by Oral O. Miller
Although international dignitaries often speak on the national convention program, many outstanding international guests who attend the ACB national convention are not included on the program because they come to the convention at the last minute or simply because they have chosen to attend as regular conventioners. Over the years the ACB national convention program has included presentations by several presidents of the World Blind Union as well as the leaders of outstanding national blindness service organizations from nations such as Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Sweden and Russia, along with outstanding consumer leaders from Canada, the Caribbean nations and others. In order to give more people an opportunity to meet more of these guests under less formal circumstances ACB initiated the International Forum a few years ago. The International Forum is a somewhat informal event, usually conducted early in the evening, during which international guests are recognized, given an opportunity to make a few remarks about their organizations or anything else they care to discuss, asked questions, given information and generally welcomed warmly to the ACB national convention. I urge you to check the preregistration material and to make a special effort to attend the international forum this year in order to meet and welcome the international guests who undoubtedly will be present. Although we do not always know who all of the international guests will be until registration forms are returned, we already know that an educator from China, a member of the staff of the world-famous Spanish National Organization of the Blind and a student of a highly respected American instructor of computer access technology in Japan plan to be with us.
Because of the political dynamics of some international organizations of the blind, many people in other countries have not been given an accurate report concerning the history, nature, scope and effectiveness of the American Council of the Blind. I am pleased to note that ACB national conventions and ACB Radio are helping to present a more accurate picture of who we are and what we think to people who live outside the USA. I urge you to attend our International Forum so that you can help spread the word about who we are and learn about the perspectives of people who are blind and who care about people who are blind, in the world beyond our national borders.