THE BRAILLE FORUM is available in braille, large type, half-speedfour-track cassette tape and MS-DOS computer disk. Subscriptionrequests, address changes, and items intended for publicationshould be sent to: Nolan Crabb, THE BRAILLE FORUM, 1155 15thSt., N.W., Suite 720, Washington, DC 20005.

Those much-needed and appreciated cash contributions, which aretax deductible, may be sent to Brian Charlson, Treasurer, 115515th St., N.W., Suite 720, Washington, DC 20005.

You may wish to remember a relative or friend by sharing in thecontinuing work of the American Council of the Blind. The ACBNational Office has available printed cards to acknowledge toloved ones contributions made in memory of deceased persons.

Anyone wishing to remember the American Council of the Blind inhis/her Last Will and Testament may do so by including a specialparagraph for that purpose. If your wishes are complex, you maycontact 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. tomidnight eastern time Monday through Friday. Washington, D.C.,residents only call 331-2876.

CORRECTION Due to an editing error, Sen. George Mitchell was incorrectly identified in the February issue as being from South Dakota. He is from Maine.

I hope all our ACB friends made it through the winter storms in the East and the earthquake in California. I just returned from the mid-year board meeting in Chicago, and I left just hours before they got more snow.

The ACB board of directors just held its first meeting of 1994 in Chicago. This is a very important meeting since it is the time we approve the budget for the coming year. The board approved the largest budget in ACB's history -- approximately $1.3 million. This budget includes the following items: additional computer equipment in our office, expanding office space, an enhanced telephone voice mail system, additional assistance for our governmental affairs department, salary increases, added funding for "The Braille Forum," increased funding for board, staff, and committee travel, and funding for two leadership training seminars. Needless to say, as President, I am very pleased to have this budget to work with in the coming year. ANOTHER FIRST ACB's Long-Range Planning Committee also met for the first time in Chicago. This committee's charge is to look at all ACB activities and report to the board of directors with recommendations for changes it deems necessary for the improvement of the organization. It is always good for an organization to review its activities and make sure it is fulfilling its duties in the most efficient manner, serving its members to the best of its ability, using funds as efficiently as possible, and maintaining the most professional and well-trained personnel possible to carry out the organization's operations.

This committee is interested in hearing from our members as to any recommendations they might have for improving ACB. The committee will make its first report to the board of directors in September. Anyone wishing to give their comments to the Long-Range Planning Committee may do so by either mail or phone and I will see that the committee gets the information.

I hope by the time you read this in March, all the disasters of January and February have given way to much better weather and more solid ground for everyone.

In July of 1994, the city of Chicago is the place to be. Many of us have just returned from the American Council of the Blind mid-year meetings and have found the city on the lake most agreeable. While the temperatures were cold, the hospitality was warm and the Palmer House Hilton Hotel was most accommodating. It was a foreshadowing of good things to come. Metropolitan Chicago is our third-largest city with a population of more than six million. The city stretches for 29 miles along Lake Michigan with a downtown skyline second to none that includes the world's tallest building. The average temperatures in July are a balmy 73 degrees. The city of Chicago and the Palmer House Hotel, where all convention activities will occur, welcome you.

Convention dates are July 2 to 9, 1994. Room rates are $47 per night for single and double and $57 for triple and quad. As in all large cities, taxes are a real consideration. So be prepared to pay about $10 per night in taxes in addition to your room charge. Reservations must be made by June 10, 1994. You must supply a credit card number or a check covering your first night's lodging before you will receive a confirmation notice. The hotel telephone number is (312) 726-7500.

The Palmer House Hotel, located at 17 E. Monroe St., between State and Wabash, downtown Chicago, offers many conveniences. There are five restaurants in the hotel plus room service. There are escalators from the street level to the fourth level where the general sessions and the exhibits will take place. There are three sets of elevators totaling 17, two of which are express elevators to the upper floors. The street level is mostly retail shops including the gift shop and a restaurant. The second level, known as the lobby level, includes the hotel registration desk, the French Quarter restaurant and the Winsor's Lounge. The third to the seventh levels include all the meeting rooms and hotel function facilities. The eighth to the 23rd floors contain 1,639 sleeping rooms. The hotel coffee shop is located in the lower arcade, one level below the street.

The first activity of the 1994 convention will occur on Friday, July 1, at 8 a.m. when the overnight tour departs for Mount Horeb and New Glarus in southern Wisconsin. This will be followed by meetings of various committees, boards of special-interest groups, and professional sessions on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The first general session begins Sunday evening at 8 p.m. when President LeRoy Saunders presents his report and the roll call of ACB affiliates occurs. Monday, July 4, the 33rd Annual National Convention of the American Council of the Blind officially opens. There will be general sessions each morning Monday through Saturday, with seminars and workshops planned by ACB's special-interest groups and other interested persons each afternoon. Exhibits open Saturday, July 2, at 1 p.m. and will be open each day through July 6. Tours are planned for Saturday and Sunday and for each afternoon and some evenings of convention week. In addition, there are breakfasts, luncheons, and receptions organized by ACB's special-interest groups and other agencies and organizations. The convention banquet Friday evening is a great climax to a fabulous week. Watch future issues of "The Braille Forum" for more details.

The exhibit hall this year is quite large. All exhibits will be in one room. As a result, this is an ideal year for businesses, agencies, and organizations related to blindness to demonstrate to blind people their technological and independent living devices and/or services and publications. It is also an excellent time for ACB affiliates to plan a boutique in the exhibit room. If you have not received an exhibit application form, please request one by calling Jennifer Sutton at the ACB National Office (202) 467-5081 or weekday afternoons between 3 and 5:30 p.m. at (800) 424-8666. She may also be reached via the ACB On-Line bulletin board service at (202) 331-1058. This number is available for computer users only who have access to a computer and telephone modem. This year, because of its prime location, the exhibit hall will receive increased attention from convention attendees.

Baseball fans should plan to attend the Baseball Fanatics Luncheon, tentatively scheduled for Sunday, July 3. You'll also have the opportunity to attend a Chicago Cubs-Colorado Rockies game at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, July 6. Planning for other tours continues. Details on the overnight tour will be included in the April "Braille Forum." Don't miss the challenges, learning opportunities, and the fun and fellowship of the ACB national convention in 1994.

CHICAGO--The ACB Board of Directors approved the largest budget in the organization's history here during its mid-year meeting on February 5. Board members approved a total expenditure of $1,290,000 with revenue set at $1,200,000. The budget earmarked $35,000 for equipment purchases. The excess of expense over revenue was made up by surplus funds from the previous year.

The budget includes money to expand both the ACB staff and its office space. Money is available this year for a limited radio public service announcement campaign. The eight Floyd Qualls scholarships have been increased to $2,500 each, and two new scholarships will be administered this year--the Kellie Cannon scholarship for $1,000 and the John Hebner scholarship for continuing education for $500. Additional funding has been allocated to modestly expand ACB's legal referral program, and the equipment purchases portion of the budget allows for purchase of additional computers and a local area network for the ACB National Office. (See "President's Message" in this issue for related budget information.) On a somewhat related matter, James Olsen, ACB's assistant treasurer and executive director of ACB Enterprises and Services, reported that ACBES revenues topped the $1 million mark in 1993. "It was a real thrill when we added up those numbers and determined that we were over the $1 million mark," Olsen said. "We've worked hard to improve the image of the stores and to improve the relationship between the store management and employees at all our locations. We've improved our relationships with our customers as well, and we'll continue to do that."

Otis Stephens, chairman of the ACBES board, said the $1 million milestone is particularly important when contrasted with 1990, the year in which the thrift stores' income bottomed out at $238,000. The stores were still under the control of a management company at that time. "The program is in solid shape," Stephens said. "We're negotiating for two new stores in the Midwest." ACB First Vice President Charles Hodge was elected to membership on the ACBES board of directors, filling the position vacated by Robert Acosta last year. CONVENTION ATTENDEES WILL FILL VACANCY The board voted nine to five in favor of allowing convention attendees to decide who will complete Robert Acosta's term as second vice president of ACB. The position became vacant when Acosta resigned late last year. Although ACB's constitution gives the board the power to fill such a vacancy, the majority felt that while filling the position quickly is important, leaving the position vacant until July would not curtail or impair ACB's operations. "I think it's necessary for us to fill this position now," said ACB Treasurer Brian Charlson, who moved that the board hold the election in February rather than wait for July. "We have people who can step into the position fully briefed on what's happening."

Board member Sue Ammeter said she was concerned that holding an election in February would appear to some ACB members as though the board were attempting to "railroad" a candidate into office. "The constitution is widely available," Charlson countered. "We're not trying to thwart the democratic process at all. I believe there are decisions that need to be made over the next few months in which a new second vice president ought to participate." Ammeter said giving someone the opportunity to be an incumbent going into the next election "gives the individual a leg up. If we really believe that, doing this would be a mistake."

"This is an important position that should be filled now," Hodge said. "If we leave this position vacant until July, it will have been vacated for nearly eight months. I think that sends the wrong kind of message to the members."

"There's always a temptation to take action," said board member Chris Gray. "I think the best thing we can do is take no action . . . The only calls I've received have been calls that suggest we ought to wait. That's what I intend to vote for."

In other action, the board accepted reports from various staff members and committee chairs. In his report, President LeRoy Saunders updated the board on his activities since the fall board meeting. He said the newly implemented Long-Range Planning Committee had met and established four working groups which would deal with such topics as support and services to non-members, affiliate and chapter relations, advocacy and legislation, and financial and membership development. Saunders said the committee is committed to working closely with the board and staff to develop its recommendations.

The next regular meeting of the board is slated for early July.

(Editor's Note: Ms. Wolfe is a freelance writer who currently resides in Northern Virginia. She is a regular contributor to "horizons" and recently contributed "Confessions of a Radio Addict" which appeared in the December 1993 issue of "The Braille Forum.")

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a confession. It isn't an easy thing to say, so I can only hope that you'll forgive me for what I'm going to tell you.

But in the interest of full disclosure, I must reveal, even as I write this from our nation's busy, bustling capitol, that I live an exceedingly dull life.

You see, I don't play the violin; a serial killer isn't stalking me, and I'm not in love with a detective. In fact, I'm so boring that last week the American Association of Dull Blind People revoked my membership. What's brought on this revelation? "Blink," the latest Hollywood movie about -- you guessed it -- a blind violinist who falls in love with the detective who saves her from being murdered by the serial killer who's stalking her. The violinist Emma Brody (played by Madeleine Stowe), who's been blind since she was eight, regains her sight after 20 years through a corneal transplant.

But fasten your seat belts: "Blink" has a new wrinkle. When Emma has the transplant, she finds that though her vision's been restored, she has "retroactive vision." Emma's brain sometimes doesn't register what she's seen yesterday or today until tomorrow or even a few days later.

This is bad news if you're trying to stop a serial killer from murdering you and your neighbors; but it's terrific if you're a Hollywood screenwriter and you want to keep your heroine blind, vulnerable and in love with your detective John Hallstrom (played by Aidan Quinn).

Did I tell you that I've never had "retroactive vision?" My eyesight's had more ups and downs than the stock exchange, but my brain insists on registering what I see now, today. When I discovered how predictable my vision is -- that I never see today what I really saw two weeks ago or, who knows, two years ago, the truth sunk in: no one will make a movie about my life.

Actually, I'd bet my last cane tip if not my last dollar that none of you have ever had "retroactive vision." So don't worry, you won't have Hollywood film crews taking over your homes, setting up in your offices or getting the best tables at your favorite local restaurants.

For, with very few exceptions, Hollywood hasn't made films about blind people like you or me or anyone we know. Instead it has produced, and is likely to keep producing, movies about people with Hollywood eye diseases whose stories bear little resemblance to the lives of those of us who are blind in "real life."

I wouldn't think twice about "Blink" if it were an isolated example -- if it was just one movie filled with stereotypes about blind people. But "Blink" isn't a unique case: blind people have been staples in motion pictures since Hollywood first set up shop and began shooting silent movies early this century.

To date, Hollywood has made more than 200 movies which portray blind or visually impaired characters. An American Foundation for the Blind filmography, "Images of Blind and Visually Impaired People in the Movies," contains annotations on nearly 225 films made between 1913 and 1985. In the movies, blind people usually are vulnerable victims; musicians; sightless "seers" who can see into the secret beings of the other characters; beggars, or "superheroes" who can perform such feats as driving cars.

Things are different for blind women and men in the movies, however. While blind women get stalked in films, blind men get to dance and drive cars, according to the article "Hollywood Isn't Blind to the Possibilities . .. for Men" which appeared in the January 23 edition of the "New York Times." Think of the Mia Farrow and Audrey Hepburn characters in "See No Evil" and "Wait Until Dark," or of the Al Pacino character in "Scent of a Woman" and the writer's point becomes crystal clear.

When do you see movies in which a blind person is: Working (as anything other than a musician)? In love (with anyone who's not a detective)? Or as a family member (the family in "A Patch of Blue" doesn't count, folks)?

Which brings us back to "Blink." I'm hot, bothered, but not bewitched about "Blink," not only due to its stereotypical images of blindness, but because it was produced in the early 1990s. I can forgive such movies as "Wait Until Dark" and "See No Evil" for the way in which they depict their blind characters. After all, they were made in the 1960s. But it's some 30 years later and blind people now work in occupations ranging from accountants to teachers to lawyers. We fall in love and raise families like our sighted peers. Though we may not live happily ever after, we don't spend our lives getting stalked.

Are we too dull for the movies? Until Hollywood blinks and sees the light, we should be only too glad to answer "yes."

On February 8, Paul Schroeder, ACB's director of governmental affairs, testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance. Chaired by Rep. Edward J. Markey, this subcommittee has conducted numerous hearings in recent months on telecommunications and the information infrastructure in general. Schroeder's testimony before the subcommittee marked a milestone for ACB members and disabled people in general, since it forced the committee to look closely at the issue of telecommunications and access to information by blind and visually impaired people as well as other disability groups. Schroeder's testimony follows:

"Good morning Mr. Chair, members of the Subcommittee, my name is Paul Schroeder; I am the Director of Governmental Affairs for the American Council of the Blind. The American Council of the Blind is a national organization of blind men and women who seek to improve opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired. My testimony is also submitted on behalf of the World Institute on Disability and the National Center on Law and Deafness. Many other disability-related organizations have also worked on disability access in telecommunications as the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Task Force on Telecommunication/Communication Accessibility. Taken together, these organizations represent a wide-ranging coalition of individuals with disabilities and their families. We want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to include the interests of Americans with disabilities in this legislative effort. Mr. Chair, citizens with disabilities are especially grateful for your efforts in support of important legislation such as the Television Decoder Circuitry Act and Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We are also most appreciative of your efforts to ensure that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration supports the development of applications which emphasize the needs of individuals with disabilities.

"In this testimony, I will focus on the critical importance of the information superhighway to the nearly fifty million Americans with disabilities and the many barriers to access and use which confront these individuals. I have been asked to pay particular attention to the need for statutory and regulatory requirements, now contained in both H.R. 3636 and H.R. 3626, which mandate that telecommunications equipment and network services be accessible to individuals with disabilities. Importance of Telecommunications for People with Disabilities

"Mr. Chair, members of the Subcommittee, improvements in communications technology and communication networks have dramatically improved opportunities for independence, productivity and integration for people with disabilities. The convergence of telecommunications technology and high speed networks could lead to enormous new opportunities for full and equal participation by citizens with disabilities in employment, commerce, education, health care, entertainment and democratic government. However, significant barriers continue to impede access by individuals with various disabling conditions to many common forms of information, as well as to each of these individual technologies. If effective, specific standards are not imposed to govern development of the information superhighway, then access for and use by people with disabilities will be precarious at best and virtually absent at worst.

"Creating and enforcing those standards will not be a simple task. The needs of individuals with disabilities have not been given due consideration as new information and telecommunication technologies were designed and developed. After all, it took over one hundred years (with the passage of ADA in 1990) to ensure access to "POTS" (Plain Old Telephone Service) for individuals with significant hearing and speech disabilities, something virtually every other citizen has long taken for granted. And even now, the ever expanding use of graphical user interfaces are taking the power of computers and information networks out of the hands of people who are blind or visually impaired. The exploding use of information menus that require voice responses shuts out millions with speech disabilities. Similarly, users of electronic augmentative communication devices can't get recognition on existing voice networks. Audio text systems which are becoming so common are virtually unusable by people who are deaf. And, heat or touch sensitive input devices which are becoming so common in ATMs and information kiosk technology create barriers for individuals with visual or motor impairments.

"That is why our Task Force of organizations representing people with disabilities worked so hard to craft access requirements as a part of telecommunications policy reform. Fortunately, we found negotiating partners representing the Regional Bell Operating Companies who were also interested in discussing access for people with disabilities to the new information frontier. These requirements are an important first step toward a concept of universal design. (The goal of universal design is to build or design a piece of equipment or an environment which is equally accessible to and usable by the vast majority of individuals including people with disabilities). Access Requirements in H.R. 3626 & H.R. 3636

"Taken together, both legislative proposals would require that 'telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment designed, developed, and fabricated' by a Bell Operating Company manufacturing affiliate (H.R. 3626), and 'advances in network services deployed by Bell Operating Companies' (H.R. 3626) or 'local exchange carriers' (H.R. 3636) 'shall be accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities, unless the costs of making the equipment accessible and usable would result in an undue burden or an adverse competitive impact.' In addition, the language states that whenever an undue burden or adverse competitive impact would result from these requirements the covered entity which manufactures the telecommunications equipment or provides the network service shall ensure that the equipment or service is compatible with existing peripheral devices or adaptive equipment commonly used by persons with disabilities, unless doing so would result in an undue burden or adverse competitive impact. Why are Access Requirements so Important?

"The Television Decoder Circuitry Act provides the best legislative example of how well access requirements can work. The Electronics Industry Association (EIA) expressed many concerns about the Television Decoder Circuitry Act that are similar to concerns which are likely going to be raised about these access requirements. For example, EIA raised concerns about the costs of manufacturing the decoder chip, its technical feasibility, and time frames for its implementation. However, the EIA and television manufacturers learned that the costs, technical solutions, and implementation dates were manageable. In addition, they learned the television sets would be functional for the hearing impaired, learning disabled, and people for whom English is a second language. After the Decoder Act went into effect, EIA launched an advertising campaign, called CAPTION VISION, to promote the sales of television sets with built- in decoder circuitry. One television manufacturer, the Zenith Electronics Corporation, conducted an aggressive selling campaign of these decoder sets, focusing on the hospitality industry, resulting in a banner sales year for Zenith. We cannot afford to forget, Mr. Chair, that the industry, at the time, saw that proposal as onerous and bad for business. It is likely that some businesses in the telecommunications industry will complain that the requirements in H.R. 3626 and H.R. 3636 will be onerous and bad for business.

"For far too long, access to information for individuals with disabilities has depended largely upon the availability of expensive, adaptive equipment. Most of the adaptive equipment--such as telecommunications devices for the deaf (text telephones originally designed for deaf people) or the hardware/software interfaces necessary to allow individuals with visual, speech or motor disabilities to work a personal computer--were developed by small entrepreneurs working feverishly to catch up with developments in the technology they were trying to make accessible. Mr. Chair, this 'separate and unequal' system of access to important technology and services for people with disabilities must end. That is why all of us, especially this Subcommittee, worked so hard to pass the ADA. And, that is why we are so committed to ensuring that the telecommunications industry address the access needs of individuals with disabilities when it develops, designs or fabricates telecommunications equipment or network services. It is critical that both telecommunication networks and equipment offer the potential for multiple outputs including audio, visual, and tactile and multiple inputs including speech, keypads, and other activation mechanisms usable by individuals with motor disabilities.

"Given the long history of the failure of our nation's telecommunications systems to be accessible to individuals with disabilities, we urge inclusion of an ongoing FCC inquiry and reporting requirement with regard to implementation of the FCC's accessibility requirements as they relate to people with disabilities. It is important for the FCC to continue to work with the disability community and others to ensure that these requirements are being implemented. This inquiry must be ongoing because the telecommunications industry is subject to rapid change. We recommend a three year cycle for these inquiries.

"The access requirements included in both H.R. 3636 and H.R. 3626 are important and we will work with you and the FCC to preserve, enforce and implement them. The FCC should be directed to establish a standard-setting mechanism which allows representatives of the disability community and the telecommunications industry to participate fully.

"It is hoped that information provided through electronic publishing is understood as a network service and individuals deserve access to that information on an equal basis. H.R. 3626, as written, is unclear on this point.

"We urge the Congress to apply the access requirements more broadly. Access to the information highway will increasingly depend upon hybrid information home appliances. These hybrids may or may not be covered under Title II of the Communications Act. At a minimum, it is essential that providers regulated under Title VI, (and Title VII, if the Congress adopts the Administration's proposal), should be required to meet the access needs of individuals with disabilities. Currently, many Cable-TV boxes are not fully usable by, or accessible to, individuals with disabilities. This situation is only likely to worsen. Expanding the coverage of the access requirements to all relevant industries and providers would enhance equality for people with disabilities and establish parity within the telecommunications industry with respect to ensuring access. Universal Service

"Mr. Chairman, a ramp onto the information highway is perhaps more critical for Americans with disabilities than for others. For that reason we are particularly pleased that the proposed new Section 229 of the Communications Act included in H.R. 3626 includes a requirement that Bell Operating Company manufacturing affiliates seek to promote access to advanced telecommunication services by people with disabilities.

"When captured in a digital format a newspaper, letter, book, virtually any piece of information, can readily be made accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities and transmitted immediately over tremendous distance, at high speed and in immense volume. For individuals with disabilities, the information highway may be the only way to obtain access to a great quantity of information and services, while for others electronic access will continue to be an alternative to other more traditional forms of distribution. For example, I cannot 'read' a standard newspaper. But with a proper electronic interface, I can 'read' a newspaper in digital format. With a proper electronic interface, an individual with a speech disability can communicate and get equal services. Other barriers also exist which cause individuals with disabilities to require enhanced and more immediate access to the information infrastructure. Home shopping has become the derisive exclamation for changes now taking place in the telecommunications industry. I have no doubt that home shopping will be offered ubiquitously. But this Subcommittee should understand that individuals with disabilities, who have never been able to freely browse, examine and compare prices and promotional material are now happily using on-line services for shopping because these services offer a degree of independence not available before. We must preserve and enhance that independence by calling upon the FCC to promote universal service for people with disabilities. Even more important, the power of the new information technology and services can open opportunities for employment and education as well as alternative methods for handling some health care and personal assistance needs for individuals with disabilities. Consequently, we urge the Subcommittee to amend H.R. 3636 to include in the charge to the FCC on universal service to determine the appropriate means by which individuals with disabilities will be linked with advanced telecommunications services. Captioning and Description

"Americans with disabilities, particularly those with hearing impairments and vision impairments, believe that the time is right to ensure that video programming is fully accessible. For too long, individuals with hearing and visual disabilities have been unable to benefit from significant portions of televised programming. In the new world of megachannel platforms and video on demand, this lack of access will be magnified a thousand times. The barriers to access for these Americans are unnecessary and they can be readily dismantled. Closed captioning and video description offer enormous potential for full access for individuals with disabilities and they also offer useful benefits to others in the population. We urge the Subcommittee to include language requiring the inclusion of captioning and video description.Privacy

"It is paramount that privacy safeguards in any proposed legislation also address the needs of individuals with disabilities and their family members. As more and more records kept by employers, health care providers and social service providers, among others, become 'digitized,' electronic access and transmittal becomes more likely, including the possibility of access by unauthorized users or by authorized users that results in discriminatory behavior by the user. To prevent the 'information highway' from becoming a 'snooper highway' to the detriment of individuals with disabilities, CCD supports strong curbs and punishments for illegal and discriminatory use of information electronically gathered. CCD notes that included among the class of individuals protected from discrimination by ADA are those with a record of having a disability. CCD also notes that similar protections are extended by ADA to the associates of individuals with disabilities. To wit, 'It is discrimination to exclude or deny equal goods and services to an individual or entity because of the known disability of another individual with whom the individual or entity has a relationship or association.'

"For instance, it is conceivable that during a mortgage application process, an electronic file containing details about an individual's modifications to a property negotiated during the purchase agreement stage -- modifications such as doorway widening or a custom alarm system for a person with a vision or hearing disability -- could result in denial of an application when the mortgage broker learns in this fashion that the applicant, or a family member, has a severe disability. Conclusion

"The revolution in communications, the production and distribution of information and entertainment now underway offers Americans with disabilities unparalleled opportunities for equality and advancement. The information superhighway will transform the content and conduct of work locally, regionally, nationally, and globally enhancing opportunities for employment for individuals with disabilities as well as greater benefits resulting from the increased productivity that these technologies make possible. Interactive communication offers tremendous potential for the delivery of efficient and effective education, health care, and possibly even personal assistance services for individuals across the age and disability spectrum.

"Those who have the ability to obtain and use information have the power to make choices and enhance our opportunities for independence, productivity, and self-sufficiency. But, artificial barriers have been interposed by society between individuals with disabilities and our freedom with respect to information. That is why the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities believes it is so important for the legislation you are considering to accelerate the process of systematically dismantling these barriers by ensuring that the communication accessibility needs of individuals with the full range of functional disabilities are advanced right along with advances for all Americans. This is best accomplished not by government acting alone but by ensuring that both the private and public sectors design an information superhighway which is usable by and accessible to all individuals.

"With the passage of ADA, people with disabilities no longer have to accept second class access to buildings and the physical community, and we now look forward to ending second class access to the electronic community."

(Editor's note: The Blue Ribbon Panel on National Telecommunications Policy, a 12-member consortium which includes the American Council of the Blind, released its final report and recommendations on making the National Information Infrastructure fully accessible to disabled people. Sponsored by the World Institute on Disability, the panel brought together disabled people with telecommunications industry representatives. The four-year project developed recommendations and provided training to leaders in the disability community on telecommunications policy. While space does not permit us to include the full text of the report, we have excerpted the recommendations. The full text of the report can be downloaded from ACB's bulletin board service. If you have a computer, modem, and telecommunications software, you can connect to the board by calling (202) 331-1058. Download Tel-rep.txt or tel-rep.zip. For additional information on using ACB On-Line, contact Nolan Crabb at the ACB National Office.)

The report calls for updating and coordinating public policy to ensure access to disabled people.

Recommendation 1: Update the Communications Act of 1934: The Communication Act of 1934's reference to Universal Service should include people with disabilities, to read:

. . . so as to make available, to all people of the United States, including people with disabilities, a rapid, efficient, nation-wide and world-wide wire and radio communications service with adequate facilities and reasonable charges . . .

History has demonstrated that the rights of people with disabilities have not been protected under the Communications Act of 1934 "all people of the United States" language. We therefore recommend explicit inclusion of "people with disabilities" in the language. This change is essential because it constitutes recognition of people with disabilities' rights to access to telecommunications facilities and services. While the Americans with Disabilities Act protects the general rights of people with disabilities, it has not been interpreted to cover access to telecommunications equipment and services. Without such explicit protections, people with disabilities will continue to face huge barriers to participation in modern society.

Recommendation 2: Update and Clarify the Telecommunications Implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act: There are many issues of telecommunications access that have been raised by the Americans with Disabilities Act (especially in Titles II and III). The Department of Justice, the Department of Transportation, and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board should actively pursue issues that remain unresolved or that were left reserved in the legislation itself.

In the Americans with Disabilities Act, commercial facilities are required to be accessible to people with disabilities. We recommend that "commercial facility" include those goods and services offered through telecommunications. An increasing proportion of commerce in this country is conducted by phone or through personal computers and modems connected to databases by agencies, organizations, and firms that quite literally maintain no facility or premises where they meet with their customers. For them, an electronic or printed catalog is their showroom, and the telephone is their sales office. By its emphasis on places of public accommodation, Congress did not mean to exclude these fast-growing sectors of our economy, whose activities manifestly constitute commerce, from coverage under the ADA. If the newly adopted regulations are not redrawn more broadly and clearly, such commercial facilities may be inadvertently excluded from coverage under Titles II and III.

Also in the Americans with Disabilities Act, Congress explicitly included automatic teller machines (ATMs) as an example of equipment that must be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. The transactional services conducted between the ATM and a bank, using telecommunications links, are very similar to information kiosks operated by cities, shopping malls, and museums for use by constituents and patrons. Nevertheless, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board and the Department of Justice did not address these similarities when drawing up their accessibility guidelines or regulations. Thus, it is unclear whether information kiosks are covered by the ADA and what accessibility standards, if any, govern their installation.

Recommendation 3: Task Force on Telecommunications and Disability: The White House should form a Task Force on Telecommunications and Disability, within the NII Task Force, with a specific mandate to examine telecommunications-related policies and practices that impact upon people with disabilities, and to assist the federal government to understand and incorporate the concept of universal design.

Recommendation 4: FCC Unit on Disability Access: Congress should require the FCC to create a high-level unit whose mission is to work with disabled citizens on telecommunications issues. The unit's primary goals would be to (1) work with people with disabilities to identify access questions and concerns in issues pending before the Commission; (2) ensure that all rules promulgated by the Commission conform with access legislation and administrative rulings in regard to access for people with disabilities; (3) act as an accessibility information resource for the FCC; (4) facilitate input to the FCC from various individuals and organizations in the disability community; (5) assist the FCC in making itself more accessible to its employees with disabilities.

Recommendation 5: NTIA Staff for Disability Access: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration should assign an individual to work with the disability community to identify aspects of its work that does, or may, have impact on people with disabilities.

Recommendation 6: Ensure Access to Federal, State, and Local Government Electronic Services and Networks: Federal and state regulations should be adopted (or revised) to protect the access of individuals with disabilities in the provision of federal, state, and local programs and services through telecommunications technologies such as information kiosks, electronic town meetings, voting, and other interactive services.

Recommendation 7: Industry Should Integrate More People with Disabilities into All Levels of Its Work Force: The telecommunications industry has an opportunity to draw from the experience of employees who are disabled, and to gain input from disabled consumers. We would urge industry to hire more people with disabilities. We would also recommend increased opportunities for consumer input, particularly into the design phases of product development.

Two examples of working together with people with disabilities are AT&T and Pacific Bell. Both corporations have established consumer committees composed of people with disabilities to meet with product and design managers.

The panel encouraged the implementation of universal design principles, offering these recommendations:

Recommendation 1: Incorporate Universal Design into Telecommunications Legislation: Congress should incorporate universal design of telecommunications equipment and services into legislation. Legislation should include explicit reference to designing, manufacturing, and offering telecommunications equipment and services for the widest range of people.

An example of a current opportunity for legislating universal design is the model language that has been negotiated between the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (a national coalition of leading disability organizations) and the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies. HR 3626 (103rd Congress, 1st session) would allow the RBOCs to manufacture telecommunications equipment, provided that the equipment and network services they provide are accessible to people with disabilities unless doing so would create an undue burden or put the companies at a competitive disadvantage.

Recommendation 2: Undertake Human Performance Studies of People with Disabilities: The telecommunications industry should take the lead in proposing an ergonomic-demographic study of human performance characteristics specifically targeted to individuals with disabilities in areas such as audition, vision, speech, motion, sensation, cognition, and environmental sensitivity, funded through both public and industrial participation.

The study should be conducted by a consortium of public and private entities and funded jointly. Since the study will benefit all industries which produce or develop a wide variety of products and services, no single industry or firm should maintain proprietary control over the project. Individuals and organizations knowledgeable in ergonomics, functionally- related disability statistics and product/service design should be directly involved in formulation of the study team and development of its scope, methodology, data collection, analysis and report generation. Individuals with each of the functional limitations mentioned above, who also have knowledge of one or more study elements, should be brought in as contributors to the study team.

Recommendation 3: Extend Accessibility Requirements to Products and Services: Through legislation, Congress should extend the concept of accessibility to include goods and services provided by commercial facilities and public entities. As a result, accessibility laws would extend beyond building/facility exteriors and interiors and expand to cover products and services.

Much of the current body of federal law incorporates the concept of accessibility to programs, services, facilities and some products for individuals with disabilities. However, virtually all of them envision the use of assistive and adaptive technology devices and services as a means to achieving the goal of accessibility. Almost nothing in the Technology- Related Assistance Act or the Rehabilitation Act addresses the need for applying universal design principles.

For example, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires access to electronic office equipment by individuals with disabilities, but its implementation focuses almost entirely upon finding ways to help federal agencies learn about and purchase peripheral products that will enable an individual with a disability to use what would otherwise be inaccessible. Emphasis should be placed upon encouraging, or requiring, equipment design that demands as few assistive technology peripherals as practicable.

Congress should enable the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board to expand its mandate beyond the artificial barrier of physical structures to include products and services, and the way-finding environment. The board should assist American business and industry to develop guidelines for accessibility that embody the principles of universal design drawing upon the ergonomic-demographic study, above.

In addition to universal design, the report urges the development of standards that promote accessibility.

Recommendation 1: Development of Performance-Based Standards: Congress should call for performance-based standards on accessibility in any new legislation that affects the manufacture or provision of telecommunications equipment and services.

Recommendation 2: Consumer-Input Model for Standard--Setting: Congress should require a process for consumer input that encourages involvement by people with disabilities in all federally mandated telecommunications standard-setting. While the panel focused largely on universal design, it recognized the value of adaptive equipment and the fact that some forms of adaptive equipment will always be necessary.

Recommendation 1: State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies Should Fund Assistive Technology for Employment and Training Application.

Recommendation 2: Re-Instatement of Hearing Aid Compatibility Requirements: The Federal Communications Commission should re-instate its hearing aid compatibility rules that require all telephones within work places to be hearing aid compatible.

Recommendation 3: N-1-1 Access for Telecommunications Relay Services: The FCC should assign two N-1-1 numbers for nationwide access to telecommunications relay services: 7-1-1 for TTY-initiated calls, and 5- 1-1 for voice-initiated calls.

Recommendation 4: Baudot and ASCII Compatibility: We recognize that technology is migrating away from the slower Baudot communication protocol (used by most TTYs) to ASCII (the protocol used by most personal computers). We recognize that trend as a positive one, but we are concerned that policy-makers not overlook the large base of TTYs and their users who will depend upon this equipment for years into the future.

Recommendation 6: Closed-Captioning and Audio Description for Video Programming: Congress should enact legislation that requires all network and cable television programming to be accessible via closed captioning and audio description.

The National Center for Law and Deafness has convened a coalition of key national disability organizations to develop draft legislative language focusing on access to cable programming. The following is an initial outline of the language that could be considered: Captioning and Audio Description Mandates: * Carrier providing cable shall carry only captioned and audio described programming; * Not required if carrier can demonstrate undue burden; * Rules to be enacted by the FCC; and * Phased-in requirements.

The evening began slowly, with bright kaleidoscope patterns changing on the two screens set up in the front of the room. Music played at a comfortable volume from speakers set up next to the screens. A stage sat between the screens with a low podium and a standing podium. At the back of the stage rested a grand piano; leaning into it was a microphone. This was the setting for the dinner celebrating the growth of Kaleidoscope, America's Disability Channel.

Ron Dixon, executive vice president of programming and production for Kaleidoscope television, welcomed everyone with a familiar saying: "Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages . . ." He discussed the station's formation and growth, saying it was like a seed. "This seed has now blossomed" into a flower, he said. Dr. Bill Nichols, president and CEO of KTV, continued that theme. KTV's programming is in 25 percent of American homes and 34 states, and at any given time has a potential viewership of more than 40 million people, Nichols stated. And Kaleidoscope's growth is not limited to the United States, he added. "Around the world, nation after nation is following America's pioneering [efforts in bringing disability to cable TV]." Nichols went to the United Kingdom in early February to help British residents get their own Kaleidoscope station, adding that U.K. Kaleidoscope will be operating later this year.

Blind singer/songwriter Ken Medema of San Francisco performed Kaleidoscope's new theme song. The words included: "Come look and see people learning new ways to be friends . . . Come look and see there are windows where once there were walls . . . [we're] building a world where there's plenty of room for us all." He performed beautifully. In fact, he was one of the best parts of the evening.

Lety Magana co-host of KTV's "A Spectrum of Caring," described the station's programming as TV by and for people with disabilities that will help advisory board organizations, and the special Citibank card being offered as something that will help the organizations without costing the cardholders anything extra. Then they showed a video featuring some of the organizations on the advisory board: the American Foundation for the Blind, the National Association of the Deaf, and the National Easter Seals Society. The video was captioned, and there was a sign language interpreter, but like last year, there was no audio description for the blind members of the audience.

Justin Dart spoke by video about Kaleidoscope's formation. The station began on July 26, 1990, "a fitting non-coincidence," he said. He dubbed Kaleidoscope as "an experiment in truth worthy of our participation."

The evening dwindled into a big commercial for the Kaleidoscope Citibank Affinity card. The card will be advertised on KTV, nonprofit groups would help advertise it in their circles, and it would be the nation's largest bank card, according to Dixon. Tom Kerwin, director of new business development for Citibank, said it would offer 24-hour service worldwide, TDD service, and is looking into providing bills and information in braille. Photo cards would also be available. For more information, call 1-800-GIVE-123 (448-3123).

After the big commercial, Ken Medema returned to the stage. He made the audience laugh when he described his attempts to bring rock and roll music to a parochial high school. He said the school only had one piano, located in the choir room, which reverberated with music from about the 16th century -- "and we all thought the choir director was from about the same era." One day he and his friends Walter and Jerry went to "study in the music library" -- in reality, they went to the choir room, set up a speaker at each end of the hall, facing down the stairs, "turned the volume up to kill," and they began singing, with Ken playing the piano. School administrators almost expelled him for that incident, he said.

After the jokes, Vikki Carr, whose music was often aired on radio during the '50s and '60s, came onstage. She sang, with Ken's accompaniment, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with a cadenza sung by Ken. They made the rest of the evening enjoyable. After all, it is the entertainment that makes the show.

You may not have deep pockets and huge lobbying staffs on Capitol Hill, but you can make Congress listen to your point of view with a solid grass- roots advocacy network. That's the message state and special-interest affiliate presidents received at the fourth annual affiliate presidents meeting held in Chicago February 6 and 7.

ACB President LeRoy Saunders opened the first session of the meeting by reminding participants of the advantages of attendance. "This is our opportunity to actually meet with you," he said. "We're not a large group, so we can visit with individual people and give you an opportunity to talk to us."

Saunders then described his vision of a grass-roots legislative network. "I've been telling people that we needed to put together a legislative network--a network that our people in Washington could call on very quickly, and within three to five days, have about 500 letters sent to certain areas of Congress."

He echoed the theme of his previous messages in "The Braille Forum," reminding his listeners that 1994 could be a landmark year where legislation affecting blind and visually impaired people is concerned.

Following introductory remarks by ACB National Representative Oral O. Miller, Sue Ammeter, chairperson of ACB's Membership Committee, updated affiliate leaders on that committee's activities. She said the committee is actively working in several states to enhance membership, and it has provided oversight on updated brochures.

Paul Schroeder, ACB's director of Governmental Affairs, introduced political consultant Keith Tarr-Whelan, of Keith Tarr-Whelan and Associates. Tarr-Whelan specializes in working with nonprofit groups like ACB to help establish grass-roots networking and local advocacy programs. According to Schroeder, Tarr-Whelan has worked with such groups as the American Association of Retired Persons, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and with organizations in other countries.

Tarr-Whelan said ACB members must choose now whether they will be included in the landmark legislative decisions Congress will make this year or allow their views to be ignored. He talked candidly about such legislative areas as health care and the information superhighway.

""We now have three corners in the health care debate," he explained. "The first corner are those who want a universal health care program. We have those who want the Canadian system, . . . which isn't going anywhere in this Congress. Second, we have the Clinton reform package, which has a universality component to it, then in the center we have the Cooper proposal." He said the Clinton and Cooper plans could be voted upon in the House by June. "Most of the things that ACB wants in the health care legislation are not there," he said.

Schroeder said key components of health care legislation of interest to ACB members are missing from both the Clinton and Cooper plans. "Rehabilitation services can be provided by state agencies," he explained, "but they are most certainly going to be provided by health care alliance plans if the Clinton plan goes through as is." He said such services as orientation and mobility and rehab teaching for older people who lose their sight will be provided to them by people with little or no experience in the field of blindness under the currently proposed health care legislation. "You're going to have an occupational therapist who may have had one course in orientation and mobility trying to teach an older person how to use a white cane, braille, or other skills they need to use their remaining vision.

""We haven't had a voice, and we haven't said hardly a word as this health care plan was formulated by Mrs. Clinton and her task force," Schroeder said. "A few of you responded with letters when asked, but for the most part, most of us shrugged our shoulders and said 'It doesn't affect us.' When your members start coming to you with these poorly trained skills and they're wondering why folks without any experience in blindness are training them and getting paid by health care alliances, you can tell them it's because we didn't have time to write a letter; we didn't have time to get motivated and tell somebody that people experienced in providing training to blind folks ought to be providing rehabilitation services."

He said most blind people who hear the term "durable medical equipment" immediately think of wheelchairs or crutches. "If you need assistive devices to augment remaining vision or to deal with printed matter in other ways, why not consider that durable medical equipment?"

He said ACB members are affected by long-term services as proposed in the Clinton plan. The effect, however, is negative. "If you have trouble eating or dressing . . . you're covered under the Clinton plan if it goes through. Don't you think that list ought to include some of us who need readers or who have trouble getting around a community?" Tarr-Whelan reminded listeners that whatever health plan is passed will probably be in effect for 25 to 50 years. He warned his audiences that unless blind and visually impaired people are put on the boards of health alliances, their needs will not be met by that alliance.

The group turned its attention to education, discussing the future of funding for residential schools. "We think at least for the time being," Schroeder said, "that residential schools are protected as an option. But the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act will soon be debated by Congress, and you can bet that there are going to be efforts made to ensure that all children with disabilities receive their education in the regular classroom as the only option available to them." Both Schroeder and Tarr- Whelan agreed that forming coalitions with others who value the existence of the residential schools will be a major factor in saving the schools from extinction.

From education, affiliate leaders looked at the national information infrastructure. Tarr-Whelan warned that the possibility that deregulation of the information superhighway exists. Such deregulation, he said, could result in access to information being granted based on how much one can pay for it. Schroeder described a vision of an information superhighway that included both an overwhelming amount of information available and the potential for graphical barriers to that information. "Just as we're . . . getting access to things we've never had before from newspapers to information about products, it's going to be taken out of our hands. We need to make people understand that we're part of the public and you (the software developers) ought to build something we can use."

"The fact that members of Congress aren't paying any attention to you on this issue isn't because they're inherently evil," Tarr-Whelan said, "it's basically that they haven't heard from you on this issue. It's not going to take a lot. If every one of you went back to your state and had one meeting with one key member of Congress in your state or send 50 letters to one or two key members of Congress, then you will have an impact."

Tarr-Whelan led the group in a strategy discussion on advocacy on the local level. He said while many ACB members may be cynical about being able to make a difference with members of Congress, they have a unique advantage. "No politician in his right mind would refuse a meeting with you." He said the most effective organizations are those which have a grass-roots structure. "The two most effective of these organizations are the National Education Association and the National Rifle Association; these groups have the best grass-roots organizations." Tarr-Whelan said letter writing can be effective provided some rules are followed. Letters should be targeted to each ACB member's representative or senator. Letters should be personalized, short, and very specific; bill numbers should be mentioned whenever possible. Letters should be written in the language and style of each individual member rather than based on form letters. Letters should be timely and concise. He said letters should be generated via a telephone tree in which affiliate members call one another to confirm that material was received from the national office and that the member is indeed writing a letter.

Another advocacy strategy, according to Tarr-Whelan, is telephoning members of Congress. "The rules are similar to letters," he said. "Keep it simple, short, state what you want, and finish the call. On a scale of one to 10, a letter is probably a six or a seven, a telephone call is a five, and a visit to a legislator is a 10."

He said visits aren't as difficult to get as some might think. "The place to get them is back home, not in Washington," Tarr-Whelan said. He encouraged his listeners not to be intimidated by their representative or senator. "Don't waste their time," he said. "Don't talk superfluous talk, but do talk in ways they can understand. Don't always believe with a senator that you've gotten the brush-off if you don't get to sit down with the senator directly. Senior staff are on many occasions as important as the legislator himself." Schroeder encouraged affiliate leaders to attend town meetings held by members of Congress in their districts.

Tarr-Whelan described the steps necessary to build a statewide advocacy network. Such steps include the determination of one member who serves as a Congressional district coordinator. The advocacy team which works with the coordinator should be comprised of members from the targeted Congressman's district and should represent a cross-section of blind and visually impaired people in the district or state. The district coordinator should work with the team to create a telephone tree of numbers of team members who can be relied upon to write or call their members of Congress.

"I want to urge both our state and special-interest affiliate leaders to take some of these steps we've talked about in building a network," Schroeder said. "At the very least, please tell me who is the legislative coordinator in your affiliate. I got two responses from my request in December asking you who they were. Terry Blessing, (president of the Florida Council of the Blind), and Brian Charlson, (president of the Bay State Council of the Blind), were the only two people I heard from. That's not good; I know we're busy, but we're in ACB for a reason. We're here to make a difference for blind people."

Tarr-Whelan said once an advocacy network is organized, affiliate leaders should look closely at the organization within their affiliate. He gave five reasons for organizing. "First, we organize to maintain and encourage existing membership; the next purpose is to expand and get new members; third, we organize to make you more effective; fourth, organizing is good for fund-raising; and fifth, we organize to improve the effectiveness of existing affiliate structures." He said appropriate organizing starts by listening to the members. Then it's time to listen to non-members to ascertain why they're non-members. He encouraged affiliate leaders to develop a structure that involves each member on their terms rather than those of the leader. He said each affiliate should concentrate on ways to raise its visibility. "If people don't know where to find you, they can't find you. It's that simple." THE PRICE OF FREE MATTER MAIL

During the second day of the meeting, new problems with free matter mail took center stage. ACB's Oral Miller lead the discussion on free matter mail and apparent increased efforts by postal officials in various parts of the nation to restrict its proper use.

Miller detailed some of the history of the postal service's ever- narrowing interpretation of the free matter privilege in recent years. Affiliate leaders heard the section of the postal manual which dealt with free matter mail. Miller related the story of an agency in Memphis which sent a large-print newsletter to readers in the area. Postal officials questioned whether that material was being sent only to blind or otherwise qualified readers, and the agency ultimately was able to satisfy that issue. "Then the question came up, 'Well, even if these people are blind, who says they are?,'" Miller said. "Ultimately, the post office decided the agency who was sending the newsletter wasn't a competent authority to determine who was qualified."

Miller outlined other free matter horror stories including incidents experienced by the Bay State Council of the Blind and the Oregon Council of the Blind. "The Bay State Council mailed notices of its upcoming convention," Miller explained, "and a form for people to fill out signing up for various sessions. This was kicked back by the post office at which it was mailed. Their contention was that while the material was in large print and was indeed sent to blind people, it contained advertising. In this case, the people used some good ingenuity and mailed the same material from another post office which did accept it." ACB Member Carol McCarl, publisher of "Dialogue Magazine" and "Lifeprints," outlined perhaps the most significant free matter horror story to date. It began, she said, when an angry Texan called to say that he had been forbidden to mail his newsletter because postal officials claimed it contained advertising. He felt "Dialogue" should be treated similarly. Ultimately, postal officials investigated McCarl's company Blindskills, Inc. to determine whether it has made a profit from the announcements published in the magazines. Satisfied that Blindskills receives no income from its announcements column, the official then questioned whether material is being sent to sighted people. Once that question was resolved, the official turned his attention to McCarl's subscription renewal form which had been in the back of both magazines. She explained that the form was included to enhance the independence of the reader in allowing him or her to complete the form without assistance. In late November, McCarl received a letter from the post office in which it defined her subscription renewal form as advertising, rendering her publications ineligible for free matter mailing. McCarl has since removed the subscription form and appealed the decision of the postal officials. That decision not only declared her publications ineligible for free matter mailing, but assessed a $14,212 per year penalty for a total of $42,636. The decision ordered McCarl to pay the entire amount in a lump sum within 30 days of receipt of the letter. The post office offered McCarl the option of making monthly payments for three years. In her letter of appeal, McCarl contended that her subscription renewal forms aren't advertising since they offer no incentives for mailing early, they don't describe the product or service, and she said, the form itself wouldn't necessarily indicate what is being ordered.

Oral Miller said in addition to McCarl's appeal, he has written a letter demanding an appointment with the postmaster general to discuss free matter regulations in general. At press time, there was no response either on McCarl's appeal or ACB's request for an appointment with the postmaster general. He said other agencies are watching the free matter situation closely. "Recording for the Blind is very interested in this," Miller explained, "because some 59 percent of the people who receive books from RFB are not blind." The remainder of the meeting focused on reports from the board of publications, the Women's Concerns Committee, the Minority Concerns Committee, an update on the 1994 Affiliated Leadership League of and for the Blind of America Delegate Assembly and Legislative Workshop, and a report concerning the Northeastern Leadership Training Seminar.

(Editor's Note: Those who attended last year's convention in San Francisco may remember that Glenn Plunkett, then employed by the American Foundation for the Blind, offered some constructive criticism of the Social Security program and suggested ways it could be improved. He put those suggestions in the form of a letter to Andrew Young who represented the Social Security Administration at our convention. We thought you would be interested in Young's response.)

Dear Glenn:

I received your latest letter concerning Social Security disability programs and the blind. My apologies for not responding to you sooner. Concerning your interest in creating a "central group to handle all claims for disability benefits based on blindness," we believe that access to the Social Security Administration for the blind is best served by the current system. Individuals alleging blindness are now able to be served by any field office or disability determination service in the country. We believe that bifurcating the system into "blind" and "non-blind" areas would be inefficient and increase the time required to process cases. Given that our quality assurance systems do not reflect any major problems in this area, such a major change does not seem appropriate.

However, we have begun a few initiatives to improve the disability process for all claimants, regardless of impairment. One of these initiatives involves placing disability specialists in the field offices to improve the quality of medical evidence obtained during the initial interview. We are in the process of testing this service delivery system, and hope that it will result in more efficient and accurate service to people with disabilities.

With regard to your concerns on the deeming of resources from parents to children, the recommendation of a majority of the SSI modernization experts -- that a $2,000 exclusion apply for each SSI-ineligible child in the household -- is still under consideration. We agree that there are valid arguments in favor of the proposed deeming change. However, before proceeding with regulations, we must consider other related issues. Some have asked whether the estimated cost of the deeming change ($14 million per year by fiscal year 1997) is justified in light of many other SSI policy areas deserving of reform. I assure you that the views of the American Foundation for the Blind on this and other matters will be carefully considered.

Thank you for your interest in these matters.

Sincerely, Andrew J. Young, Deputy Commissioner for Programs, Social Security Administration

If you had money for every time you had to label products after you got them home from the store, you'd probably be living quite well by now. All too many of us are familiar with the old routine of getting the groceries home and then spending whatever time is necessary to appropriately label and/or organize our purchases for easy location and use later. Imagine a world where the products on the shelves are labeled in large print or braille before you buy them. Such a world seems remote at best, but that's the kind of world a Denmark-based company wants to make a reality, according to Annette Luders, the representative for Loriket Co. Luders says her company is ready with both the experience and the labeling product to help American manufacturers produce goods that are labeled in a form that blind and visually impaired people can read.

Luders says her company can do little to help blind Americans unless they get involved at the grass-roots level. "As of now," she explains, "countries in the European Economic Community are required to place raised warning labels on products that are toxic or otherwise hazardous. That came about as a result of political pressure throughout the European Economic Community."

Luders says her company can produce such labels as internationally used environmental and warning symbols to actual braille labels that can be used on bottles and boxes. "American companies don't feel a need for such labels," Luders explains. "The sad thing is they buy our raised labels for products they intend to sell in Europe, but they don't use them on products distributed in the United States."

At present, Luders says, raised labels on European products are generally limited to the raised triangle symbol that specifies a warning of toxic or hazardous material inside the container. But Loriket has produced braille labels and is prepared to market them here when U.S. companies are interested. Loriket's labels can include braille or raised symbols. The clear plastic labels do not prevent sighted customers from reading the printed information on the container or box. She says her company can produce labels in varying sizes.

She says while manufacturers and retailers offer numerous reasons for not including large print or braille or raised labels, blind and partially sighted Americans should consider pressing for more labeled products. "I think you need a grass roots effort in this country like they saw among some of the European nations. You have to ask manufacturers why such labels aren't currently available to you. I've often thought that if one corporation decided to consistently label products, others would take an interest when they recognize the kind of public relations mileage they would get."

So why doesn't Luders take up the Label America banner herself? "Everyone from Congress down to the retailers and manufacturers would view me as someone simply trying to do this for my own interest. I'm not sure any of those people would listen to me or take me seriously if I attempted to embark on such an effort by myself. I think, however, that with the passage of the disability law in this country, if we can somehow tap the spirit of that law, people who are blind or visually impaired could probably stir up interest among the manufacturers and retailers."

She recognizes that some pharmacies provide braille or large print labels on pharmaceutical products, and McDonald's braille soft drink lids are very much a part of the scene, but far more must be done. "These are good starts. At least McDonald's has shown that you can indeed stamp braille on a cup lid. And those pharmacies who offer braille labels on prescription drugs do a wonderful service, but it must go further. America has been the traditional world leader in terms of access to people with disabilities. It just makes sense that this country would strive to provide labels in a form that can be read by all of its citizens."

For more information on Loriket and its products, contact Annette Luders by calling (212) 489-7095.

On January 7, 1994, the National Literary Braille Competency Test was released.

The test is intended for teachers of children and adults, and designed to allow candidates to demonstrate a basic competency in braille. The test is composed of three parts: Part One, Writing Skills, asks the candidate to transcribe materials using a slate and a braillewriter; Part Two, Reading Skills, requires the candidate to identify errors in a short braille selection; and Part Three, Multiple choice, presents the candidate with 25 questions on the literary braille code. Since January 1943, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has been responsible for the development of training materials and certification programs for braille transcribers and proofreaders. These programs were designed for the certification of volunteers producing braille texts for educational and leisure reading. For some time, educators and consumer groups have been concerned about the quality and quantity of braille instruction that blind children are receiving in school. In 1989, the Committee on Joint Organizational Effort, which includes the American Council of the Blind, asked the Library of Congress to explore the feasibility of creating a national certification program in braille for teachers. The library agreed readily; its braille development section immediately began planning. An advisory committee composed of educators, rehabilitation teachers, transcribers and consumers was formed to study the feasibility of developing a braille competency test for teachers; it recommended that NLS develop certification tests in the primary braille codes for teachers.

In 1991, an editorial committee was formed to advise on the test's development. It developed guidelines for the content, credibility protection, and reading level of the test, and decided that multiple versions of the test would go to the same location. It was decided that the test would not attempt to measure teaching methodology, but only subject matter knowledge. Universities would be encouraged to continue to address methodology as part of their teacher preparation programs. State departments of education and professional standards boards would be encouraged to develop their own tests of methodology as needed. One test would be created for teachers of all educational levels.

The trial test went to the editorial committee in spring 1992. Ten reviewers in the United States and Canada evaluated it. After the test and instructions were revised, peer review took place in summer 1992. Forty- five people in 15 states and Canada, who had been recommended or expressed interest, were sent copies of the test. Again, revisions were made. In 1993, four forms of the final test were developed and prepared for use. The National Literary Braille Competency Test is undergoing a validation process. Until the formalities of this process have been completed, all of those who ask to take the test will be informed of its pending validation. The test has been developed with every possible consideration for content and rigor. NLS staff will carefully monitor its use in the field and stand ready to make whatever modifications and accommodations are necessary in order to facilitate the achievement of stated goals.

For more information, contact Frank Kurt Cylke, NLS Director, at (202) 707-5100.

The 1994 Iowa Council of the United Blind state convention is in the planning stages. It will be held April 29-May 1 at the Howard Johnson Motel, 4800 Merle Hay Road in Des Moines. It's the same hotel, just a different name. Room rates will be $41 per night plus tax. This year the restaurant will be fully operational, featuring many chicken entrees -- the restaurant's specialty. More information will be available later. If you have questions, comments or ideas, call 1-800-484-9655-3912. THEY'RE

FIGHTING FOR PEDESTRIAN SAFETY IN CINCINNATI

For many months, ACB members in Cincinnati have been concerned about the lack of attention paid to pedestrians attempting to cross streets, according to Joyce Rogers. On December 8, a blind couple was hit while crossing the street with the light in their favor and an audible pedestrian signal. They had just mailed a Christmas card and were on their way home. The woman, Kay Amyx, was killed. ACB of Greater Cincinnati asked the mayor to take action; in particular, by broadcast of a public service announcement that would remind the drivers of Cincinnati to value their privilege to drive and respect and value the lives of all pedestrians, who have rights and lives and families as well. "Drivers and pedestrians together need to travel about in safety," Rogers wrote. "None of us wants to cause the death of another. Our greatest protection is not laws, is not traffic tickets, is not jail sentences. Our greatest protection is individual responsibility and respect for the lives and safety of one another."

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.

NOMINATIONS

The Lighthouse of New York is seeking nominations for its 14th annual Pisart Vision Award, a prize given to people who have made a noteworthy contribution to the prevention, cure, or treatment of severe vision impairment or blindness. To be eligible, a person must have contributed to the field of vision in a specific, identifiable, noteworthy way. Candidates may be from any field that in any way prevents or ameliorates blindness or visual impairment, including medicine, basic scientific research, optometry, engineering, rehabilitation, or service delivery. Formal nominations must include a statement explaining the candidate's contribution and how it fulfills the criteria, the nominee's current address and occupation, complete education information, professional positions held, and experience, as well as the names, addresses and phone numbers of three people well acquainted with the nominee's work. The award is open to citizens of any country, and will be presented in New York City in September 1994. The $15,000 award and accompanying sculpture are provided through the will of Georgette Pisart, a longtime Lighthouse volunteer and widow of Fernand Pisart, a Belgian diplomat and businessman. All nominations must be postmarked on or before April 1, 1994, and sent to: Secretary, Pisart Vision Award Committee, The Lighthouse Inc., 800 Second Ave., New York, NY 10017.

VERSANEWS

"VersaNews," a technology magazine covering developments in braille equipment and how people use braille to access the benefits of the computer age, is published three times a year on MS-DOS disk, VersaBraille II disk and in print. Non-print users must have a computer or VersaBraille to read the magazine. Subscriptions cost $25 in the United States and Canada, $35 elsewhere. Specify the format desired and send your name, address, and check to VersaNews, c/o David Goldstein, Editor, 87 Sanford Lane, Stamford, CT 06905; phone (203) 336-4330.

DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE

On February 4, AT&T filed tariff revisions with the Federal Communications Commission waiving the charges for interstate directory assistance calls for disabled customers, with a maximum of 50 calls per billing cycle. Calls over 50 will be billed at the normal rate. The tariff will become effective March 21. Once it's in place, customers must have an AT&T-approved certification indicating a visual or physical disability that prevents use of a telephone directory. This exemption applies to directory assistance calls for personal use, billed to one residential telephone line per certified customer. It does not apply to calls for directory assistance made in Mexico or overseas, or to calls made from Midway or Wake islands, or via AT&T USADirect Service to interstate directory assistance, or to directory assistance in Canada or the international portion of 809 directory assistance.

BRAILLE LITE

Blazie Engineering announces the availability of Braille Lite, a talking notetaker with a standard braille keyboard, optional voice output and an 18-cell refreshable braille display. It weighs about two pounds, lets users create files and has enough memory to store about 800 pages of braille. For more information, contact Blazie Engineering, 105 E. Jarrettsville Rd., Forest Hill, MD 21050; (410) 893-9333.

WINDOWS MASTER

Brand new from Blazie Engineering is Windows Master, a software package that in combination with a synthesizer can give blind and visually impaired people access to Windows applications used by many people. And combining the program with a Braille 'n Speak, you can get the efficiency of grade II braille input. Combining it with the Braille Lite gives you speech and braille access to Windows. For more information, contact Bryan Blazie at (410) 893-9333.

BRAILLER FIX-IT-YOURSELF

Philip Jackson, 2221 Memorial Ct., Kingsport, TN 37664, is interested in learning to maintain Perkins Braillers and other similar equipment. Those interested in sharing a knowledge of braillewriter repair or in providing him with a list of possible resources where he can obtain information about the subject can contact him at (615) 246-9778.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Vladimir Arefjev of Saint Petersburg, Russia, is seeking information on braille translation, from computer to literary braille. If you have any information that can help him, send it to him at: Industrialny 26/24 kv. 91, 195279 Saint Petersburg, Russia. And if you have back issues of "PC Computing," "Tactic," or "Dialogue," he would like them too. Send them to him at the address above.

LOW FAT, LARGE PRINT

"The International Low-Fat Cookbook" is a collection of low-fat recipes available in large print and braille. It uses 22 pastas, fruit, vegetables, beans, dairy products, and 53 herbs and spices to tempt your palate in 32 recipes. To order, send your name and address, along with a check or money order for $4.95, to No Limits, Inc., 600 Cleveland St., Suite 750, Clearwater, FL 34615.

AFB RECEIVES GRANTS

The American Foundation for the Blind was recently awarded two grants: one for $30,000 from the NEC Foundation of America, to expand the capabilities of the AFB's product evaluation laboratory, and one for $22,500 from the Reader's Digest Fund for the Blind, to continue support for the Careers & Technology Information Bank, a network of 1,500 blind and visually impaired people who use assistive technology at home, work, or school. The product evaluation laboratory provides blind, visually impaired and deaf-blind consumers with information necessary to make educated decisions about purchasing various types of assistive technology.

ECONO SPEECH PACKAGE

ESP1 is a computer system that includes speech, MS-DOS version 5.0, a word processing program, a disk for beginners, cassette instructions and all the print manuals for the materials included. It costs $269. For more information, contact Linwood Gallagher, Box 2224, Carson City, NV 89702.

TOP ATHLETE IS ...

Trischa Zorn of Indianapolis, Ind., was awarded the first annual Hal O'Leary "Meeting The Challenge" Award as the top disabled athlete in the United States. With 12 medals overall, Zorn was the top medalist at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, where she set six world records in swimming. She was the first blind athlete to receive a full athletic scholarship to the University of Nebraska. She teaches third- and fourth- grade visually impaired students in Indianapolis.

ATHLETES TRAIN

The following athletes attended a Middle Distance, Distance and Cross Country Training Camp Nov. 11-14 sponsored by the U.S. Association for Blind Athletes: E.J. Bliey, Newark, Del.; Cole Cammaroto, Amityville, N.Y.; William Covington, Washington, D.C.; Dawn Driggers, St. Augustine, Fla.; Kurt Fiene, Elmhurst, Ill.; Rick George, Eastlake, Ohio; Michael Holmes, Milwaukee, Wis.; Pam McGonigle, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Laurinda Mulhaupt, Los Angeles, Calif.; Shannon Pratt, Oklahoma City, Okla.; Leamon Stansell, West Los Angeles, Calif.; Stephanie Stansell, West Los Angeles, Calif.; Carlos Talbot, Miami Springs, Fla.; Tim Willis, Tucker, Ga., and Margaret Zalenska, Alexandria, Va.

RECENT DEATH

Kathy Clatte [Clatty] of Medford, Ore., died January 11, 1994, having suffered from cancer for several months. A regular attendee at ACB conventions, Clatte was a member of the board of Guide Dog Users, Inc. and a member of Visually Impaired Veterans of America. She was a pharmacist's mate stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

EXTRA STEP AWARD

Michael Byington is the recipient of the Extra Step Award for his years of service in the Kansas Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired and the American Council of the Blind.

JOB OPENING

The Affiliated Blind of Louisiana Inc. Rehabilitation Training Center seeks an energetic, innovative and self-directed individual with three to five years of professional level administrative experience to be its assistant director. Duties will include developing community resources for vocational rehabilitation and employment opportunities: training staff; directing and managing a million dollar plus budget, and creative networking for utilization of existing agencies and resources statewide. Applicants should have a master's degree in rehabilitation or closely related social science or public/business administration field; management experience in a human service environment is preferred; be able to write effective reports and papers; be able to conceptualize new projects and finish them; demonstrate leadership ability on work groups, task forces and team projects; or have a bachelor's degree in rehabilitation or related field with five years of experience working with an established vocational training center for the blind. Send your resume to: Affiliated Blind of Louisiana Inc., 409 W. St. Mary Blvd., Lafayette, LA 70506.

(Editor's note: This is the final article in this series. Last month's article dealt with Bylaws 4, 5 and 6. This month deals with Bylaws 7 and 8.)

Bylaw 7 provides for the establishment of a hybrid board to be known as the board of publications. The board is to have five members who will serve for terms of two years. In each odd-numbered year, at the close of the annual convention, the president shall appoint the chairperson and one additional member of the board, and in even-numbered years, the convention by majority vote shall elect the remaining three members. Thus, we currently have a special board made up of both presidential appointees and a majority of elected members whose terms are staggered and overlap each other.

When the original ACB Constitution was adopted in 1962, provision was made in the bylaw on standing committees for a publications committee. Many, however, because of their experiences in the National Federation of the Blind during the 1950s, believed strongly that a specialized board or entity with a majority of members elected directly by the convention should be created in order to guarantee that the pages of all official publications of ACB would be open to unpopular or dissenting viewpoints, and to ensure that the incumbent officers and administration would not use "The Braille Forum" and other publications solely for their own political purposes or the advancement of their viewpoints. Led by members and delegates from the Kansas Association of the Blind, the ACB convention was persuaded during the mid-1960s to create the board of publications, which clearly has greater status than a standing committee.

Bylaw 7 also provides that the board has the responsibility of selecting an editorial staff. This provision appears to be at odds with other provisions of the constitution and bylaws which we have previously discussed, which give final approval authority for the appointment of professional staff to the board of directors. Bylaw 7 then states that the board has the responsibility of determining the editorial policy for all official publications of the council. This "official publications" language has become somewhat controversial over the years. There are those who would argue that the phrase "official publications" limits the board of publications' authority and jurisdiction to only the editorial policy for "The Braille Forum," which is the only official publication of ACB. Others would argue vociferously that the phrase "official publications" means much more, and that the board of publications must review and approve the thrust of all brochures, training manuals, etc., which ACB distributes to an audience beyond its official family. Some have pointed out that if this broad interpretation of the powers of the board of publications is accurate, then the national office staff and other volunteer committees and workers for ACB would be burdened by having to seek board of publications review and approval of numerous documents before such documents could be put into final form and distributed. Others would maintain that such a nuisance is essential if the board of publications is to continue to serve its historical core purpose of guaranteeing that all viewpoints are represented in material produced for wide distribution by ACB and of ensuring that the incumbents do not unfairly restrict or censor access for all viewpoints to ACB publications. This long-standing debate over the proper scope and authority of the board of publications may never be resolved, but this issue may well be one which the Constitution and Bylaws Committee and the convention ultimately may wish to revisit in an effort to clarify the powers and authority of the board of publications.

Bylaw 7 also provides that no board member shall be either appointed or elected for more than three consecutive terms, and that only one member shall be either appointed or elected at any one time from any one state. The bylaw states that a majority of the board may vote to include the editor or producer of any nationally distributed work project of the board as an ex-officio member of the board of publications. It further states that the board shall meet at least once a year, more often if necessary, at the call of the chairperson or upon the written request of at least three board members. These latter provisions have generally not been controversial.

Bylaw 8 is entitled Credentials. Section A provides that as the first order of business at the opening session of the annual convention, the secretary shall call the roll of affiliates in order to afford each affiliate the opportunity to publicly announce to the convention its presence and the identity of its official delegate, alternate delegate(s) in their order of precedence, and their representative to serve on the nominating committee. This section also provides that a single individual may serve in the capacity of official delegate or alternate delegate for only one affiliate, the only exception being if that single individual is the only person present at the convention from both affiliates which he or she seeks to represent.

Section B provides that in addition to the opportunity of publicly announcing its official delegate, alternate delegate(s), and nominating committee representative during the roll call in the opening session, each affiliate may submit such information in writing to the credentials committee before the opening of the second session of the convention. As mentioned in earlier articles in this series, because of the advent in recent years of a ceremonial opening session on Sunday night of convention week, some of the language in provisions such as Bylaw 8, section B, which speaks in terms of first or second session of the convention, has become ambiguous. While the Constitution and Bylaws Committee may wish to come up with uniform language to resolve such ambiguity, in practical terms, the roll call of affiliates has been the first order of business during ceremonial opening sessions.

Bylaw 8, section C provides that the credentials committee shall make its preliminary report during the second session of the convention and that such report shall contain the names of each affiliate's official delegate, alternate delegate(s) in their order of precedence, and of representatives to the nominating committee as ascertained from the roll call at the opening session or by means of subsequent written submissions made by affiliates to the committee.

Some would argue that the provisions of Bylaw 8 are, at least to some degree, repetitious or redundant of certain provisions previously contained in the bylaw's section on the credentials committee. Even if not redundant, these provisions might be better consolidated with the provision under standing committees regarding the credentials committee. Others might argue that whatever repetitions that exist are minor and the provisions of Bylaw 8 have served the organization well enough and should not be tinkered with at this late date. The Constitution and Bylaws Committee may wish to at least consider these points. We now conclude our review of the provisions of the ACB Constitution and Bylaws. I believe we have seen many of the strengths and some of the gaps or weaknesses in our organization's fundamental documents. For example, during the past year, allegations of financial and ethical improprieties arose against an elected officer of ACB. Our current constitution and bylaws do not contain any provision for the recall or removal of elected or appointed officers or officials. Fortunately for all parties concerned, a potential constitutional crisis was averted when the elected officer who was the subject of the allegations resigned. Such gaps in our constitution and bylaws should be addressed by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. Yet, for the most part, that committee only acts if and when our concerned and responsible members submit proposed amendments to the committee for its review and consideration. Therefore, for one last time, I request each of you to sit down and submit in writing to the Constitution and Bylaws Committee your innovative or creative solutions for any of the problems or issues that have been discussed in this series, or any trouble spots not discussed in this series for which you may have a solution. You, our wise and thoughtful members, are our greatest asset and resource, and I hope you will respond by sending proposed amendments to the committee so that some of your solutions may be considered at our upcoming annual convention in Chicago. Thank you for your patient and generous consideration of all the issues which have been raised by the articles in this series.

(Reprinted with permission from "Horizons," March 1994.)

The recent decision in Hall v. Abigail Adams National Bancorp, Inc., Superior Court of the District of Columbia, is most instructive for both employers and persons with disabilities. While brought under the District of Columbia Human Rights Act, D.C. Code 1-2501 et seq., this decision has significant ramifications under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is most helpful to employers and employees on the questions of what information an employer may consider when terminating an employee with a disability.

Hall had worked for the bank for about one and a half years. He sued for wrongful termination based on his having AIDS and kidney disease. After he was fired and sued, the bank acquired evidence upon which it claimed that had it known about sooner would have resulted in a refusal to hire in the first place or termination. The bank also claimed that Hall was not disabled, or that if he was, it did not know about it. Therefore, the employer claimed, it had not discriminated. The court rejected all of these arguments.

The court, guided by the ADA, held that Hall had a physical disability under the District of Columbia law. It reviewed the employee's sick leave records, which were extensive, and his communications with co-workers, including his supervisor. The bank knew of Hall's medical condition, perceived him as having a bodily disablement, and this contributed to or resulted in the termination.

The court next turned to the issue of the after-acquired evidence, which was about Hall's failure to reveal he had been fired from a previous position and that he'd copied records which he removed from the bank, neither of which the bank knew about when it terminated Hall but which it now relied on as a defense to the charge of discrimination. The court disagreed and found for the employee on this issue. The purpose of the D.C. Human Rights Act was to secure an end to discrimination for any reason other than that of individual merit. The employer's argument was rejected as totally contrary to the local law. Liability in the District attaches if there is a wholly or partially discriminatory reason for the employer's conduct.

The strong mandate of the D.C. Human Rights Act, the court observed, is reinforced by the 1991 amendments to the federal Civil Rights Act. Those amendments established the principles and caps on damages for violations of the ADA. The law also made clear that a party who proves that an illegitimate factor played a motivating role in an employment decision has established a violation of the Civil Rights Act even if the employer can show it would have taken the same action in the absence of the illegitimate discriminatory factor (42 U.S. C. Sec. 2000e-2).

There are strong public policy decisions that support the decision in Hall. To allow an employer after the fact, after it has taken action, to later discover information is to undermine the fundamental employer- employee relationship. That relationship is forged on a series of contemporaneous decisions which are made on the basis of information present at the time. Each decision taken is based on the current snapshot of the situation. Hall reinforces that concept and precludes an employer from continuously searching to justify its decisions.

Hall brings certainty to the employment process by putting time premiums on the use of information. If an employer is going to act, the employer is to be held accountable for its actions based on the information the employer has at the time it acts. The message of Hall to employers is get all your ducks in a row before you act. After that, it's too late to rationalize.

These public policy reasons as well as the actual decision in Hall can be applied under the ADA.

A couple of years ago, when the regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act were being drafted, I observed to one of the federal staff persons that the laws in the District of Columbia were in certain aspects, such as the lack of a cap on damages and its coverage of all employers (regardless of the size, as ADA limits) were stronger than ADA. The cryptic reply was chilling. "We don't know local law."

Hall is but the latest example of why local laws, such as the District of Columbia Human Rights Act, are crucial to ending employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. Hall is but the latest example of why neither employers nor employees can rely exclusively on the federal government in the ongoing struggle to promote true equal employment opportunity in the workplace. Local laws count. Big time.

FOR SALE: Multivoice external speech synthesizer in good condition. Asking $900 or best offer. Write or call Mary Grace Lodico, 179 Cherrydell Rd., Baltimore, MD 21228; phone (410) 747-6660.

FOR SALE: Vert Plus system version 5.0 with Prose 4,000 speech. Asking $775. Call Sean Cummins at (602) 284-0196, or write to him at P.O. Box 20488, Sedona, AZ 86341-0488.

FOR SALE: TSI Vantage CCTV, 13-inch screen, model ER1B-AW16, with large print user's manual and a BNC video cable. Good condition. $1,000 or best offer. Prometheus 1200/300 external modem with user manual, $50. Versa-Braille model P2C, no manual or power supply, make offer. Contact Tony Rock, 151 Connie Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15214 in print, braille, or cassette; or call (412) 931-4793 evenings.

FOR SALE: Cassette version of the American Heritage Dictionary. Five containers. Like new. Voice indexed. Asking $150. Also for sale: Dymo labeling tape adapter for the Perkins brailler. Contact Ron Kolesar, P.O. Box 102, Girard, PA 16417-0102; phone (814) 774-5709.

PRESIDENT
LEROY SAUNDERS
2118 N.W. 21st ST.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73107

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
CHARLES S. P. HODGE
1131 S. FOREST DR.
ARLINGTON, VA 22204

SECRETARY
PATRICIA PRICE
5707 BROCKTON DRIVE #302
INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46220

TREASURER
BRIAN CHARLSON
57 GRANDVIEW AVENUE
WATERTOWN, MA 02172

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
ELIZABETH M. LENNON

Board Of Publications

Billie Jean Hill,
Arlington, VA
Edward L. Potter,
Goldsboro, N.C.
Dana Walker,
Montgomery, Ala.
Kim Charlson,
Watertown, Mass.
Mitch Pomerantz,
Los Angeles, Calif.

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