THE Braille Forum Vol. XXXIV June 1996 No. 11 Published By The American Council of the Blind THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND STRIVES TO INCREASE THE INDEPENDENCE, SECURITY, EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY, AND QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE. Paul Edwards, President Oral O. Miller, J.D., Executive Director Nolan Crabb, Editor Sharon Lovering, Editorial Assistant National Office: 1155 15th St. N.W. Suite 720 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 467-5081 Fax: (202) 467-5085 Electronic bulletin board: (202) 331-1058 THE BRAILLE FORUM is available in braille, large print, half- speed four-track cassette tape and MS-DOS computer disk. Subscription requests, address changes, and items intended for publication should be sent to: Nolan Crabb, THE BRAILLE FORUM, 1155 15th St. N.W., Suite 720, Washington, DC 20005. Those much-needed contributions, which are tax-deductible, can be sent to Patricia Beattie, treasurer, at the above address. If you wish to remember a relative or friend by sharing in the council's continuing work, the national office has printed cards available to acknowledge contributions made by loved ones in memory of deceased people. Anyone wishing to remember the American Council of the Blind in his/her Last Will and Testament may do so by including a special paragraph for that purpose. If your wishes are complex, you may contact the ACB National Office. For the latest in legislative and governmental news, call the "Washington Connection" toll-free at (800) 424-8666, 6 p.m. to midnight eastern time Monday through Friday. Washington, D.C., residents only call 331-2876. Copyright 1996 American Council of the Blind TABLE OF CONTENTS President's Message: Protecting Our Future, by Paul Edwards We Won The Battle -- Are We Ready For The War?, by Mitch Pomerantz Report Of The Executive Director, by Oral O. Miller Last-Minute Convention Tips, by John A. Horst Legal Access: The Case To Watch, by Charles D. Goldman Aging And Blindness: Convention Programs Offer New Perspectives And Personalities, by Teddie Remhild World Forum On Literacy: Plan For The Future, by Kim Charlson Affiliate News Touching Russia, by Nick Racheotes Follow Your Nose To A Great Vacation, by Sharon Lovering Blind Justice, by Leonard D. DuBoff Here And There, by Elizabeth M. Lennon High Tech Swap Shop In Houston, Description's The Word, by Edwin Rumsey PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE: PROTECTING OUR FUTURE by Paul Edwards My last month has been spent, when not working at the community college where I coordinate Disabled Student Services, immersed in the issue of transition. I have attended a conference on that subject and have made two presentations to large groups on some of the issues that concern me in this area. I decided that I would share some of my thoughts on this subject. Before you decide to stop reading this message and move on to other parts of the "Forum," consider some statistics. According to some longitudinal studies of the effects of mainstreaming that have been published by the Department of Education, 95 percent of blind students who graduated from high school have not worked. 95 percent of blind students who graduated from high school have not dated. 96 percent of blind students who graduated from high school have not been involved in any extracurricular activities. Of course these statistics are samples of students and may not even be representative ones. Nevertheless, these statistics ought to send a chill through all of us who care about the future success of blind people. Mainstreaming and inclusion may have improved the academic performance of blind children in school. But what price have these students paid? There is increasing evidence that blind students are not learning braille in school, are not receiving orientation and mobility instruction sufficient to make them reasonably independent travelers when they graduate, and are not learning the daily living skills that will enable them to live on their own once they leave school. If inclusionists have their way, the situation will get even worse. In what appears to be the most widely used model, blind students will have a teacher's aide right in the regular education classroom to provide them with the assistance they need. Many of the tasks the blind student should be doing will end up being done for him or her by the aide. None of the aides will have the specialized training that is so essential if blind students are to learn the specialized skills they need to succeed at life. All the blindness-related organizations have repeatedly expressed their objections to the inclusion model and have continuously advocated for a model of education that stresses that the needs of the individual student must be met and that services for that student should be delivered in the environment that enables the student to learn optimally. There is an increasing recognition of the importance of technology to all students in school. This has resulted in initiatives by the current administration that would aim to assure that there is a computer in every classroom in our nation. Will this have the effect of integrating or isolating students who are blind? How many of our students or our teachers receive training in access technology? How many teacher preparation programs even include classes in this subject? Without access to technology, blind people will be increasingly less able than their peers who can see to get and keep jobs or to be players on the information highway. We, as consumers, must continue to press for changes that will make blind students competitive whether these involve technology or braille or special curricula to teach self-advocacy. The students in school today are the ACB members of tomorrow. Our scholarship program attests to the ability of people who are blind to compete with anybody in virtually any field. They can only compete if they have the basic blindness skills they need. Perhaps even more important is the development of a sense of self. Too often blind students do not have confidence in their ability to succeed or a good sense of where they want to go once the business of school is over. While we can and should work at the national level to assure that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) contains important provisions that protect blind students, there is also room for and an even more urgent need for us to be active on the state and local levels. At the state level, a state plan must be adopted each year. Representatives from our state affiliates should request copies of that plan in accessible formats and should appear at public hearings that are mandated by law to recommend changes that will make certain that blind students have access to the specialized services they need. Many states have passed braille bills that aim to make braille instruction mandatory for those students who can benefit. Many of the states that have passed bills still have not written regulations so the law has not been implemented. Our state affiliates must become involved in these regulations and in their implementation or we need not have bothered to get the laws put on the books. Even more important are local chapters. Blind students don't have access to older role models who are blind. For many of us who attended schools for the blind, this was not a problem. Many of our teachers and many of the graduates from schools for the blind worked with the schools and were prepared to share what they had learned about the big, bad world with young blind people. With mainstreaming and inclusion our blind youngsters are isolated from other blind people and, all too often, both their parents and their teachers discourage them from associating with other blind people. Our local chapters can have a tremendous impact on young people who are blind if they can create connections with local school districts and with parent organizations in their areas. If I had my way, every local chapter would have at least one educational activity every year. Maybe chapters could do a luncheon or dinner for students entering high school. Perhaps members could work as braille tutors as they now do in Missouri. Perhaps there could be a project to raise funds to buy access technology for blind students if it is not being made available by school systems. The key point here is that we need to infuse blind students with a belief in their own abilities, potential and worth. They need you! While our involvement at the state and local level is paramount, we must all be sure that IDEA as it is reauthorized contains the important provisions for blind students that are now better provided by the House bill. It includes most of the language jointly agreed to by organizations of and for the blind about the inclusion of braille in the development of individualized plans for each blind student who can benefit from learning braille. It also includes language on assistive technology and orientation and mobility that will assure that both of these services are considered. When it comes time for the conference committee to put together a final version of the bill, we must advocate for these and other provisions. Keep in touch with the "Washington Connection" and be prepared to let your voice be heard. Any short article cannot cover all the issues. Teacher preparation programs in vision are losing much of their federal support and are disappearing. How can our students be trained in the specialized blindness skills they must acquire if we are not graduating teachers who have the training they need? Too often itinerant teachers are doing the work of regular education teachers rather than providing the training the students so desperately need. Regular education teachers can graduate without having any courses dealing with how students who are disabled should be integrated into their classrooms. Students are often kept from extracurricular activities because they must use school buses that leave immediately after school. Very few school systems have done a good job developing physical education programs that include blind students or vocational education offerings that allow blind students to get work experience or good career counseling. I could go on and on. Though it may seem melodramatic and exaggerated, I truly believe that, since mainstreaming, a whole generation of students has been lost to inferior public school education. We must act to assure that this does not go on. The capabilities of blind students must be recognized and nurtured. We cannot afford not to intervene. Our future as an organization and the continued success of blind people is at risk! Please help! WE WON THE BATTLE -- ARE WE READY FOR THE WAR? by Mitch Pomerantz I am normally an early riser, even on Sundays. On this particular Sunday morning (I think around 8:30-ish) a week or so before Christmas, I was not especially awake for whatever reason. So I was not clicking on all cylinders when the phone rang. The caller was Dr. Joy Effron, Coordinating Principal, Frances Blend School for the Blind. Frances Blend (the teacher) accepted her first student in 1915; the school opened its doors in 1917. It is the last remaining K through 6 day school program for blind and visually impaired children anywhere in the country. Many of us in southern California and elsewhere throughout the state are alumni of that excellent institution. I was proud to have been in attendance at the school's 75th anniversary celebration in 1990. What Dr. Effron called about was a lengthy piece which appeared in the Sunday edition of the "Daily News," a suburban Los Angeles newspaper. The article stated that as a result of a two-year-old lawsuit filed on behalf of a learning-disabled teenager by the name of Chanda Smith, the board of education was about to sign a "consent decree" which, among other things, would result in the ultimate closure of Frances Blend School. Smith, a former student at one of the 18 separate special education facilities run by the Los Angeles Unified School District, alleged that she had received an inferior education compared to other children attending integrated schools. Hence, the suit demanded that all separate schools either be shut down, with all disabled students -- regardless of the severity of their disabilities -- placed in mainstream schools as near to their homes as possible, or be fully integrated by accepting non- disabled students. The proposed consent decree was not specific as to when either scenario would occur but the intent was certainly clear. After getting the gist of the story from Dr. Effron, I told her that the California Council of the Blind would do whatever was necessary to prevent the district from signing that document as constituted. Not surprisingly, our old "inclusionist" friends -- those people who believe that every disabled child should be educated in an integrated classroom setting no matter what might be best for a given child -- were squarely behind this effort. I say not surprisingly because five or six years ago, I testified before a board of education committee in opposition to a proposal which would have discontinued funding of all "segregated" schools in the district. Guess who was pushing that proposal? Fortunately, this gambit was unsuccessful! The plaintiff was represented by both Protection and Advocacy and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation. It should be noted that P&A had at least two attorneys on staff who made their careers challenging the school district on behalf of disabled children (including a nephew of mine several years ago), so I knew that organization's sympathies rather intimately. In addition, the two consultants brought in to work on the decree were well-known for espousing the "inclusionist" party line that full integration of children with disabilities was the ONLY WAY to go. To make matters worse yet, the attorney retained by the school board to represent the district in court had commented publicly that he believed -- based on his reading of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act -- that separate schools were indeed prohibited under the act. It appeared, as I began searching for an attorney to argue our position, that the cards were stacked heavily against us. I enlisted Stanley Fleishman, who has been one of the leading disability-rights lawyers in the country for nearly three decades. Himself mobility impaired due to childhood polio, Fleishman attended a special school for disabled children. Although he has worked closely with the ACLU on a number of projects over the years, Stan was more than willing to take on his old compatriots due to his belief in the necessity of maintaining separate schools as an education option and a matter of parental choice. In preparation for the expected hearings, I gathered much material including educational data from the American Foundation for the Blind and the recently released "Policy Guidance on Educating Blind and Visually Impaired Students" by Dr. Judith Heumann, Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. This material proved invaluable to our efforts and I subsequently received two thank-you letters from board members for providing them with copies. Three hearings were scheduled for late January; I testified at the one held at district headquarters on the 29th. Dr. Effron, despite receiving private warnings against "stirring up trouble" from both her union and her immediate supervisor (the administrator in charge of all special education for the district), successfully mustered several dozen parents to speak in favor of retaining the 18 schools, particularly Frances Blend. This was no mean feat considering that a large number of these parents are monolingual (Spanish-speaking only) and work days. The vast majority of the hundred or so speakers provided compelling testimony about the need for separate special education facilities, and the six elected board members in attendance were clearly impressed by what they heard. The final paragraph of my statement pretty well summed up CCB's position: "In closing, let me say unequivocally to the so- called 'inclusionists' (who have tried for many years to impose their narrow and misguided viewpoint on the education community), to the ACLU Foundation (whose expertise in the area of special education is minimal), and to the members of the Los Angeles Board of Education, that the organized blind movement here in California and throughout the nation will not tolerate the closure of Frances Blend, or any other special education school serving blind and visually impaired children. We are wholly committed and fully prepared to take this district to federal court, something we know you are attempting to avoid by signing this ill-conceived, biased document. If the current consent decree is signed, be assured that we will see you in court. No one involved in this matter is going to force their notion of special education upon the California Council of the Blind without a very long and nasty fight! You can count on it." Later that week, I met for over an hour with the lead attorney for Protection and Advocacy, once again stating CCB's strong opposition to the consent decree as written, and indicating our commitment to take the matter to court, if necessary. It was a very interesting discussion and I think the plaintiff's attorney learned a great deal about categorical special education services, particularly for blind children. Prior to the board hearings and my meeting, proponents of the decree told everyone that the board of education was prepared to recommend that it be signed. Up until then, it appeared to be a "done deal." It wasn't! Subsequently, it seems that all parties to the proposed consent decree had a change of heart. On March 14th, a revised document removing all language calling for elimination of the 18 special schools was signed by both sides. On April 15th, Federal District Judge Laughlin Waters gave his final approval and the consent decree is now in the implementation phase. We can now declare total victory in saving Frances Blend School for the Blind in Los Angeles. Not only were we victorious, but we also managed to enlighten members of the school board concerning the importance of maintaining separate school facilities as part of the education continuum. This was accomplished without having to employ legal counsel to protect our interests. If necessary, we would have done so and dragged all parties to the original decree into court. That's the type of commitment I suspect we'll need in the future. The CCB was very lucky! More importantly though, we were fully dedicated to the cause of saving this valuable educational resource. Be forewarned, however, that those advocating for 100 percent mainstreaming of disabled children are a very persistent bunch. They will be back sometime, somewhere, challenging the need for separate residential programs for the blind in the name of "full inclusion." Will we be prepared to deal with them? We'd better be! REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR by Oral O. Miller The thousands of tourists who pour into Washington, D.C. each spring to see the world-famous cherry blossoms would have trouble believing how busy advocacy organizations such as the American Council of the Blind become after Congress returns to session -- contrary to the impression created by the anti-government sentiment that has become so popular in recent years. While the regulatory process continues to a great extent throughout the year, the legislative process truly moves into high gear, as it did this year. One of the first of several important meetings taking place while thousands of people were enjoying the cherry blossoms outside was the Section 504 Accessibility Self Evaluation conducted by the Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Service (OSERS). At that meeting disabled people, including this writer as the spokesman for the American Council of the Blind, had an opportunity to comment on the department's accessibility plan. Readers of "The Braille Forum" will recall a reference in a previous article to the willingness of OSERS to make printed material available in usable forms if requested by blind citizens. (See "Report of The Executive Director," February 1996.) A few days later, Governmental Affairs Director Julie Carroll and I met with Rehabilitation Services commissioner Fred Schroeder and other RSA officials to discuss on a preliminary basis the coming reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act. Input regarding this extremely important matter will be requested from time to time via the "Washington Connection," "The Braille Forum" and other vehicles, so be prepared to respond when asked to do so. This year many of the partner federated groups making up Independent Charities of America opted to conduct membership and/or board meetings on the premises of member organizations. As part of this plan to enable organizational members to become more familiar with their fellow member organizations, ACB hosted both the membership and board of directors meeting of Human Service Charities of America, one of the partner federations making up Independent Charities of America. Recently it was our pleasure to be visited by Mr. Samuel Labue, a member of United Disabled Persons of Kenya who is visiting American organizations and facilities connected with the representation, education and training of blind people. The program under which he was visiting the USA was sponsored by a federal government agency that encourages the international exchange and sharing of ideas and information. Much of the time during the World Blind Union Regional Committee Meeting which ACB President Paul Edwards and I attended in Montreal, Canada, dealt with the upcoming international assembly of the World Blind Union in Toronto in August and the International Forum on the Concerns of Blind Women immediately preceding the assembly. Since space is limited at both functions and since a registration process is required, anyone interested in obtaining information about these activities may procure an audio cassette and set of printed materials by contacting the ACB national office. Although there is a limit as to how many people ACB may sponsor at these meetings, anyone who may be interested in attending on his/her own is encouraged to do so. Recently it was, indeed, a pleasure for me to make my first visit to the state of Wyoming and to speak on the state convention program of the Wyoming Council of the Blind, held in Douglas, Wyo., near Casper. One session was divided into concurrent sessions and I opted, as a matter of personal privilege, to attend the concurrent session advertised as being for sighted people. The purpose of the session, which was facilitated by blindness consultants from the state rehabilitation agency, was to give sighted spouses and significant others an opportunity to ask questions and share information regarding their status. While I was initially somewhat skeptical about the advisability of such a meeting under the circumstances that existed there, the facilitators conducted the meeting in a very professional, informative and dignified manner. As has been pointed out by many others, sighted spouses and significant others are in a unique personal position involving close human relations and interdependence. ACB continues to advocate for appropriate universal design in the field of telecommunications and to that end, "Braille Forum" editor Nolan Crabb recently took part in important meetings with the Federal Communications Commission focusing on universal service and the deliberations of the FCC Disability Task Force. Some of the never-ending advocacy efforts in furtherance of information access for blind people included his meeting with an organization that is exploring the production of braille or otherwise accessible travelers' checks and the display of museum exhibits in more meaningful ways for blind and visually impaired viewers. Recently he also attended the second meeting of the advisory committee that is assisting the Texas Education Agency in preparing the report it is required to make to the Texas Legislature. He has agreed to co-author several sections of the final report and work closely with others in attendance to ensure that the report primarily deals with blind and visually impaired students and access to electronic texts as mandated by the legislature. In an effort to ensure that final recommendations would be appropriate and realistic, the group spent much of its time observing some of the current technology in use in Texas schools. The task force is working very closely with publishers to create guidelines that could serve as a model for other states interested in improving access to CD-ROM book technologies. Among the important presentations made recently by ACB staff members was that of Governmental Affairs Director Julie Carroll as she met with the members of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind. During her remarks she discussed the various legislative, regulatory and judicial issues of importance to blind people and underscored the need to defend categorical services in this era of "one size fits all" thinking. She also spoke recently at the conference of the Pennsylvania Vision Teachers. Inasmuch as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is scheduled to be reauthorized in the near future, that opportunity to exchange ideas with classroom teachers was especially valuable. The important role played by ACB officers, board members, national committee personnel and staff members in speaking on state convention programs has been noted in recent meetings of the ACB board of directors. Recent presentations that have come to our attention include those by Stephen Speicher in Alabama, Charles Hodge in Wisconsin, Stephen Speicher in Arkansas, Ardis Bazyn in California, M.J. Schmitt in Mississippi, Sue Ammeter and Julie Carroll in Colorado, LeRoy Saunders in Nebraska, Patricia Beattie in Massachusetts, Janiece Petersen in Utah and Pam Shaw in Vermont. I'm pleased to announce that the 1996 ACB national office student intern will be Mr. James Denham of Janesville, Wis. Jim has just completed his junior year at St. Norbert's College in Da Peer, Wis., and is majoring in computer science. The 1996 ACB budget as approved by the board of directors authorized the creation of a new professional position to be filled during the latter months of this year. Further information concerning that position, which will probably be titled Director of Advocacy, will be published in the next issue of "The Braille Forum." The subject areas about which applicants will need to be knowledgeable will include, among others, social security benefits, rehabilitation services, common areas of discrimination (such as employment, education, transportation, housing, etc.), services available to blind people in most communities and policies and practices of ACB and affiliated organizations. LAST-MINUTE CONVENTION TIPS by John A. Horst This month, Tulsa, Okla. is waiting to welcome you. This year convention packets were sent out in late April. As a result, convention attendees should have their plans nearly completed. Pre-convention forms must be received in ACB's Minneapolis office by June 17, 1996, if you wish to take advantage of reduced pre-registration costs. Some meetings and tours have limited space available, so send in your forms early. As of this writing, the Adams-Mark Hotel still has vacancies, and the Howard Johnson has rooms available. Rates at the Adams- Mark are $47 plus tax; at the Howard Johnson, $40 for one person, plus $6 for each additional person in the same room, plus tax. Telephone numbers are: the Adams-Mark, (918) 582-9000, and the Howard Johnson, (918) 585-5898. An audio map of the Doubletree Hotel and the convention center will be available at the convention registration office. Ask for it when you pick up your registration packet. The first activity of this year's convention is the overnight tour to Branson, Mo. That will depart from the Doubletree Hotel Friday, June 28, at 7:15 a.m. One shuttle will operate between the convention hotels and the convention center on Friday, June 28, starting at 6:45 a.m. Three shuttles will operate from Saturday, June 29 through Saturday, July 6 at 1 p.m. On Saturday at 8:30 a.m. the ACB board of directors will meet. At 1 p.m. exhibits will open at the convention center. At 2:30 p.m. there will be an open meeting on environmental access. At 5 p.m. an information session is planned for people attending the convention for the first time. At 7:30 p.m. there is a welcome party for students and at 8:30 p.m. there is a great Oklahoma party with entertainment and some surprises for everyone. Other highlights include a get acquainted teenagers' pizza party Saturday at 7 p.m. and on Sunday at 12 noon the baseball fanatics' luncheon will take place, featuring Warren Spahn, a famous major league pitcher from the former Milwaukee Braves. As you can see, Saturday evening begins a very busy convention week. The opening ceremonial session with roll call of the delegations will take place Sunday at 8 p.m. Convention attendees should arrive early, pick up their convention packet at the registration office at the Coventry Room located on the mezzanine of the Doubletree Hotel and be ready for a challenging and exciting week. For those who want to know more about tours, there will be an information meeting on Sunday at 11 a.m. in room 2A of the convention center. All tours other than the overnight tour will depart from the north exit of the convention center. The volunteers on the convention committee and the Oklahoma Council of the Blind host committee as well as the staff of ACB are doing their best to accommodate you in 1996. Don't miss out on a great 35th ACB convention! They get better and better every year. Program Sessions You've Got to Hear: An observer once described the ACB national convention week as an "intellectual smorgasbord" -- meaning that people have an opportunity to feast on an enormous variety of informative and fascinating presentations and discussions. This year's convention will live up to this title, so plan on taking advantage of as many opportunities as possible. Consider, for example, the Monday plenary session will kick off with an inspirational presentation by Richard Ruffalo, a blind teacher and athletic coach from New Jersey who was selected the 1995 Disney and McDonald's Teacher of the Year and who is also a world champion athlete who will be representing the USA in the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. That session will end with remarks by one of the nation's most popular award-winning talking book narrators, Ms. Jill Ferris of Talking Book Publishers. One of the highlights of the Tuesday session will be a very realistic point and counterpoint panel discussion of the practice of educational inclusion by a very progressive superintendent of a state residential school for the blind, the president of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired and a blind educator working in the mainstream of public education. Another highlight will be a report by the Assistant Commissioner for Disability of the United States Social Security Administration, the federal agency that is primarily responsible for administering the disability insurance and return to work policies impacting blind and visually impaired people. A Wednesday presentation that you will not want to miss will be that of the director of the prestigious Hilton-Perkins Foundation, which is dedicated to establishing programs to improve the well-being of blind people in developing nations. That presentation will be followed by the observations of our featured international guest, Ms. Lola Marsen of Kingston, Jamaica, who will discuss, among other things, a survey recently completed regarding the status of blind women. Later an outstanding panel made up of active ACB members will show what individual members and affiliates can do realistically to promote access to information -- and not just via high-tech computer applications, either. This year's banquet speaker, Dr. James Boren, is one of the best such speakers in many years! The insights of this internationally known humorist and political analyst flip easily from pages to platforms to galleries; his remarks draw on his extensive travel to 56 countries as well as his broad experience at senior levels in business, government, and education. The last of his six educational degrees was presented in recognition of his development work in Latin America and his constructive uses of humor throughout the world. His sense of humor and keen understanding of the American political scene were demonstrated in 1992 when he was a candidate for president for the Apathy Party of America with the slogan "I have what it takes to take what you have." Although our special-interest affiliates encourage members and non-members alike to register for all of their meetings, no, it is generally not necessary to register in order to attend a special-interest session to hear a particularly good speaker. What a treat it would be to be able to go from afternoon meeting to afternoon meeting to hear some of these outstanding speakers or topics: an update on Supreme Court decisions as summarized by Dr. Otis Stephens for ABLA on Monday, the history of the Perkins brailler by Judi Cannon of Howe Press for BRL on Tuesday, a report on the WBU International Forum on Literacy by Kim Charlson for BRL and LUA on Wednesday, the impact of proposed amendments to copyright laws on blind people as analyzed by attorney Mark Richert for BRL and LUA on Wednesday, enhancing personal relationships (friendship and dating) by Dr. Phyllis Burson for NABS and CFVI on Monday, how to get public libraries involved in providing services to blind and visually impaired people (for LUA, on Monday), aging with lifelong blindness (for the Aging & Blindness Committee on Monday), and what's in the independent living movement for blind people (by Pam Shaw of Liberty Resources of Philadelphia on Tuesday). The foregoing list is just a tiny percentage of the dozens of fascinating topics that will be discussed throughout the week -- and I haven't even mentioned the Friday afternoon legislative workshop yet. This year's workshop will include an absolutely current update concerning legislative and regulatory matters of importance to blind people as well as a step-by-step explanation of the legislative process and ways in which we as ACB members can make our voices heard much more effectively by our congressional representatives and state legislators. In summary, I hope to meet you at the intellectual smorgasbord. CAPTIONS Sue Ammeter, chair of the awards committee, reads an announcement on the convention floor in Greensboro. All photos copyright 1995 by Ken Nichols. Margarine Beaman laughs as LeRoy Saunders presents her with a life membership plaque and jokingly chides her for being hard to find in the high energy of her convention schedule. In the press room, Gary Patterson checks the paper path on the Versabraille braille printer as Nolan Crabb checks the newspaper's copy on the computer. LEGAL ACCESS: THE CASE TO WATCH by Charles D. Goldman (Reprinted with permission from "Horizons," June 1996.) The United States Supreme Court will finish its work later this month or the first part of July. Before adjourning, it will render a decision in a critical case, Lane v. Pena, which could spark great debate over what are the appropriate remedies in cases of discrimination, especially about the availability of damages against entities which violate civil rights laws. Lane v. Pena involves a claim for compensatory damages against the federal government for wrongfully expelling a merchant marine academy cadet with a disability. The academy, operated by the federal government, failed to reasonably accommodate an otherwise qualified student who has insulin- dependent diabetes. The case was argued before the Supreme Court this past April. Certain disability groups, including the Disability Rights Education Defense Fund, the American Council of the Blind, and the American Diabetes Association, filed/signed on to friend of the court (amicus curiae) briefs supporting the right of the person with a disability to recover monetary damages. In light of the significant number of people with disabilities and the vast presence of the federal government in this community, Lane is particularly important here. Many wrongs will go unredressed if compensatory damages are not available against the federal government. If Lane loses, people with disabilities lose. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals last year upheld the award of damages against the United States, relying on Franklin v. Gwinnett, the 1992 decision giving damages under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act (sexual harassment). The court of appeals rejected the federal government's claim that damages were not authorized against the United States. The court of appeals found compensatory damages were an appropriate remedy in light of the broad authority of courts under Section 504 to enforce the duty to make reasonable accommodations. No matter what the court decides (and the thinking here is that indeed damages are available against the federal government), the situation is not good, particularly for President Clinton. If the Clinton administration wins on the law, which is doubtful, it will lose politically. In fact, it already has. In Lane v. Pena the Clinton administration, which professes to strongly support the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act mandates not to discriminate, argued that compensatory damages were not available against the United States! In fact, it was the Clinton administration that took the case to the Supreme Court! This is somewhat inconsistent. If you support the law, you have to take the consequences of complying or not complying with the law. You cannot pick and choose what parts of the law you want to apply to your entity. And this is just what the Clinton administration is doing in fighting Lane v. Pena in the highest court of the land. The Clinton administration is saying it is fine to have a law banning discrimination, but that law should have no teeth when you apply it to me if I violate it. Not in my backyard (NIMBY) does the law have monetary sanctions. The Clinton administration approach in Lane is not exactly a passion for justice for people with disabilities. By arguing assiduously over damages and taking the Lane case to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Clinton administration has introduced an element of flaccidity to its purported commitment to equal rights for people with disabilities. If the Clinton administration somehow prevails and damages are not available, there will be renewed debate on what the remedies should be if an entity violates the Rehabilitation Act, ADA and other civil rights laws. And given the conservative nature of the current Congress, the debate will not be about expanding the damages provisions. To the contrary, it is quite logical and inevitable that state and local governments and private entities will start beating on Congress' doors for the damages provision not to apply to them too. "Why should the standard be different for them?" will be the argument. If the federal government does not have to pay compensatory damages, why should they? Can't you see Speaker of the House Gingrich, Sen. Dole and some freshmen introducing the Civil Rights Relief Act of 1996 to liberate everyone from the evils of compensatory damages? But if (and hopefully when) the Clinton administration loses, it is left with much legal/political egg on its face. The Clinton administration will have to explain how it could oppose damages for people who violate the rights of people with disabilities. Sen. Dole, who is politically savvy, will stand up as a person with a disability and applaud a decision upholding damages as a victory for people with disabilities over the Clinton administration and for keeping the feds on the same footing as state and local governments, small businesses and every other entity which must comply. (Never mind what Dole would have done if the case had been decided the other way. We'll never know.) By taking Lane to the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice (and whoever at the White House knew) has made a very bad political decision. No matter how the case is decided, one potent message already seen clearly by people with disabilities from Lane is that the Clinton administration will not always be there fighting for you. While you knew that in your gut, rarely is it so obvious. You would have thought the Clinton administration would have been smart enough not to make such a blunder until after the election. At this rate, things could be closer than you think in November. AGING AND BLINDNESS: CONVENTION PROGRAMS OFFER NEW PERSPECTIVES AND PERSONALITIES by Teddie Remhild The Committee on Aging and Blindness, formerly known as the Committee on Elderly Concerns, chaired by Teddie Remhild, who also chairs the Committee on Senior Blind and Visually Impaired for the California Council of the Blind, will be offering more programs with more diversity at this year's ACB national convention in Tulsa, Okla. The committee's two-panel workshop presentations on Monday and Tuesday will deal with two distinctly different blindness and aging life experiences, their challenges and successful solutions. In addition, each panel member will present a unique and individual perspective. A goal of the committee is to be informative regarding the diversity of life experiences among not only the blind, but older adults, thereby bursting bubbles of stereotyping. On Monday, July 1, the workshop will focus on lifelong blindness or visual impairment and aging. Panel members will be: LeRoy Saunders, immediate past president of ACB, Oklahoma City; Arianna Calesso, president, New Jersey Council of the Blind; John Sutton, retired psychologist, Veterans Administration, Maryland; and Betty Gayzagian, committee member, Watertown, Mass. On Tuesday afternoon, the committee's workshop will address the issues of "New Vision Loss in Later Years" with panelists Alan Beatty, president of ACB of Colorado; Peggy Shoel, committee member and editor of the Washington Council of the Blind's newsletter; Carol Ewing, member, Nevada Council of the Blind; and Jane Kardas, local chapter president, California Council of the Blind. Diversity in life experiences will be emphasized; audience dialogue will be encouraged during these presentations. In addition to these programs, a new offering will be scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in the president's suite. Focus groups will be facilitated by Dr. John Sutton, Teresa Blessing, president of the Council of Citizens with Low Vision International, and Betty Gayzagian. These will be small groups discussing such issues as emotional adjustment, retirement, health programs and medical care, and social attitudes from the general public toward aging and blindness. Attendees may sign up for the focus groups at the workshops or by contacting the chairperson or other committee members. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. The Committee on Aging and Blindness plans on becoming a more integral and important part of the American Council of the Blind, participating to a greater extent in outreach activities and advocacy. As the 50-plus population increases, it will become increasingly important to address the varied issues as well as network nationally with the sharing of solutions, support and active advocacy, which will be a primary goal. It is hoped that these convention programs will provide an opportunity for members and attendees to voice their concerns. Other committee members are Teresa Blessing, Florida, Betty Gayzagian, Massachusetts, John Sutton, Maryland, Betty Krause, Nevada, Peggy Shoel, Washington, Elizabeth Lennon, Michigan, and Vera McClain, Alabama. Your input with any of the members is important to the committee and will be considered in future convention programs and other activities. WORLD FORUM ON LITERACY: Plan for the Future by Kim Charlson (Editor's note: Kim Charlson serves as president of the Braille Revival League, an affiliate of the American Council of the Blind. She is also a member of ACB's board of publications.) It was my pleasure to represent the American Council of the Blind at the World Forum on Literacy sponsored by the World Blind Union in Montevideo, Uruguay, March 25-27, 1996. It was a very enlightening and exciting experience. The trip itself was quite long, with flying time totaling about 15 hours. With layover time, it took close to 20 hours to travel there. I flew from Boston to Miami, then boarded a flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil, which took eight hours, then flew on to Montevideo, Uruguay which took an additional two hours. The conference was very informative. With more than 40 countries represented, there was considerable diversity among participants. Some of the countries represented were: the United States, Canada, Cuba, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sudan, Kenya, India, Spain, England, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Chile. The conference theme was "End of the century, end of illiteracy," and conference presentations gave participants information on current areas of concern, effective programs promoting literacy, and future actions to ensure literacy for blind and visually impaired persons. Some of the major issues discussed were: the effects of poverty on illiteracy for the blind and visually impaired; evaluation of global literacy needs and resources; access to information and library services; literacy programs for women; the role of the next generation digital talking book; braille literacy and technology; and the role of the United Nations in literacy activities for people who are blind. A draft paper with recommendations and strategies for implementation was prepared and will be delivered to the United Nations. The primary recommendation to the United Nations, UNESCO, and the World Bank will be that any literacy programs funded by any of these entities provide a component for braille literacy programs for blind and visually impaired people throughout the world. Presently, literacy services funded by these entities have no consideration for the literacy needs of people who are blind. After the conference concluded, I was able to explore some of Montevideo. I visited a craft bazaar right across from my hotel that had wonderful hand-crafted items. Uruguay is noted for its leather, amethysts, quartz, agate, marble, and bone and horn carvings. The currency is the peso, and I must admit, it was very challenging to figure out how many pesos I needed to pay for my purchases. One dollar equals approximately seven and a half pesos. Uruguay is world famous for its beef, so needless to say, I ate a lot of very good steak. The traditional meal is steak and potatoes, sound familiar? I also ate some very good empanadas (a spicy meat pie). Spanish food and Coca-Cola and Pepsi are everywhere, as well as the inevitable McDonald's. On a bus tour of Montevideo, I learned how the city got its name. The story is that when the Spanish settled there, the military was surveying the area and they tended to name or number everything. There is one large hill about 140 meters high, and they gave the hill the number six, but they wrote it in Roman numerals, VI. The word for hill or mountain is Spanish is monte. When the soldiers were on top of the hill, they had an extraordinary view from east to west which is deo in Spanish. Therefore, you put all this together and you have Monte-vi-deo, mountain six with a view from east to west. The tour also stopped at the National Palace, which is that nation's equivalent to the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. It was very beautiful. More than 17 different colors and textures of marble were used in its construction. It took 18 years to build, and was completed in 1927, just in time for the country's centennial celebration in 1930. While I was there, they were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Socialist-leftist democracy taking control of the government. In the square near my hotel they had speeches, music, and people waving flags and cheering. Hundreds of taxis were driving around the square honking their horns to add to the festivities. I also had the opportunity to visit the Fundacion Braille Del Uruguay, the service agency for the blind in the country. I was very impressed with its braille printing facilities, the infant/toddler early intervention program, low vision clinic, and the newly established recording studio and talking book library. The staff is very dedicated to providing high-quality services to the blind people of Uruguay. Uruguay is a very small country, with only three million people, more than two-thirds of whom live in Montevideo. The weather was beautiful, about 75 degrees daily, and the people were very friendly. Most of the general public did not speak much English, which made ordering meals very interesting. During the conference, we had professional translator services, and we wore headphones to hear the translation, just like at the United Nations. I am extremely grateful to ACB for asking me to represent it at the conference. It allowed me to unite my professional work as a librarian with my advocacy work in promoting braille literacy as the president of the Braille Revival League to work toward "the end of illiteracy." It was a very good conference and I hope the recommendations to the United Nations will be productive in continuing to battle illiteracy among blind people throughout the world. AFFILIATE NEWS WASHINGTON STATE CONVENTION The Washington Council of the Blind will hold its convention November 7-9 at the Bayview Inn-Best Western in Bremerton. Room rates are $45 for singles and doubles, $47 for triples and quads. The host affiliate is the Peninsula Council of the Blind. NEW CHAPTER IN SUNSHINE STATE The Greater Tampa Council of the Blind is now a full-fledged chapter of the Florida Council of the Blind. It grew out of a two-year-old support group called the Working Age Blind and Visually Handicapped. It is the 27th chapter for the Florida affiliate. Officers are: Patty Batts, president; Leonard Plotkin, vice president; Ellen Rogers, recording secretary; Marlene Cobb, treasurer; Cindy Hedinger, membership secretary; and Louis Atchinson, Christine Hulls and Joe Scherckas, board members. BAY STATE HELPS UGANDA During the fall 1995 Bay State Council of the Blind conference, Aubrey Webson of the Hilton/Perkins International Program asked the council to assist him in getting the computer equipment necessary to produce a braille newsletter for Uganda's blind people. Two BSCB members, Kim Charlson and Judi Cannon, were about to replace their current computers with new equipment. Brian Charlson was able to combine the best parts of each machine into a working braille production system, along with a donated monitor, modem, speech synthesizer and software. Webson was able to purchase a braille printer with funds from the Hilton/Perkins International Program. The equipment has been delivered to its new home in Uganda as of this writing. NEW FACILITY IN COLORADO On March 5, Fort Collins Mayor Ann Azari, library director Linda Saferite, and ACB of Colorado president Alan Beatty, as well as city officials, library staff and Fort Collins Lions Club members dedicated a new facility for the blind at the Fort Collins Library. It is an assistive technology center for the blind; it is a soundproof room with computer equipment that can provide information in large print, tape, braille or synthesized speech. The equipment now available includes scanners, speech synthesizers, a laser jet printer, a Juliet braille printer, and a tape recorder. The Fort Collins Lions Club donated $11,000 for the equipment. MORE FROM COLORADO The American Council of the Blind of Colorado-Longmont Chapter hosted a Lions Day in Longmont event on March 2nd. Longmont Mayor Leona Stoecker opened the ceremonies, which were filmed and will become a television program for Longmont's Channel 3 public access station. Attendees included members from the Longmont Lark Lioness Club, Sunrise Lions Club, Longmont Lions Club, and Columbine Lions Club, as well as Lion Vice District Governor Curt Wilson, Longmont Library Director Tony Brewer, and ACBC state president Alan Beatty. The purpose of Lions Day was to thank the members of the Lioness and Lions clubs for the time, effort, and money they've spent as volunteers to help people and develop the community, as well as to educate the public about their community services and to speak about their club activities and volunteering opportunities. Lions Day also sought to give ACBC members a chance to get to know the local Lioness and Lions members and to brainstorm with them about how we can all work together on our proposed community projects. Projects include: to finish adding adaptive equipment to the computer workstation at the City Library; to teach people who are visually impaired or blind how to utilize the local library, and to teach the library staff how to work with people who have vision problems. We feel that the Lions Day in Longmont succeeded in getting the ice broken and in letting the members of the Lioness and Lions Clubs know that their efforts are noticed and appreciated. INDIANA CONVENTION The ACB of Indiana will be holding its convention Sept. 6-7 at the Spring Mill Inn. Rooms are limited; call (812) 849-4129 before August 15 and tell them you are attending the ACB of Indiana convention so that you get the room rate of $47 plus tax. The program will begin Saturday morning at 9; an ACB officer, a naturalist, and several others will be presenting interesting topics. Exhibits will make it possible for attendees to see the latest in assistive devices. Many prizes will be given, and there will be a special tour of the Historic Village on Sunday morning. COME DOWN TO FLORIDA The Florida Council of the Blind convention will be held Sept. 27-29 at the Sheraton Biscayne Bay Hotel at Brickell Point, 495 Brickell Ave., Miami, FL 33131. Room rates are $55 a night plus tax for up to four people. Make your reservations before Sept. 10 by calling (305) 373-6000. The program is scheduled to include Whit Springfield, the director of the Division of Blind Services, and Secretary Doug Jamerson from the Department of Labor. TOUCHING RUSSIA by Nicholas S. Racheotes (Editor's note: As you read this, presidential elections in Russia will likely have been completed. While we here in the United States think of those elections and their effect on our relationship with Russia, many blind people will doubtless be affected by the outcome as well. The author is a professor and an ACB member from Massachusetts who visited Russia last year and conducted this interview.) During the week of May 22, 1995, the All-Russian Society of the Blind was observing its 70th anniversary. With millions of members, this organization runs colleges, schools, clinics, factories, housing complexes, and a wide variety of other services for the blind and visually impaired population of the former Soviet Union. Evgenii Ageev, Chief Editor of "Our Life," the official monthly publication of the society, graciously offered to forego some of the festivities and to meet with me. Mr. Ageev is witty, urbane, and conversant with the issues facing the blind and partially sighted. Q.: What do you regard as the major developments in the history of the magazine, "Our Life?" A.: In 1926, the first turning point came, when we decided to publish a print version of our braille magazine. We wanted to approach the Communist party and professional organizations; to say who was helping, who was being helped, how they were being helped, and who ought to help. The second turning point came in 1969, when we changed our name from "Life of the Blind" to "Our Life." There was a debate over the name. Q.: And you were involved -- what name did you want? A.: I preferred "Overcoming," and I'll tell you a little story. In 1968, we observed the sesquicentennial of Marx's birth by running his full-page portrait on the cover. Under it, in big black letters was our old name, "Life of the Blind." In 1970, the hundredth anniversary of Lenin's birth rolled around. Now, in Russia, everyone knows that Lenin had very weak eyesight. I got a call from one of our directors. She warned, "Don't you dare try to make Lenin a member of the Society of the Blind by publishing his picture over the caption, 'Life of the Visually Impaired.'" Q.: Would you talk a little about your editorial policy and goals? A.: We want not only to cover central socio-political problems, but people: the blind intelligentsia, workers, organizations -- their difficulties and successes. Q.: With all the troubles over the past decade, has it been hard to preserve this balance? A.: Well, here's the thing. No matter what you hear elsewhere, the labor of the blind cannot keep pace with current production techniques. We have had cutbacks in funding and layoffs. Five years ago, 55,000 people worked in the factories of the Society of the Blind and today, only 30,000 do. The minimum pension is $15 a month and the average is $40. Inflation swallows up the value of pensions. ... Despite the effort of O.N. Smolin in the Federation Council, there has been no adequate legislation [to protect the disabled] to date. Our goal was, is, and will be the total rehabilitation and integration of the handicapped. The method and form are our other concerns, and this is a universal goal, not unique to the blind. Of course, politicians have an enormous say in these questions, but they too must not concern themselves with only the negative aspects of the problem -- with tax exemptions, with establishing priorities, with debates, and only nominally with reality. Blind or not blind, people must work and must receive pensions! Why all the administration? Why all the dialogue? ... Ideology and politics are irrelevant! First, we put up the portraits of Marx and Lenin side by side. Next, Lenin and Gorbachev, but I only need one image, Louis Braille. He was devoted exclusively to the idea of educating the blind. He remained in the realm of the intellect. Politicians come and go, but he stands as the most central figure in the life of the blind. Q.: In the States, some people say that with talking computers, recorded books, and other technologies, braille is no longer necessary. You obviously disagree. A.: For the government not to support braille literacy is an enormous error! I can understand it when sighted people voice such ideas, but it's worse when the blind themselves circulate such ideas. Sadly, these notions have appeared among us as well. ... I can read fiction -- Gogol and Tolstoy, let's say. Whenever I have to work on something even more serious -- philosophy, pedagogy, or history, I wish to linger. I want to think, not merely to listen. Q.: What can I do for you when I return to the United States? A.: It is our greatest regret that we don't know how people live: what conditions are; what blind and visually impaired people do; what those who observe it directly say about the integration of the handicapped in America. I would be very, very, very grateful for whatever you could do to get us the news about daily life among the blind and partially sighted! It could be in English, articles or letters. To us America is like another planet. Q.: I promise, but will you forgive my bad manners and answer yet one more question? To me, your office has the aura of a professorial retreat, but every now and then the stillness has been shattered by what sounds like someone cutting a bathtub in half with a power saw. Is that the noise of your braille printing equipment? A.: Ah, my good friend, welcome to the new Russia. I was waiting for you to notice the noise. This building may be a house of culture, with offices and a library, but in order to survive financially, we are renting space to a woodworking company. Mr. Ageev's magazine was established a year before the Society of the Blind. It has more than 10,000 subscribers. In 1994, he had to write an open letter to Russian Federation Council President V.S. Chernomyrdin in order to obtain the funds allowing the publication to survive. Two weeks have passed. Our host, Vladimir Rubin, is seeing us off at Sheremetievo Airport. Fifty years ago, he commanded a Red Army tank on the road to victory over Hitler's Germany. Today, he is guiding a red sedan along the pitted roads of Moscow. As we talk, I recall the impressions of famous travelers. They found Russia to be a land in the grip of history, of unimaginable suffering, and of suffocating irony. I think back and hear Professor Rubin saying what would have once been unthinkable to his class of deaf and hearing-impaired students, "Today, I am presenting you with an original lecture based on the historiographic criticism of the Stalin era." Svetlana is reading a street sign, a relic, a reminder of the hundreds of thousands who died during the German siege of Leningrad, "ATTENTION CITIZENS, avoid this side of the street as it is subject to enemy shelling." This year, the Moscow subway system is celebrating its 60th birthday. Blind workers polished the marble for some of its most famous stations. A tape recording announces the inbound stops in a masculine voice and the outbound stops in a feminine voice. All disabled persons and their guides have free use of public transportation, but few are ever seen on it. The elegant Professor Aleksei Litvak is telling a story. "The most celebrated street in St. Petersburg is the Nevskii Prospekt. Recently, its sidewalks were replaced by a firm which installed wheelchair ramps. When he examined the work, the city inspector ordered the reinstallation of the curbstones." Above all, Russia is a land of resilience. Aleksandra Vitkovskaia, a young and vibrant educator at the Herzen Institute, says, "If we begin early enough with our handicapped children, if we involve their families, they will be ready (if you'll forgive the expression) to compete in society." Aleksandr Neumyvakin, president of the All-Russian Society of the Blind and representative in the lower house of the legislature of the Russian Federation, asks, "Am I accepted by my colleagues? Let me put it this way: once I had to ask politicians for favors, now they are asking me." My research guide and valued colleague, Svetlana Rusanova to Nikolai Malofeev, Director of the Institute of Correctional Pedagogy of the Russian Academy of Education, says, "Over the past few days, I have stepped into a world, the world of the disabled, which I never knew existed in my own country, and it is full of marvels." Near our apartment in Moscow, the bells are calling the faithful to Saturday vespers. Who thought that they would ever ring again? The sound of children playing in the park wafts upward 10 stories to the balcony. Past and future are intersecting. These children will write the next page. They will shape its letters out of the traditions and contradictions which are their inheritance. They, like their ancestors, will fashion hope out of historic suffering. Those interested in sharing their views with Mr. Ageev may write to: Mr. Evgenii Dmitrievich Ageev, Editor, Nasha zhizn', 129010, G. Moskva, Protopopovskii Per., Dom 9, Russia. Letters addressed in English and Russian have a better chance of prompt delivery. Research for this article was supported by a grant from the International Research & Exchanges Board with funds provided by the U.S. Department of State (Title VIII) and the National Endowment for the Humanities. None of these organizations is responsible for the views expressed. FOLLOW YOUR NOSE TO A GREAT VACATION by Sharon Lovering It's June. The school year may already be over where you live, and it's time to think about a vacation. If you're planning to visit Mickey Mouse at Disney World, you may want to think about adding an extra day to sniff out a fragrance garden in Lakes County Park on the western coast of Florida. Sylvia Blue and her husband Ed got the idea for the garden after seeing a fragrance garden in London. That garden, because of England's climate, consisted of roses, and touching them was not encouraged. They wanted a garden where people could smell, touch and, in some cases, taste the plants. So they sought county approval to acquire a piece of land on which they could create such a garden. The grant was approved, and the Blues and several others began working in December 1991. The land they got was in a former quarry in Lakes County Park, near the park's lake. Before they could put plants in, they had to remove 300 trees. Some of the trees were 40 to 50 feet tall, Sylvia said, and some were so large in circumference that county workmen had to come in and help them cut the trees down. Once down, the trees were cut into eight-foot sections and removed. Once they'd removed the trees, they learned they had to remove rocks as well. The Blues and numerous volunteers brought in fill dirt, compost, and other things necessary for turning a former quarry into a garden. But the garden's past forever haunts them in the form of ever-present rocks; they need to use a pickax and crowbar to remove the rocks and clay, she said. The garden, which was dedicated in October 1995, currently has an arbor and numerous plants on trellises, all labeled in print and braille, and 56 planters at wheelchair height so people can wheel right up and touch the plants. But blind people don't need to worry about running into a thorn; there are no rosebushes in the garden. A recent development is Memory Lane, an open space where people can plant a tree to honor a person or a special occasion. Memory Lane has recently been enlarged because of its popularity, Sylvia said. A guava tree is the first tree to bear fruit in a small young orchard. Word of the garden reached the local paper, and visitors have been numerous, she said. Recently a group of children came in, and one little girl was "smitten by the larvae." So Sylvia told her all about the larvae, which were feeding on the parsley plants. After the explanation, Sylvia said, the little girl hugged the plants and said, "Thank you, parsley, for feeding the butterflies." A week later, the same little girl came back with a school group and was telling her friends all about the parsley plants that were feeding the soon-to-be butterflies. Sylvia said that at first she didn't recognize the girl, and asked her where she'd learned about the larvae feeding on the parsley. The response? "Mrs. Blue, you told me about that when I was in here last week!" Of course, Sylvia said, she then greeted the girl warmly. She holds a competition for younger school children to "pick your favorite herb." When the kids return from the tour, she asks them which one they liked best. Most often, she said, the response is "chocolate mint," which is an herb that smells like the after-dinner mints people get at fancier restaurants. When they tell her "chocolate mint," she goes out and picks an armful of the herb, gives it to the teacher, and tells the teacher how to make minty iced tea for them. When the kids come back, they usually request chocolate mint again, she noted. There are lots of fragrant flowers in the garden too. Currently in bloom are two varieties of jasmine; gardenias; lantana; all the herbs; the langlang or "perfume" tree; alyssum; verbena; shell ginger, and regular ginger. There are also interesting plants to touch: the necklace pod, which has a velvet feel and, when in bloom, feels like all the beads on a necklace; the cardboard plant; the felt plant, and the aloe vera "medicine plant." Sylvia is currently scattering seeds to make a large flower bed that all the visitors can smell, touch and see. Greeting people and explaining things about the garden are the easiest parts, Sylvia said. The rest, she added, "It was all very hard work." Going from nursery to nursery to get plants for the garden was hard. But, she said, her husband is an excellent public relations person, and soon they were able to get what was needed. And eventually the people at the nurseries recognized their names, and would assist by giving a tree or two when the Blues bought a dozen trees. At the end of the season, some nurseries would give the garden whatever was left over. There are plenty of benches to sit on and enjoy the smells, Sylvia said, and there is an authentic Seminole chickee -- similar to a pavilion -- for picnicking. There is also a picnic area and a lake that sounds like a waterfall when the runoff goes over the wheel. Another noisy attraction is the "woman's tongue tree;" it has seed pods that last all winter, and when they rustle in the wind they rattle like so many tongues. That tree blooms in July or August, and has a "wonderful" smell that people enjoy as well, Sylvia said. So if you'd like to stop and smell the flowers this summer, consider going to the fragrance garden. The garden, situated in Lakes Park, is located on Gladiolus Drive, half a mile west of U.S. Route 41. For more information, or for group reservations, call (941) 432-2004. BLIND JUSTICE by Leonard D. DuBoff In July 1994, James and Priscilla McCree, who are both blind, were visiting Grants Pass, Ore., along with their infant son and a sighted driver. After driving to Grants Pass and attending a friend's wedding on Friday, the McCrees decided to find overnight lodging and complete their journey home in the morning. At approximately 12:30 a.m., they stopped at the Regal Lodge in order to arrange for rooms. The sign announced that there were vacancies, and McCree and his sighted driver entered the motel lobby. The desk clerk appeared chagrined by the two visitors and made it clear that they were not welcome. Observing that McCree, an Afro-American, was using a cane, she stated that it was the policy of the Regal Lodge not to rent to people with disabilities. It was not clear whether the clerk was put off by McCree's blindness or the fact that he was being guided by a Caucasian woman driver. Mrs. McCree and their baby had remained in the back seat of the car and were likely not observed by the clerk during this first meeting. James McCree was taken aback by the clerk's words and reiterated his desire to obtain lodging for the evening. It was late, and he stated that his baby was asleep in the back of the car. But the clerk was steadfast. She refused to rent them a room and restated her position that there were no rooms available for handicapped individuals. The McCrees and their driver were forced to seek lodging at another motel. The next morning, the trio returned to the motel in order to clarify the situation. This time, both Mr. and Mrs. McCree entered the motel lobby along with their sighted driver and confronted the clerk. The rather awkward exchange began with Mr. McCree pointing out that the clerk's earlier treatment of him was improper and probably unlawful. The clerk restated her position that it was her employer's policy not to rent to "handicapped" people and then added that the Chamber of Commerce had recommended that they not rent rooms to "handicapped" individuals. Mrs. McCree said that she was not "handicapped" despite her blindness. The clerk, pointing to James McCree's cane, responded that he needed to use a cane. The McCrees replied to this remark by demonstrating their ability to walk. If the encounter did not involve such serious issues of civil liberties and individual rights, it would have been comical. The clerk kept defending her position by reiterating her concern that disabled people would not be desirable guests since they could more easily hurt themselves or even fake injuries for the purpose of coercing improper settlements. The McCrees and their sighted driver continued to remind the clerk that discriminating against them because of their disability was improper. The clerk was unmoved and became belligerent. She told them that unless they immediately left the premises, a maintenance man would be summoned for the purpose of forcibly removing them. When it became clear that the clerk would not listen to reason and would not apologize for her improper conduct, the McCrees and their driver left. It appears that the motel is owned by a prominent local physician who, it is alleged, entrusted management of the facility to the very individual who refused to rent rooms to the McCrees and their sighted driver. It was also alleged that the physician did not instruct the manager to discriminate. The McCrees hired the Portland, Ore. law firm of Leonard DuBoff & Associates to evaluate the situation and to contact the motel owners and their attorney. It was clear from the position taken by the doctor that no apology would be forthcoming; nor would any instructions regarding future acts of discrimination be considered. The McCrees, therefore, felt they had no choice but to file a lawsuit. In November, this lawsuit was filed in federal district court alleging violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as several state anti-discrimination statutes. It was hoped that the court would help educate the doctor/motel owner regarding the rights of disabled Americans. After extensive discovery was engaged in, depositions taken and the case prepared for trial, the defendants finally recognized the seriousness of the encounter and tendered the McCrees an apology, as well as a significant payment for their trouble. The doctor also sold the motel. Perhaps he recognized that operating a business for public accommodation was not one of his strengths. The McCrees have struck a blow for freedom. Their refusing to accept second-class-citizenship treatment and reacting to the motel manager's unlawful conduct by taking steps to redress the wrong is important. Discrimination cannot and should not be tolerated by anyone. By causing individuals such as the doctor and his hand-chosen motel manager to recognize the fact that discriminatory conduct is unlawful, the McCrees may have cleared the path for other disabled people to proceed without encountering the same obstacles. The Americans with Disabilities Act and its state counterparts have made it clear that discrimination of any kind cannot continue and will subject the wrongdoer to liability. It is hoped that through situations such as this, blind people like the McCrees will be able to obtain fair and equal treatment and have the ability to be treated with dignity. HERE AND THERE by Elizabeth M. Lennon The announcement of new products and services in this column should not be considered an endorsement of those products and services by the American Council of the Blind, its staff or elected officials. Products and services are listed free of charge for the benefit of our readers. "The Braille Forum" cannot be responsible for the reliability of products or services mentioned. RECENT DEATH Marie Jeffries, wife of the late Harvey P. Jeffries, an ACB of Indiana past president, died following a two-year illness. She and her husband were founders of the South Central Association of the Visually Impaired, and were heavily involved in the American Council of the Blind, Visually Impaired Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, Blinded Veterans of America, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. One of her many honors was receiving the Henry W. Hofstetter Award from ACBI in 1993, an award which is presented in recognition of an outstanding sighted volunteer for giving exceptional service. She was also the runner-up for Hoosier Uplands Older Woman of the Year in 1993. NEW GLUCOSE MONITOR SureStep is a new blood glucose monitoring system recently produced by LifeScan, a Johnson & Johnson company. The test strip forgives poor technique in applying blood by providing lots of flexibility. The strip has a blue dot that confirms that enough blood has been applied before running the test. The meter has a large display with bold characters. It is compact and takes just three steps: 1) turn on the meter and apply blood to the test strip; 2) turn the strip over and check for the blue dot; 3) insert strip into meter. Results appear in as little as 15 seconds. This system is now available in pharmacies and costs approximately $62.50. It comes with a three-year warranty, 30-day money-back guarantee, 24-hour technical support, and everything you need to run the tests. Check your local pharmacy for SureStep. ALL ON THE NET The Affiliated Leadership League of and for the Blind of America recently set up a listserver on the Internet. To subscribe, send a one-line e-mail message to mailserv@listserv.cc.wmich.edu without any extra headings or signature lines. The message should read: subscribe al-league your name. JOB OPENING The Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind in Washington, D.C. has a job opening for a secretary. Responsibilities include maintenance of operational files, preparing handwritten drafts and correspondence using Microsoft's Word for Windows and Excel, distributing mail, handling incoming calls, photocopying and compiling information for routine reports. Call (202) 462-2900 extension 3006 for more information. ABOUT ATLANTA The theme of the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games is "Triumph of the Human Spirit." The event will include a 5,000-voice gospel choir, 1,000 dancers, a 1,000-member drill team, a 500-voice children's choir, the March of Athletes, and more. The Xth Paralympic Games will take place August 15-25, 11 days after the centennial Olympic Games. There will be 17 medal and two demonstration sports, including: archery, track and field, basketball, boccia, cycling, equestrian, fencing, judo, rugby, soccer/football, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball and yachting. Athletes from 127 countries will be participating. Christopher Reeve will serve as creative consultant and master of ceremonies at the Atlanta Paralympic Games. Aretha Franklin will perform as well. She will sing an original composition called "What's Your Excuse?" Two other performers will be announced later. Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster and its 250 ticket centers throughout Georgia and the Carolinas. To buy tickets, contact Ticketmaster's regional ticket center at (404) 249-6400. SPECIAL EVENT Were you ever a camper at the Cleveland Sight Center's Highbrook Lodge? The camp is holding a reunion for those who were campers from 1965 to 1975 during the last camp session of the summer, August 9-11. The session is for individuals, couples and families. If you were a camper then, or have the current address of someone who was, contact Annette Martin at (213) 791-8118 extension 251. RECENT DEATH Mary Johnson, 70, of Macon, Ga., died April 3, 1996 after being burned severely in an apartment fire. She was a charter member of the Georgia Council of the Blind (formerly the Georgia Federation of the Blind), the American Council of the Blind, and the Visually Impaired Secretaries and Transcribers Association (now Visually Impaired Information Specialists Inc.). In 1960, she became the first blind stenographer at Macon City Hospital, now the Medical Center of Central Georgia, and trained more than 40 other stenographers, both blind and sighted. Memorial contributions may be made to the Georgia Council of the Blind, Macon Chapter, 839 Windsor Rd., Macon, GA 31204. HIGH TECH SWAP SHOP FOR SALE: VersaBraille II, with two external disk drives, carrying case, and all cables and manuals (print and braille). Asking $500. Call Hans Nave at (301) 731-5912 or write him at P.O. Box 427, College Park, MD 20741. FOR SALE: American Vest Pocket Dictionary, seven braille volumes. Swan 500C amateur radio transceiver, 10-80 meters coverage, with matching power supply/speaker, hand-held microphone and TV interference filter (valid amateur radio license required). Paragon stereo audio mixer that connects to receivers, tuners, tape decks, turntables and microphones. 13-inch black-and-white C-tech CCTV, used only a few hours. EVAS 286 IBM-compatible computer with color monitor, Artic Vision speech program, Sonix speech synthesizer card, WordPerfect 5.1 and medical software. LP records from the '60s through the '80s, mostly rock and country music, wish to sell in lots. To discuss prices and availability of these items, correspond in tape, braille, or typing (NOT handwriting) to Barry and Louise Wood, 6904 Bergenwood Ave., North Bergen, N.J. 07047-3711, or phone (201) 868-3336 after 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. FOR SALE: GE four-track cassette recorder in excellent condition. Comes with instructions on tape, in braille and print. Has voice and tone-indexing capability, automatic shut-off, built- in microphone, an earphone, input and output jacks. Plays and records two- and four-track cassettes. From one charge, you can get eight hours of recording/playing time. Asking $125. Call Tim Hunn at (209) 222-2143. FOR SALE: Adaptive equipment þ computer related, braille, tapes, printers, etc. Call or write: Mrs. Judy Larson, 2467 Homestead Rd., Santa Clara, CA 95050-5569; phone (408) 985-2843. FOR SALE: Toshiba 1000 laptop computer with Artic Vision speech synthesizer. Printer and WordPerfect and Artic disks to go with computer. $1,000 or best offer for the whole package. Separate items can be negotiated. Call Shelley at (810) 653-3215, or write her at 415 Sequoia Dr., Davison, MI 48423. FOR SALE: Perkins braille writer, $400. Canon typewriter (battery and electric), $100. Contact Jake E. Miller, 434 N. Washington St., P.O. Box 5001, Millersburg, OH 44654; phone (330) 674-0015. FOR SALE: Synphonix internal half-card speech synthesizer with Business Vision reading software and outboard speaker. Works on IBM-compatible computers; $325 with manual. Aicom Corp. Accent SA: high-quality outboard speech synthesizer with installation software and manual. Works with any text recognition software, including Windows-based software packages; $600, or $875 with top-rated text recognition software with original manuals in braille, cassette, and on disk. Vantage Color CCTV print magnification system, including 20-inch Panasonic monitor with BNC, Y/C Super VHS and standard RCA connections for input/output purposes. Asking $1,600; includes all operation manuals. Buyer arranges own shipping. If you're interested in any of the above, call D.J. at (713) 973-1294, or e-mail to Diego574@Houston.Relay.ucm.org FOR SALE: Dorlands Medical Dictionary, 49 volumes, $500. Braille watch, $50. Contact Dennis Holter, 1000 Kiely Blvd. #13, Santa Clara, CA 95018; phone (408) 296-7648 daytime. IN HOUSTON, DESCRIPTION'S THE WORD by Edwin Rumsey When you think of Houston, you probably associate it with many things -- America's fourth largest city, the largest city in Texas, home to NASA, Space Center Houston, and the Astrodome. The Port of Houston, the largest inland port in the nation, is 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The arts are an integral part of the fabric of Houston. Its cultural amenities include: the Wortham center, which houses the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet, Jones Hall, home to the Houston Symphony, Alley Theater, and Music Hall, which hosts Theatre Under The Stars. Museums have much to offer in Houston as well. One can visit the Museum of Fine Arts, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Children's Museum of Houston. This city's blind and low-vision residents have long been encouraged to be proactive participants in the arts. Of course, that includes audio-described performances. How Description Began in Houston: In the early 1980s, concurrent with the planning and construction of the Wortham Center, I invited Ann Thompson, former director of education for the Houston Grand Opera to speak at a monthly meeting of the Houston chapter of the ACB of Texas. We began thinking about theater and the arts in general and what our role should be. At that time, I was program chair for the Houston chapter. We suggested to the developers of the Wortham Center that accommodations be made early on in the design for audio description -- something we'd heard about in other cities at that time. When the Wortham Center was completed in 1987, it included audio description capabilities in its design. A host of operas, ballets, and musicals have been described. As interest in and the demand for audio description grew, Taping For The Blind, Inc. incorporated a division called Description for the Blind (SM) which also facilitated the growth of description in Houston. Theatre Under The Stars soon began offering audio description as well. Cissy Segall, managing director of marketing for Theatre Under The Stars, spoke at a monthly chapter meeting. At the conclusion of her presentation, the group gratefully accepted complimentary tickets to a performance. Segall soon obtained sufficient funds to provide a five-channel headset system which could be used to provide audio description. Theatre Under The Stars inaugurated audio description with the 1993-94 season, offering such favorites as "The Sound of Music" and "Jekyll and Hyde." After some discussions with Harley Cozewith, director of Visitor Services at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the museum agreed to work with Taping For The Blind, Inc. to provide descriptions of the museum's imax films and other exhibits. In fact, Beth O'Callaghan, executive vice president of Taping For The Blind, Inc., worked closely with the museum to implement the descriptions. Since description began at the museum, such films as "Yellowstone," "Africa: The Serengeti," and "Zion Canyon: Treasure of the Gods" have been described. Taping For The Blind has also described such exhibits as a gem and mineral collection and Chemistry Hall. The Children's Museum of Houston exhibits have been described as well. Out of the Chute: In 1994, it occurred to me that blind and visually impaired people would benefit from the description of rodeo activities and the local rodeo parade. Eventually I contacted a livestock show director who expressed an interest in having rodeo-related activities described. Once again, Taping For The Blind's Beth O'Callaghan worked with livestock show officials to bring rodeo performances into the age of audio description. In February 1995 the Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade were described. Using headsets provided at a specific downtown location, blind listeners heard Taping For The Blind describer Ted Pfister's more than two-hour description of the wagons, horses, bands, cowboys, colors, and crowd reactions. The descriptive services were exceptional and the parade was most enjoyable. A segment of the 1996 livestock show and rodeo parade was simulcast on Houston Taping For The Blind Radio, the city's radio reading service. The rodeo performance description of bucking horses, calf roping, bull riding, and steer wrestling opened to us the vivid horizon of victory and the tragedy of heart-stopping defeat. This season, Houston's Alley Theater and Taping For The Blind, Inc. team up to offer descriptions of dramatic performances there. Described performances include "Julius Caesar," "The Young Man From Atlanta," "A Streetcar Named Desire," and "The Heiress." In Houston, description is indeed the word, and the word is on the street. Taping For The Blind has installed an information number to keep blind patrons informed of described activities and events in the city. CAPTION Karen Villagomez, Jerry Annunzio and Terry Beuchler show off their wares and tell people about Houston. Houston is the site of the 1997 convention. ACB BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sue Ammeter, Seattle, WA Ardis Bazyn, Cedar Rapids, IA Christopher Gray, San Jose, CA Charles Hodge, Arlington, VA John Horst, Wilkes-Barre, PA Jean Mann, Guilderland, NY Kristal Platt, Omaha, NE M.J. Schmitt, Forest Park, IL Pamela Shaw, Philadelphia, PA Richard Villa, Irving, TX BOARD OF PUBLICATIONS Carol McCarl, Chairperson, Salem, OR Kim Charlson, Watertown, MA Thomas Mitchell, North Salt Lake City, UT Mitch Pomerantz, Los Angeles, CA Jay Doudna, Lancaster, PA Ex Officio: Laura Oftedahl, Watertown, MA ACB OFFICERS PRESIDENT PAUL EDWARDS 20330 NE 20TH CT. MIAMI, FL 33179 FIRST VICE PRESIDENT BRIAN CHARLSON 57 GRANDVIEW AVE. WATERTOWN, MA 02172 SECOND VICE PRESIDENT STEPHEN SPEICHER 825 M ST., SUITE 216 LINCOLN, NE 68508 SECRETARY CYNTHIA TOWERS 556 N. 80TH ST. SEATTLE, WA 98103 TREASURER PATRICIA BEATTIE CRYSTAL TOWERS #206 NORTH 1600 S. EADS ST. ARLINGTON, VA 22202 IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT LeRoy Saunders 2118 NW 21st St. Oklahoma City, OK 73107 CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ELIZABETH M. LENNON, Kalamazoo, MI