisingly both have given a significant amount of their energy to the field of rehabilitation, taking the improvement of it as one of their Federation responsibilities and assignments. About her friends, the Omvigs, Joanne Wilson says: "Jim and Sharon worked with a tireless passion to give back to the movement what they got from the NFB. They worked on systemic problems that would make the lives of the blind better, but they also spent hours and hours talking with individuals, both blind and sighted, over dinners in their home, at conventions, on a plane, in a discussion group, and anywhere they were—sharing the truth about blindness. They have truly dedicated their lives to giving back what they learned about blindness so others could have more enriched lives. Thanks for asking me to be a small part in giving them this tribute."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>And Fred Schroeder says: "When I think of Mr. Omvig, I think of kindness; I think of a man with tremendous ability and one blessed with the power of persuasion. Mr. Omvig knows how to lead, knows how to inspire others to do more than they believe they are capable of doing, and knows what it means to share the disappointment of exclusion and heartache that come from society's low expectations. He is not a man to live according to the assumptions of others; he is not content to build a life just for himself and his family; he is a man who gives all that he has on behalf of blind people. He is a role model, a mentor, a leader, and, most of all, a friend."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id="youre-golden-reflections-from-the-nfb-national-senior-divisions-2020-and-2021-senior-retreats-plus-some-additional-musings-on-aging"><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You’re Golden: Reflections from the NFB National Senior Division’s 2020 and 2021 Senior Retreats, Plus Some Additional Musings on Aging<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Miss Ruth Williams</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: Here is a report from our National Senior Division on two retreats handled during the pandemic. Ruth Williams is a moving writer, and I hope readers enjoy both of the journeys she describes. This is taken from the Spring/Summer issue of </span></strong><em><b><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Sounding Board</span></b></em><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>, the official publication of the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey.</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As someone fully ensconced in my “golden years,” I’d like to tell you all a little story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>First, let me set the stage. I’m a kindly-auntie type who goes by the name “Miss Ruth.” My knitting is always nearby, and I’ve got a tiger-tabby cat named Squeaky. Hard candy is in my handbag (you may call it a “purse,” dearie) and I own nothing but sensible shoes. Does this sound like a person who’d sell you a bill of goods?!? Of course not! I’m not Tom Selleck saying, “Look. This isn’t my first rodeo,” as he shills for reverse mortgages. Mind you, I love that mustached man. I’m just not so sure I trust him!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When I started out in freelance writing, I wrote articles for senior magazines, and one of my topics was reverse mortgages. It’s funny how much I thought I knew about getting older back then, but that reflected my relative youth. I was in my thirties, writing about things I wouldn’t need for decades, like Medicare supplements and retirement funds.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Now that I’m fifty-six, I can say that life isn’t always easy, but with age often comes wisdom, and you learn how to shine in your own unique way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>So what’s the key to aging gracefully? In a nutshell, find things that interest you, people who “get” you, and if you’ve learned a few things along the way, share them with others.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Fellowship like that is what the NFB’s 2020 Virtual Senior Retreat, held from October 18 to 24, 2020, was all about.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Normally held at Rocky Bottom Resort and Conference Center for the Blind in Sunset, South Carolina, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held virtually. Sixty attendees “Zoomed” together to accelerate (small pun for you there) a sense of well-being and self-confidence for those with newly acquired vision loss, or life-long blindness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>There were eleven of us in attendance from New Jersey (the most of all of the twenty states represented) and the fifteen volunteers running the show—including instructors, presenters, and Zoom hosts—did a phenomenal job.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Even though the topics were varied—leather-crafting, military collectibles, knitting, gardening, creative writing, auto-maintenance, jewelry-making, technology, and cane travel—they all spoke with enthusiasm and energy about their pet passions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>For example, my Krafters’ Korner pal, Jill Rossiter, taught participants how to create a craft out of a towel. Even though my origami project ended up looking more like a hammerhead shark than a swan, I was still proud of my crafty creation, whom I named JAWS after the movie monster (and the screen reader!).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The next day, during a presentation by Shelley Alongi, President of the NFB’s Writers’ Division, I went to their website and signed up. Finding people with shared experiences is a way to keep thriving.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Fast forward to 2021, and, while we’re still holding the NFB National Senior Division meetings virtually, this one was just as jam-packed with interesting discussions and warm fellowship. It was held from September 19 to 25, 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>There were so many sessions of interest that it’s hard to focus on just one, but I got a lot out of the conversation about how to respond when you find yourself in unexpected social situations. For example, a small child points at your white cane and says loudly, “What is that stick, Mommy?” It’s always best to be tactful when this happens and to regard it as a teachable moment. There’s no better way to mitigate the sense of stigma around blindness than to address it kindly but directly. You could say something like, “I’m using this stick to find my way around, since I can’t see. It helps me feel what’s in my way.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>All in all, it’s been my experience that the NFB Senior Retreat is a terrific resource for those of us in our golden years living with vision loss.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The way I see it, another way of saying “aging gracefully” is simply “living with grace;” being yourself in a world that counts on conformity; putting aside metrics like net worth and social status to set your moral compass by the Golden Rule.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>So how do you find the “zhoosh” you need to keep going strong, well into your later years? Find what lights you up from the inside. For me, it’s reading books, writing stories, and knitting on a round loom. Find the people who “get” you. For me, it’s my friends who are like sisters-of-the-soul. It’s also the kind, kindred spirits in my network of support groups. Find a way to share what’s important to you with others. For me, it’s positivity, spirituality, and standing up for my principles.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As you age, you realize that problems are projects in disguise, and every time you overcome an obstacle, you build resilience muscles you can use to move the next mountain. You also learn you don’t have to climb every mountain. Some of them, dear hearts, you can go around!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>If you think about who you are today, at whatever decade you’re in, it’s the most “you” you’ve ever been. You’ve survived exactly 100 percent of your worst days, so you must be doing something right.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>It doesn’t matter that you can’t see well, if at all. So you’ve got grey hair and wrinkles? You’ve earned every one of them. Wear them with pride. You’ve got wisdom to share, time in which to do it, and a world in need of encouragement.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Before you know it, you'll have found your calling, and once you’ve figured that out, you’re golden.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=blind-to-problems-how-vas-electronic-record-system-shuts-out-visually-impaired-patients><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Blind to Problems: How VA’s Electronic Record System Shuts Out Visually Impaired Patients<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Darius Tahir</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: The article that follows is generously provided by </span></strong><em><b><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Kaiser Health News</span></b></em><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> and demonstrates a good working knowledge of what we too often experience when trying to use medical software. I should reveal that I once worked briefly for Cerner, and at the time it regarded accessibility as a nice thing to do but not something it was required to develop or purchase. This article also parallels my experience with my university job, when objections about accessibility prior to purchase were routinely dismissed as something that would be fixed later. I hope this article resonates with readers in the same way it has with me:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Sarah Sheffield, a nurse practitioner at a Veterans Affairs clinic in Eugene, Oregon, had a problem. Her patients—mostly in their 70s and beyond—couldn’t read computer screens. It’s not an unusual problem for older people, which is why you might think Oracle Cerner, the developers of the agency’s new digital health record system, would have anticipated it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>But they didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Federal law requires government resources to be accessible to patients with disabilities. But patients can’t easily enlarge the text. “They all learned to get strong reading glasses and magnifying glasses,” said Sheffield, who retired in early October.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The difficulties are everyday reminders of a dire reality for patients in the VA system. More than a million patients are blind or have low vision. They rely on software to access prescriptions or send messages to their doctors. But often the technology fails them. Either the screens don’t allow users to zoom in on the text, or screen-reader software that translates text to speech isn’t compatible.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>“None of the systems are accessible” to these patients, said Donald Overton, executive director of the Blinded Veterans Association.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Patients often struggle even to log into websites or enter basic information needed to check in for hospital visits, Overton said, “We find our community stops trying, checks out, and disengages. They become dependent on other individuals; they give up independence.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Now, the developing VA medical record system, already bloated by outsize costs, has been delayed until June 2023. So far, the project has threatened to exacerbate those issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>While users in general have been affected by numerous incidents of downtime, delayed care, and missing information, barriers to access are particularly acute for blind and low-vision users—whether patients or workers within the health system. At least one Oregon-based employee has been offered aid—a helper assigned to read and click buttons—to navigate the system.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Over one thousand Section 508 complaints are in a backlog to be assessed or assigned to Oracle Cerner to fix, Veterans Affairs spokesperson Terrence Hayes confirmed. That section is part of federal law guaranteeing people with disabilities access to government technology.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Hayes said the problems described by these complaints don’t prevent employees and patients with disabilities from using the system. The complaints—469 of which have been assigned to Oracle Cerner to fix, he said—mean that users’ disabilities make it more difficult, to the point of requiring mitigation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The project is under new management with big promises. North Kansas City, Missouri-based developer Cerner, which originally landed the VA contract, was recently taken over by database technology giant Oracle, which plans to overhaul the software, company executive Mike Sicilia said during a September Senate hearing. “We intend to rewrite” the system, he said. “We have found nothing that can’t be addressed in relatively short order.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>But that will happen under continued scrutiny. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said his panel would continue to oversee the department’s compliance with accessibility standards. “Whether they work for VA or receive health care and benefits, the needs of veterans must be addressed by companies that want to work with the VA,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Takano, along with fellow Democrat Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana, sent a letter Oct. 7 to VA Secretary Denis McDonough noting the significant gaps in the agency’s systems, and urging VA to engage with all disabled veterans, not merely those who are blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>VA was alerted early and often that Cerner’s software posed problems for blind and low-vision users, interviews and a review of records show. As early as 2015, when the Department of Defense and VA were exploring purchasing new systems, the National Federation of the Blind submitted letters to both departments and Cerner, expressing concerns that the product would be unusable for clinicians and patients.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Alerts also came from inside VA. “We pointed out to Cerner that their system was really dependent on vision and that it was a major problem. The icons are really, really small,” said Dr. Art Wallace, a VA anesthesiologist who participated in one of the agency’s user groups to provide input for the eventual design of the system.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The Cerner system, he told the agency and KHN, is user-unfriendly. On the clinician side, it requires multiple high-resolution monitors to display a patient’s entire record, and VA facilities don’t always enjoy that wealth of equipment. “It would be very hard for visually impaired people, or normal people wearing bifocals, to use,” he concluded.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Before the software was rolled out, the system also failed a test with an employee working with a team at Oregon’s White City VA Medical Center devoted to helping blind patients develop skills and independence, said Carolyn Schwab, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1042.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In the testing, the system didn’t work with adaptive equipment, like text-to-speech software, she said. Despite receiving these complaints about the system, VA and Cerner “implemented it anyway.” Recently, when a regional AFGE president asked VA why they used the software—despite the federal mandates—he received no response, Schwab said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Some within the company also thought there would be struggles. Two former Cerner employees said the standard medical record system was getting long in the tooth when VA signed an agreement to purchase and customize the product.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Because it was built on old code, the software was difficult to patch when problems were discovered, the employees said. What’s more, according to the employees, Cerner took a doggedly incremental approach to fixing errors. If someone complained about a malfunctioning button on a page filled with other potholes, the company would fix just that button—not the whole page, the employees said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>VA spokesperson Hayes denied the claims, saying the developer and department try to address problems holistically. Cerner did not respond to multiple requests for comment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Accessibility errors are as present in private sector medical record systems as public. Cerner patched up a bug with the Safari web browser’s rendering of its patient portal when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s student clinic threatened legal action, the former employees said. (“MIT Medical does not, as a general practice, discuss individual vendor contracts or services,” said spokesperson David Tytell.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Legal threats—with hospital systems and medical record systems routinely facing lawsuits—are the most obvious symptom of a lack of accessibility within the U.S. health care system.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Deep inaccessibility plagues the burgeoning telehealth sector. A recent survey from the American Foundation for the Blind found that 57 percent of respondents struggled to use providers’ proprietary telehealth platforms. Some resorted to FaceTime. Many said they were unable to log in or couldn’t read information transmitted through chat sidebars.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Existing federal regulations could, in theory, be used to enforce higher standards of accessibility in health technology. The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights issued guidance during the pandemic on making telehealth technologies easier to use for patients with disabilities. And other agencies could start leaning on hospitals, because they are recipients of government dollars or federal vendors, to make sure their offerings work for such patients.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>That might not happen. These regulations could prove toothless, advocates warn. While there are several laws on the books, the advocates argue that enforcement and tougher regulations have not been forthcoming. “The concern from stakeholders is: Are you going to slow-walk this again?” said Joe Nahra, director of government relations at Powers Law, a Washington, DC, law firm.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Building in accessibility has historically benefited all users. Voice assistance technology was originally developed to help blind and low-vision users before winning widespread popularity with gadgets like Siri and Alexa.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Disability advocates believe vendors often push technology ahead without properly considering the impact on the people who will rely on it. “In the rush to be the first one, they put accessibility on the back burner,” said Eve Hill, a disability rights attorney with Brown, Goldstein & Levy, a civil rights law firm.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.</span></em><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=writers-division-contest-guidelines><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>2023 Writers’ Division Contest Guidelines<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You are invited to enter the 2023 NFB Writers’ Division contest. See guidelines below.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The annual youth and adult writing contests sponsored by the NFB Writers' Division will open January 1, 2023, and close April 30, 2023. This contest is open to all aspiring writers whether blind or sighted.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Adult contest categories are:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l7 level1 lfo5'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Short fiction<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l7 level1 lfo5'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Nonfiction, including personal essay and memoir<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l7 level1 lfo5'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Poetry.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Youth contest categories are short fiction and poetry. The youth contest is divided into three groups, determined by grade level:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l4 level1 lfo6'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Elementary, 1st through 4th grade<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l4 level1 lfo6'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Middle, 5th through 8th grade<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l4 level1 lfo6'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>High school, 9th through 12th grade<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>In both adult and youth contests, there may be up to three prize winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd), in addition, one or more entries may receive honorable mention. Prize-winning entries may be published within the Writers’ Division magazine, <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Slate & Style</span></em>. All contest winners will be announced during the 2023 National Convention in Houston, Texas, at the annual Writers' Division business meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 id=prizes><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Prizes<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Youth contest winners will receive cash prizes equal to:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l6 level1 lfo7'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>$30 for 1st place,<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l6 level1 lfo7'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>$20 for 2nd place, and<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l6 level1 lfo7'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>$10 for 3rd place.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Adult contest winners will receive cash prizes equal to:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l5 level1 lfo8'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>$75 for 1st place,<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l5 level1 lfo8'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>$50 for 2nd place, and<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l5 level1 lfo8'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>$25 for 3rd place.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><h3 id=submission-guidelines><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Submission Guidelines<o:p></o:p></span></h3><h4 id=youth-contests><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Youth Contests<o:p></o:p></span></h4><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>If you are eighteen years old, or older, you must enter the adult contest. This is a contest for students who use Braille. Entries must be submitted in hand-embossed Braille, either with a slate and stylus or Perkins Braille writer; there are no exceptions. Submissions must be Brailled by the entrant. All submissions, no matter the grade level, must be in contracted Braille. Let us know if you are learning contracted Braille. Additionally, let us know if you have chosen to use UEB, or not.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Send your hardcopy Braille and cover letter to:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Chelsea Cook<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>901 Englewood Parkway, Apt. J304,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Englewood, CO 80110<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Each entrant must provide an identical electronic copy of the cover letter and contest entry as a Microsoft Word file [doc or docx] or as a Rich Text Format [rtf] file. Construct each contest entry as a separate electronic file. Construct your cover letter as a separate electronic file. Attach each separate electronic file to one (1) email and send it to Shelley Alongi, <a href="mailto:Queenofbells@outlook.com">Queenofbells@outlook.com</a>. Include your name and title entries in the cover letter only. Each contest entry must contain the title and text only. Example: if you are entering three poems and one story into the contest, attach five files to your email. No entries will be considered unless submitted in the formats listed above. Electronic files submitted in any other format will be immediately disqualified, no questions asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 id=cover-letter><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Cover Letter<o:p></o:p></span></h4><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Your cover letter must contain the following information: your name, mailing address, phone number, email address. List the titles of all submissions, including the category in which they are being entered, school, and grade level.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 id=entry-requirements><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Entry Requirements<o:p></o:p></span></h4><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>We will consider only unpublished original entries. Please do not submit entries that have been previously submitted on a website or blog. Youth short fiction stories submissions cannot be more than 1,000 words and poetry no more than fifty lines. Authors of either poetry or fiction are encouraged to submit multiple pieces.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 id=youth-entry-fees---none><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Youth Entry Fees - None<o:p></o:p></span></h4><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Are you the best Brailler in the contest? Be sure to double check your work for spelling and grammatical errors. Remember to use Braille paper so the Braille is easy to read. Good luck!<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 id=adult-contest><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Adult Contest<o:p></o:p></span></h4><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>This contest is for everyone eighteen years old or older. One need not be blind to enter. We will consider only unpublished original entries. Please do not submit entries that have been published on a website or blog. Fiction and nonfiction categories can be of any mainstream genre, and cannot exceed 3,000 words. Poetry: We will accept poetry of any length. Adults are required to submit all poetry, fiction, and nonfiction as attachments to an email message. Each entrant must provide an identical electronic copy of the cover letter and contest entry as a Microsoft Word file (doc or docx) or as a Rich Text Format (rtf) file. Construct each contest entry as a separate electronic file. Construct your cover letter as a separate electronic file. Attach each separate electronic file to one (1) email and send it to Shelley Alongi, <a href="mailto:Queenofbells@outlook.com">Queenofbells@outlook.com</a>. Note: Only include the title and text of each entry in each contest entry. Example: if you are entering three poems and one story into the contest you must attach five electronic files to your email. No entries will be considered unless submitted in the formats listed above. Electronic copies submitted in any other format will be immediately disqualified, no questions asked. Each separate attachment must be in either Microsoft Word (doc or docx) or a Rich Text Format (rtf). Authors are encouraged to submit multiple pieces. Fiction and nonfiction should be written in a normal prose style, with paragraphs being left justified, lines being single spaced, and having a fourteen-point font of Arial, regular. Be sure to double check your work for spelling and grammatical errors. No hard copy submissions will be accepted.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 id=cover-letter-1><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Cover Letter<o:p></o:p></span></h4><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Along with your entry or entries, include a cover letter providing the following information:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Your name, mailing address, phone number, email address. List the titles of all submissions, including the category in which they are being entered. Method of payment for the entry fee (check or PayPal).<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 id=contest-entry-fees-payment-and-methods><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Contest Entry Fees Payment and Methods<o:p></o:p></span></h4><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Adult Fees: The fee for each short story is $15.00 for members and $20.00 for non-members. The fee for each nonfiction entry is $15.00 for members and $20.00 for non-members. A member is considered to be one whose dues to the NFB Writers' Division are current for the contest year. A nonmember is one who is not currently a paid member of the NFB Writers' Division at the time of entry into the contest.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>*The base fee for poetry will cover up to three poems, if the combined line-count of all three poems does not exceed 108 lines—additional poems require a second fee, following the same fee payment scheme. Base fees are $15.00 for members and $20.00 for non-members.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 id=payment><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Payment<o:p></o:p></span></h4><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>You may use PayPal from the Writers’ Division website, <a href="http://writers.nfb.org/">http://writers.nfb.org/</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Alternatively, you may mail a check made out to NFB Writers’ Division, with a note in the memo line relating to the contest. Send to:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Shawn Jacobson<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>19541 Olney Mill Rd.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Olney, MD 20832<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Good luck to all!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=seeing-that-piano-tuning-is-for-both-the-museum-and-the-agenda-of-the-movement><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Seeing that Piano Tuning is for Both the Museum and the Agenda of the Movement<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Don Mitchell</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: Don Mitchell is a piano tuner who has long been a member of the National Federation of the Blind and a staunch advocate for the profession that has made him a good living and can make other blind people a good living as well. Here is what he has to say both about the history of piano tuning and about what he believes to be its future:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>One reason I chose to join the National Federation of the Blind is the following short story. I don’t know where it came from so I can’t give credit where credit is due.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>A man was once observed walking on an ocean beach. As he walked, once in a while, he would stop and pick something up and throw it out into the ocean. An observer walked until he was able to talk to the man. He saw, on closer observation that the man was picking up stranded starfish cast up on to the beach, and throwing them back into the sea. The question was asked: Why do you throw them back in the water; they will just be thrown back on shore by the waves and the tides; it just doesn’t make any difference. The man stooped again and threw another starfish back into the water and stood up and said, “It makes a difference to that one.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The NFB is like that man casting starfish back into the sea. If the sea is analogous to the sea of productive life in society then the work and projects of the NFB are the comparison to that man on the beach. The man can also be compared to each of us as members who, in our own ways, work to help our fellow blind humans to stay in the sea of productivity in life and inclusion in the full range of human activities. As hard as we work, blind men and women continue to experience much higher unemployment than the general American population. It is certain that, as hard as we work, prejudice, due to ignorance, still exists. Those of us who believe in the value of continuing the work of the NFB do so because it does make a difference to that one. That one is me and you and thousands of other blind persons who have benefitted by the continuing hard work of Federationists everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>My area of focus has been telling blind people about the career of piano tuning and repair. I started this after joining the NFB in 1994 and beginning to work with the NFB Blind Piano Technicians Division. Later we became a group, and last year the formal work of the Blind Technicians in the Federation ceased because of lack of participation. Because of the size of the piano repair field, our NFB piano technology work was not sustainable. I hate to see this part of our movement relegated only to our new museum.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Piano tuning for the blind has a rich history beginning with Claude Montal in the early nineteenth century. Mr. Montal was a contemporary of Louis Braille and was associated with the Royal Institute of the Blind in Paris, France, where Louis Braille was a student. Claude Montal was, most likely, the first blind man to learn and practice the craft of piano tuning. After leaving the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, he went on to work at the Pleyel Piano Factory<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>in France. After a time working for Pleyel, he began his own piano service business. He published a book on piano tuning and went on to build and sell his own pianos. Claude Montal was such a success that other blind men were taught piano tuning by the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. The teaching of piano tuning to the blind spread through Europe and eventually to America. Sometime in the 1860s, Samuel Gridley Howe of the Perkins School for the Blind made a tour of Europe to learn about the education of the blind there. He observed that blind men were learning to tune pianos and then being employed in piano factories. For the most part in America, tuning was taught to male students at schools for the blind. In the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, hundreds of blind men were taught and were successfully practicing piano tuning to make a living.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I completed a course of piano tuning at the Emil Fries Piano Hospital and Training Center in Vancouver, Washington, back in 1973. I had the wonderful opportunity to then work at the school until it closed in 2016. In the school’s sixty-seven years of existence, hundreds of men and some women were trained to tune and repair pianos. Many were able to earn a substantial income. Many were able to get off of the SSI roles and other financial assistance programs, and become financially independent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>One unique characteristic of the piano technology field is that often the blind have an innate advantage because it is apparent, to almost everyone, that tuning requires the use of the human ear and most people think that the blind can hear better than everyone else: this gives a built-in advantage to the blind. It also gives blind tuners an opportunity to educate by explaining that the blind don’t hear better than the sighted; we just learn, by necessity, to pay attention to our hearing, and are trained by orientation and mobility teachers to listen and interpret the sounds around us to be efficient and stay safe.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As the blind have been moved into public schools for education and as schools for the blind are closed or their tuning training programs are discontinued, fewer blind men and women are trained in piano tuning and repairing today.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Opportunities in the field still exist. In the Portland, Oregon-Vancouver, Washington area, where I live, there are still fifty-three people who earn part or all of their living in this profession. The nature of the piano manufacturing industry has changed much in the last fifty years. Fewer pianos are manufactured in the United States, and piano sales have declined substantially. Many music stores throughout the country continue to sell both new and used pianos. Though, at seventy-three years old, I am retired, I continue to maintain over fifty pianos per year. If I were a younger man and wanted to pursue a full-time, full-scale piano tuning business, I am certain I could still be successful today. With the rise of ride-on-demand services like Uber and Lyft, one of the major difficulties in the business—transportation—is much more manageable today.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I have found much support from our national leadership; especially is this true from the employment committee. The majority of the work of spreading the good news of the piano tuning career has been done by blind piano tuners themselves. There are not enough blind piano tuners in the NFB to fill the need. Let’s shout the news of a way to earn a very substantial living and becoming in charge of your own destiny by running your own business.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I call upon all members of the Federation to join with me in sharing this opportunity with blind men and women who like working with their hands, enjoy working with people who are involved in music, and who want to become financially independent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Just like the education of blind elementary students who are more and more mainstreamed in the public school system, we will need to turn to the few remaining schools that provide training in piano tuning and repairs. I assisted a woman in enrolling in the North Bennet Street School in Boston, where she graduated as a trained piano tuner/technician. So, there is a facility where we can be trained, but much mentorship will be required. The staff at the school is not trained in teaching the blind and often have many of the same low expectations society holds. This means that self-advocacy and mentoring by the blind is essential in the success of people trained in piano tuning in a mainstream environment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I invite the leadership, both local and at the national level, to watch for young students who may have an interest in piano tuning and assist them in learning about this career path. I invite the instructors at the three NFB training centers to also work with me in getting the word out about the piano technology craft. I and other blind tuners would be happy to assist in mentoring and educating future students about this career.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>If you have questions or would like to talk more about this opportunity, please contact me at <a href="mailto:donmi@q.com">donmi@q.com</a> or 360-281-0187. I look forward to talking to you and any future students who might be interested in furthering this opportunity for the blind. Let’s highlight tuning in our museum, but let’s not write it off as a career!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Alyssa Henson and guide dog Jan]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=rookie-tails-a-seeing-eye-dog-teams-first-national-convention><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Rookie Tails: A Seeing Eye Dog Team's First National Convention<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Alyssa and Jan Henson</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: This article is authored by one human and one guide dog. I suspect Alyssa is the better typist, though she tells me her dog Jan has a Facebook page and quite a following. Here is what the team has to say about their adventure to the 2022 National Convention:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>When I think about my experience attending my first national convention, the word that comes to mind is energy. By that I mean over 2,400 blind people were putting their energy into one cause, and that cause is continuing to stand up for our right to equal access within our society. With the resolutions calling for the end of many discriminatory practices, we as blind people are taking important steps to insuring that we get the equal access we deserve.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>It was energizing to attend a convention with so many meetings that covered topics which are of significant interest to me. I personally attended meetings facilitated by the National Association of Guide Dog Users and the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, where I was given the chance to let my voice be heard on these important matters.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As a guide dog handler, the National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU) meetings were highly informative and covered a wide array of issues specifically pertaining to the guide dog handler community. I learned about being a better self-advocate and was among the first to hear the resolutions regarding the continued discriminatory practices of Uber and Lyft drivers. I was extremely satisfied when both of those resolutions passed during general session. It was neat sitting in a room with probably a couple hundred guide dogs and witnessing all of those dogs behaving in a professional manner. A convention like this is a huge undertaking for a guide dog. With that in mind, I would like to share some guide dog convention survival tips. Some of these are my own, and others were passed down by veteran guide dog handling convention attendees.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>1. Learn where the relieving areas are as soon as possible. It is important to know these because your dog will need them often.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>2. Allow extra relieving breaks. Along with knowing where the appropriate relieving areas are, it is important to allow your dog plenty of opportunities to take advantage of those spots since working in a convention environment is highly demanding.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>3. Give yourself extra time to navigate to and from meetings. It's no secret that the meeting rooms and areas around them can become quite crowded right before and after meetings, so giving yourself and your dog extra travel time is essential.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>4. Give your dog work breaks when you can. If you have time between meetings, stop back at your room to allow your dog a few minutes of off-harness time. Much like us, our dogs need to decompress after a hard day's work.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>5. Be patient with yourself and your dog. Remember, convention is a very demanding environment for dogs and handlers alike, so be patient, offer your dog lots of praise, and keep good control of your dog at all times.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I hope these tips are helpful to any future guide dog teams wishing to attend a national convention. Jan and I had a wonderful time attending the convention, as well as meeting new friends and catching up with friends from around the country. I know Jan particularly enjoyed meeting some new dogs, even if she only got to see them from a distance. Speaking of Jan, I thought it would be fun for the last part of this piece to try to put myself in her paws and think about what she might say if she could speak. So let's hear a few words from the mind of Jan.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Hello and tail wags to my Federation friends! When my handler told me about the convention, I didn't know what to think. How could a place be full of so many canes and dogs? I hadn't been around that many dogs at once since my training at the Seeing Eye where I met my handler. Once I was at the convention, I found out everything my handler said was true. Attending a convention is hard work for us dogs, and every dog has a different experience, but I'd say I had a good one. I met many friendly people and a bunch of friendly dogs. There were labs like myself, but also golden retrievers, German shepherds, poodles, and I even saw a boxer! I loved guiding my handler to the many events of the convention, and I hear the food around the city was pretty good. Too bad I had to stick with kibble. As we write this, it's past my dinner time, speaking of food, so I need to let my handler know it's time to get off the computer and get me some grub! Now for a few final remarks from my handler.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Ah yes, the computer is back in the hands of the human. I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend the 2022 National Convention in New Orleans. I had a great time meeting new people, reuniting with friends, checking out new products in the exhibit hall, attending meetings, trying new foods, meeting some awesome guide dogs, and feeling the positive energy that is an NFB convention. I look forward to the possibility of attending the 2023 Convention in Houston. Until then, as many of us guide dog handlers say, let's move forward.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>[PHOTO CAPTION: Carlton Anne Cook Walker]<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=nopbc-conference-sharing-our-core-values-creating-opportunities-raising-expectations><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>NOPBC Conference Sharing Our CORE Values: Creating Opportunities, Raising Expectations<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>by Carlton Anne Cook Walker</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>From the Editor: This article from the immediate past president of our National Organization of Parents of Blind Children is reprinted from </span></strong><em><b><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Future Reflections</span></b></em><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>, Volume 41, and it is there that many convention items important to parents are captured. Here is the way it was introduced by Editor Deborah Kent Stein:</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Since 2007 Carlton Anne Cook Walker has worked tirelessly to promote the Federation's positive message about blindness to parents and colleagues throughout the nation. Below is the presentation she delivered at the opening session of the NOPBC Conference at the 2022 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind in New Orleans.</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Welcome to the opening General Session of the 2022 National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) Conference here at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Annual Convention.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>This conference would not be possible without support from the NFB and volunteers from around the country (including our NOPBC board members) who are dedicated to providing our children with what they need to thrive: blindness skills, role models, high expectations, and a commitment to nurture and support our children throughout their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The theme of our conference this year is "Sharing Our CORE Values—Creating Opportunities, Raising Expectations." We are excited to embark with you on a week of exploration, learning, and relationship-building.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I am Carlton Anne Cook Walker, president of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC), a proud division of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). That's a real mouthful, so please feel free to call me Carlton, president of the NOPBC, and a member of the NFB. Also, please note that I will refer to "blind children" in this address. This reference is not meant to divide us or to delve into the academic and functional implications of a child's degree of vision. When I use the word blind, I mean it as an inclusive term. I use the word blind to describe any individual whose vision (or ability to use vision) poses obstacles for them that individuals with typical vision do not face. In fact, my own child is legally blind, but she identifies as blind because blindness skills and tools help eliminate those obstacles for her.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I attended my first NOPBC conference and NFB convention in Dallas, Texas, in 2006. At that time I was an attorney in South Central Pennsylvania, trying to rebuild my law firm. My firm concentrated in the areas of estate planning and administration, real estate, and municipal law. Little did I know that my husband, our five-year-old child, Anna Catherine, and I were about to embark on an incredible journey.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>We learned so much at that NOPBC conference in 2006! I met so many amazing people, including many who are here with us today. While my family went to Dallas focusing on the NOPBC and other parents of blind/low-vision children, we discovered so much more! We discovered blind adult NFB members, people who had never met us or our child before, who cared for and mentored us as if we were family. Over the years these relationships have grown and blossomed. These individuals have served as aunts and uncles to Anna Catherine, helping her and us find and unlock doors to new opportunities. They showed us, as parents, how to escape the mindset that blindness has an adverse impact on personal fulfillment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>As president of the NOPBC, I have the privilege of sharing with each of you our CORE values. Remember, I'm an attorney, so I must start by referencing our founding document. According to the NOPBC Constitution, "The purpose of this organization shall be:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo9'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>to create a climate of opportunity for blind children in home, school, and society<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo9'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>to provide information and support to parents of blind children<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo9'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>to facilitate the sharing of experience and concerns among parents of blind children<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo9'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>to develop and expand resources available to parents and their blind children<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo9'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>to help parents of blind children gain understanding and perspective through partnership and contact with blind adults, and<o:p></o:p></span></li><li style='color:#1A1A1A;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo9'><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>to function as an integral part of the National Federation of the Blind in its ongoing effort to eliminate discrimination and prejudice against the blind and to achieve for the blind security, equality, and opportunity.”<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>These are our CORE values. We have focused on these values since our founding in 1983, and that's what we continue to strive to do. Through COVID we hosted online workshops, open houses, and informal online chats. Throughout the year we host an active Facebook group with more than five thousand members. We have an email listserv, we support the quarterly magazine <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Future Reflections, </span></em>and we maintain a treasure trove of information on our NOPBC.ORG website. Our seasoned members spend countless hours on the phone and in person with parents and families, sharing the opportunities that exist for our blind children. They strive to instill the confidence that it is both acceptable and proper to keep our expectations high—regardless of what society or educators or even family members might tell us about blindness and low vision. For my family, this support was invaluable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The year after we went to Dallas, we attended an Early Childhood Conference called "Beginnings and Blueprints" at the NFB's headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. When we went home we started making plans for Anna Catherine to get training in some blindness skills. AnnaCat could see some, but her opportunities were limited by her vision loss. At the "Beginnings and Blueprints" conference we learned that, even with some usable vision, our child could benefit from learning blindness skills.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>But we were met with resistance. School personnel dismissed our concerns. They told us, "Anna sees too well to learn Braille," and "Anna doesn't need a cane." Our families offered no greater support. You see, no one in my family or my husband's family had any experience with blindness or low vision. While most members wore glasses from young ages, their vision was fully corrected. The idea of blindness was not only foreign; it was scary. It was emotionally safer to ignore the impact of Anna Catherine's vision loss than it was to dig into an unknown world connected with a word they feared: blindness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Without the support of the NFB and of NOPBC leaders, we never could have found the strength to advocate for our child's right to have access to all opportunities—to maximize our child, not our child's vision. Through meaningful and authentic relationships with blind peers and adults, Anna Catherine learned to advocate for these opportunities. Now, at age twenty-one, she still does! Over time school staff and family members learned that skills, not vision, dictated Anna Catherine's potential to succeed, and their expectations rose—not as high as ours, but higher than theirs had ever been before.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Today is jam-packed with panels and concurrent sessions. This conference will help you gain the knowledge and resources you want and will allow you to make the connections and relationships you need to support your blind child, your family, and yourself in the years to come.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>But please note these words of caution: Sometimes, in my zeal to increase Anna Catherine's opportunities, I ended up curtailing them. This is an easy trap to fall into—replacing negative stereotypes with positive ones. Positive stereotypes are still stereotypes, and they obscure the individual within. I was determined to free Anna Catherine from stereotypes based on disability, gender, etc. I did not want anything to restrict my incredible child! I wanted Anna Catherine to engage in every opportunity that arose, and I wanted the entire world to be open to my child. While this, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, it went too far. Sometimes I focused more on breaking negative stereotypes than I did on my child's particular wants and needs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The funny thing is that my parents did the exact same thing to me. They didn't want me to limit my goals to traditional "female" roles, and they nurtured my interests in math, science, and advocacy. Unfortunately, they also actively discouraged my interest in teaching—even as an additional major in college. When I got my law degree and my MBA, I had fulfilled their dreams. But for me, something was still missing. I found that something a decade later when, with my husband's full support, I finally pursued a teaching degree and began teaching blind and low-vision students. Please don't misunderstand—I love the law! I would not give up my legal and business-school education for anything. I am who I am because of the path I took, and now I have the perfect job for me: educational consultant and advocate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Though I have no regrets, and I am fulfilled now, I spent a lot of years feeling like an outsider in my own life. I had pursued new opportunities and had successfully broken traditional societal stereotypes. But by rushing through those newly opened doors, I found others slammed shut. After all, how common is it for an attorney with a successful law practice to go into classroom teaching? Even now, many people are shocked that I became a lawyer first and then became a teacher.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>And then I did the same thing to my Anna Catherine. I fought off negative blindness stereotypes by focusing on what I considered a positive path of high expectations, encouraging her to pursue a four-year degree immediately after high school. I was substituting a negative stereotype for a positive one. By focusing my efforts on changing societal prejudices about blindness, I failed to provide the supportive environment needed to nourish my child's personal aspirations based on her individual wants and needs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Only recently have I stopped fighting obstacles and started listening to the young adult in my life. I'm so glad I did! The more I stepped back, the more we moved forward together.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I am still a staunch and steadfast advocate for my blind child and for all individuals with disabilities. I also recognize that people are far, far more interesting, creative, and valuable than any stereotype—even a positive one.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Please don't make the mistakes I made. I focused on the CORE—creating opportunities and raising expectations—but I assumed that the CORE had to be an apple core. All apples have cores, so shouldn't all cores be apple cores? And, after all, there are many varieties of apples: Fiji, Golden and Red Delicious, Rome, Granny Smith. All this variety provides enough space for individuality, doesn't it? If not, let's look at other fruit with cores, such as pears and quince. Shouldn't that be enough?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Instead of focusing on the core, we must focus on the reason for the core. In fruit, the core performs two main functions. It provides the structure that allows the fruit to grow and mature, and it provides seeds containing DNA, the blueprint for the future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Our CORE values do the same. We raise expectations by sharing the accessible, nonvisual tools and techniques that enable blind individuals to build their futures, unhampered by the low expectations of our vision-centric world. Our philosophy provides the structure, the framework for individuals to pursue their own goals. Like DNA, our core values serve as building blocks that bring forth new life and set the stage for the transformation of the world as we know it. Our CORE values provide the foundation for growth and ensure that the ecosystem of blindness need not define individuals or limit their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Focusing on the purpose, the reason that a core is important, I began to embrace this analogy in new ways. CORE values need not be limited, at least not in any way that interferes with the purpose of the CORE value. Now we can move beyond apples and pears to all fruit, including oranges, blackberries, and plums. While they do not have actual cores, they have inner architectures that provide foundations upon which the fruit may grow; they provide resources for the future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Then I wondered: Can the analogy stretch to vegetables, too? I think so. Some vegetables, such as cabbages, grow above ground in layers. Others flourish when hidden from view, like potatoes and onions. No matter what path they take, they can thrive only when they have a structure in which to grow and the nourishment they need to move ahead. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Similarly, our CORE values can embrace all individuals, without regard to additional disabilities, race, gender, or other societal prejudices. We reject societal prejudices against blind individuals, and we can reject them for all individuals. Every living thing needs a core, and we wholeheartedly offer you our CORE values and ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>We welcome you to the NOPBC Conference and to our NFB family.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>The National Federation of the Blind is our garden. Here you will find the soil, the sun, and the water of life. Here we do not practice container gardening; we do not judge or define you. Here we welcome new shoots and unknown seeds. We cannot wait to share our garden with you so that each of us may support one another in our diverse and bountiful harvest. We look forward to sharing with you our CORE values—creating opportunities and raising expectations—throughout this week and throughout our lives. Welcome!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>---------<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=monitor-miniatures><em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Monitor</span></em><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'> Miniatures<o:p></o:p></span></h2><h3 id=news-from-the-federation-family><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>News from the Federation Family<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Lyfting Up the Federation</span></strong><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>Many of us are frequent rideshare users, and it is now possible to make every ride you take using Lyft result in a donation to the National Federation of the Blind. Simply go into your profile, find the donate tab, and select the NFB from the dozen or so charities that appear there. Your fare will be rounded up, and the NFB will receive the added amount. Thank you for all that you do to move around doing the good work you do and simultaneously adding to the funds we have to help the Federation in our work.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>----------<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 id=nfb-pledge><span style='font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>NFB Pledge<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#1A1A1A'>I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>