Randolph-Sheppard: Our History Calls Us to Action
                               by James Gashel
      From the Editor: Jim Gashel is the secretary of the National
Federation of the Blind, vice president in charge of marketing for KNFB
Reading Technologies, and former director of governmental affairs and later
head of strategic initiatives for the National Federation of the Blind. To
newer members of the Federation, Jim is best known as the man who is always
talking about books and reading technology, but to longtime members, and
especially to those who have long been active in the Randolph-Sheppard
Program, he is probably best known for his creative leadership in crafting
legislation and implementing regulations to advance the rights of blind
entrepreneurs.
      The following remarks were delivered at the 2013 Business Leadership
and Superior Training (BLAST) Conference, a place where the fruits of Jim's
work are made manifest in the lives of hundreds of blind businessmen and
businesswomen. Here is what he said to conference participants:
      Thank you very much. What a pleasure it is for me to be back at BLAST,
not to mention having the special privilege of being asked to speak to the
whole crowd, and I don't think I am expected to talk about books or to
demonstrate any technology. Wow! All I have to do is relax and say
something meaningful about blind people succeeding in business-that I can
do.
      Although BLAST reflects an interest among blind people that goes
beyond the operation of vending facilities alone, these business leadership
gatherings certainly have a rich tradition of speaking to the needs of
blind vendors. And, by the way, how about getting our more modern term,
"blind entrepreneurs," officially adopted to express who we are and who we
have become? According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, an
entrepreneur is "one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a
business or enterprise," and the same source defines "vendor" as "one who
sells" or "vending machine." So here's your choice: you can organize,
manage, and assume the risk of a business, on the one hand, or, on the
other, you can be a vending machine-take your pick.
      Now the Randolph-Sheppard Act was originally written in 1936 when two
members of Congress-Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard-put their heads
together to back an historic economic opportunity bill for the blind.
Jennings Randolph served as a member of the House of Representatives from
West Virginia, and Morris Sheppard represented Texas in the Senate. Their
vision was to create business opportunities for blind people by means of a
preference for vending stands run by the blind to be set up in federal
buildings; the concept was really quite simple and amazingly elegant.
      Elegant? I think so. Remember, we are talking about a bill developed
in the 1930s in the midst of the Great Depression. Few blind people had
jobs outside of working in workshops or making brooms or rugs at home. The
chance to have a small business if you were blind at that time was all but
unheard of, and here were two visionaries in the Congress working to create
a business program for the blind. Even more amazing, they were working to
create this program a full four years before the founding meeting of the
National Federation of the Blind in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Imagine if
Messrs. Randolph and Sheppard could be present here at BLAST 2013, how
proud they would be; their vision lives in us.
      But the vision that Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard had in 1936
was not the only vision for the blind at that time. In 1938 Congress passed
two other laws about employment of the blind, and both are still on the
books. One of these was the Wagner-O'Day Act, providing sheltered work
opportunities for the blind to make products needed by the government. This
is now called the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, and the program is known as
"Ability One." The second law enacted in 1938 was the Fair Labor Standards
Act, for the first time setting up a minimum wage for all workers in the
U.S., except for workers like the blind, who were presumed to be unable to
be productive. Unlike the Randolph-Sheppard Act, which focused on enlarging
economic opportunities, the abilities of the blind, and striving to become
self-supporting, the Wagner-O'Day Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act
focused on disabilities and limitations, promoting sheltered jobs at
substandard wages for the blind on assembly lines but no jobs in the front
office. All jobs in the executive suite were reserved for the sighted. This
vision for the blind reflected a plantation mentality.
      So what are the results of these visions from the 1930s three-quarters
of a century later? Annual gross sales reported by blind entrepreneurs in
federal fiscal year 2010-the most recent year available-$792,613,306, with
net earnings to the blind of $134,412,036, and average earnings of $56,168.
Although blind people can certainly find jobs individually that are more
lucrative, as a group blind entrepreneurs do better than any other single
subset of blind people in the U.S. and probably around the world as well.
      Turning to Ability One, $557,700,000 was paid out in wages to 48,816
blind and disabled employees in fiscal year 2012. These 48,816 employees
worked a total of 47,700,000 hours during the year, with the average number
of hours being 977, or on average less than half-time employment. With an
average hourly wage of about $11.24, the average annual compensation of
Ability One employees was $10,983 and change during 2012. Now remember that
the average net earnings of blind Randolph-Sheppard entrepreneurs was more
than $56,000 even two years before these official figures from Ability One.
      In Randolph-Sheppard, blind people are the managers, but not so in
Ability One, where the amount paid to sighted, non-disabled managers is not
even disclosed except through occasional press reports and annual charity
filings. Imagine what life would be like to be the president and CEO of
Goodwill International, perhaps the largest of the mega charities with
contracts through Ability One. According to Goodwill's form 990, filed with
the Internal Revenue Service for 2012, the president and CEO received an
annual salary of $434,252 and total benefits and other compensation of
$99,513, as well as retirement and non-taxable benefits of $103,554. Added
all together, his total compensation and benefits package amounted to
$637,319 in 2012. Also his eight other colleagues in the executive suite
with pay high enough to report, collectively received salaries and benefits
totaling $1,815,770 as a group. And all of this to produce average annual
wages of less than $11,000 for their blind and disabled employees; and they
wonder why we call it exploitation!
      Looking at the results, the vision of Randolph-Sheppard, focusing on
ability, has clearly delivered better opportunities for blind entrepreneurs
than the so-called "Ability One" program has done with its focus on
disability and limitations of blind and disabled workers. The reason why is
not a mystery. If you're looking for the secret sauce that makes the
Randolph-Sheppard vision work, look no further than the spirit of an
entrepreneur-not to mention the collective power of several hundred
entrepreneurs assembled for this conference and hundreds more working to
support one another through the National Federation of the Blind and our
merchants division.
      To be fair, the Randolph-Sheppard program does provide blind
entrepreneurs with space, resources, and support (including money) needed
to set up shop. This help is vital, but businesses succeed over time with
smart management, strategic planning, hard work, dogged determination, and
serving the customer first to sustain and build demand. State agencies do
not-cannot-provide these essentials, but all of them are job one for blind
entrepreneurs.
      In 1974 the law on federal property was changed to convert a
preference for the blind when feasible into a priority, meaning a first-in-
line status or prior right for blind people over other competing interests.
The 1930s term "vending stand," was replaced by a far broader definition of
vending facility, incorporating gift shops, cafeterias, and other services
not thought of as falling within the more limited scope of a vending stand.
The point is, blind people had outgrown the original concept of a single
vendor in a small stand and were demanding more lucrative business
opportunities.
      In 1966, when a new federal building was constructed in Des Moines,
Iowa, a great kerfuffle ensued over how food service would be provided to
employees and the public. As late as the 1950s (according to the minutes of
the Iowa Commission for the Blind), popcorn stands were the most common
form of business operated by the blind in the state, so the idea that a
blind person would operate the cafeteria in the new federal building was
unthinkable, and the law did not support this outcome.
      But the fact that the blind had popcorn stands but not cafeterias did
not stop Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and the blind of Iowa. Never mind the
limitations of the Randolph-Sheppard Act at that time; the tide of change
was rising, and the newfound voice of the blind-the organized blind-would
not be denied. So, when the cafeteria opened on the first day, Sylvester
Nimmers, a blind person, was in charge. Regardless of the limits of the
Randolph-Sheppard Act, and over the objections of the U.S. General Services
Administration, a way had been found to honor the preference for the blind.
Rather than calling the food service a cafeteria, which it was-no question-
a permit was granted for operation of a manually operated snack bar. That's
what they called it on the books at the GSA in Washington, DC, but in Des
Moines this business was a cafeteria. Call it by any name you want-call it
George or Kevan if you want-but this business was a cafeteria. The rising
expectations of the blind would not be denied.
      So it was by no means an accident that, when the 1974 amendments to
the Randolph-Sheppard Act were written, cafeterias were specified as
covered under the priority for the blind. Through our advocacy in Congress
we made that happen. Today, although the Ability One executives don't like
it, cafeterias even include military troop dining services. The businesses
resulting from these contracts keep faith with the Randolph-Sheppard Act
objective to support blind people in achieving their maximum vocational
potential. In fact some blind entrepreneurs show higher annual earnings
than the sighted executives at Ability One and its affiliates. Need I add
that they do this without exploiting their blind or disabled employees?
Business opportunities awarded to blind entrepreneurs resulting from the
vision of Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard are among the best business
opportunities available to blind people anywhere in the world.
      And what of our counterparts, the state agencies and the Department
of Education? Clearly some of the state agencies are our partners and stand
with us in promoting the vision of Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard.
Some of those agencies are represented at this conference, and others would
be here, state funds and travel restrictions permitting. To those who
support us and work with the blind to expand opportunities we say: your
support deserves our support. When times get hard, when jobs are on the
line and budgets get tight, you can count on our support, and you have
nothing to fear from the blind.
      But, I think I have to say this: there are other agencies that have
turned their backs on blind entrepreneurs and view the Randolph-Sheppard
program as an annoyance. Rather than taking pride in the success achieved
by blind entrepreneurs, their administrators and staff resent the blind and
especially resent those whose earnings exceed their own. Rather than
sharing the entrepreneurial spirit of Jennings Randolph and Morris
Sheppard, they view the blind as subservient. And to these agencies and
their resentful staff we say: your days are numbered. Although you may not
understand or believe this fact, the jobs you have depend on us. Trample on
the blind if you will, but we will not forget what you have done.
      To the Department of Education for failing in its statutory
stewardship on behalf of the Randolph-Sheppard vision and mission we say:
shame on you. Shame on you for putting bureaucratic inertia-the desire to
go along and get along-ahead of doing your duty to build more opportunities
and better lives for the blind. And shame on you especially for tying the
hands of our friends and colleagues both inside and outside of the
Department who share the vision of Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard.
To the blind it matters not whether your failure comes from ineptness,
indifference, or a conscious disregard of the law; the result for the blind
in lost opportunities and wasted lives is all the same.
      Finally, what of ourselves-America's blind entrepreneurs and our
friends? To this group-growing in numbers and firm in purpose-we say: on
behalf of the blind we salute you. In business and in life you are the
finest examples of success and tenacity. Because of you the vision of
Jennings Randolph and Morris Sheppard is still alive. For the blind of the
present generation and the generations to come, we thank you. Through your
entrepreneurial spirit you are changing what it means to be blind.
                                 ----------