THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES Blind Washingtonian subscriptions cost the Federation about five dollars per year. Members are invited, and non-members are requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be made payable to National Federation of the Blind of Washington and sent to: National Federation of the Blind of Washington Post Office Box 2516 Seattle, Washington 98111 Bennett Prows, President Post Office Box 2516 Seattle, Washington 98111 (206) 823-6380 Albert Sanchez, Editor East 707 Garland Spokane, Washington 99207 (509) 487-0809 BLIND WASHINGTONIAN SUMMER - FALL 1993 Address changes, requests for editional coppies of this newsletter, and articles should be sent to the Editor. EDITOR'S CORNER BY Albert Sanchez OOPS!!! One of the things that makes the task of editing a newsletter difficult is the discovery of mistakes. In the Winter 1992 - 1993 issue of the Blind Washingtonian, right on the front page, we had an error. It reads: "Blind Washingtonian subscriptions cost the Federation about five dollars per issue. ..." It should read: "Blind Washingtonian subscriptions cost the Federation about five dollars per year. ..." We are sorry for any confusion this might have caused our readers. CONGRATULATIONS AND GOOD LUCK! Doug Trimble has been a long-time leader in this affiliate. As Federationists know, in addition to receiving the second annual Beverly Prows scholarship last October, he and Dan Frye spent the summer working at the Colorado Center for the Blind in Denver. Appearantly, Doug made a good impression on the management of CCB, because earlier this year he was offered, and accepted a full-time staff position in Colorado. While we will miss Doug, we know that he will do a great job and continue to work hard to help blind persons learn to believe in themselves. MUCH THANKS! Before leaving this portion of our newsletter, I want to thank you all again for your help in making this publication possible. I appreciate hearing from you with your suggestions on how we can make our Blind Washingtonian both interesting and informative. Remember, if you want to contact me you may do so in braille, on computer disk, typewritten print or via modem, I look forward to hearing from you. For the past several years we have had our newsletter put into braille by Father Palmer Memorial Braille Service, in Spokane. They have done a fine job and we have appreciated there fine work. Our last issue, (Winter 1992 - 1993), was done by our Oregon Affiliate, nice job and thanks to the NFB of Oregon! A MATTER OF SCALE By Gary Deeter (Editor's Note: Gary Deeter is a long-time member of our Greater Seattle chapter. He may not have much to say, but when he does, its right on the mark. He sent me the following article shortly after the Mini-convention in March of this year.) Why are people so afraid of diversity. The example that comes so vividly to mind is the fervor displayed by adults in forcing young blind people to use any residual sight rather than learn braille. It is obvious to me that this approach is taken not because it is best for the child, but it is best for the psyche of the adult. Is the opportunity to live in a diverse world with the quality it can offer lost to these adults? I am a partial vision person. Although I function well reading print with the proper technology the pressure is felt to try and see more. My low vision optometrist tells me that many people with my acuity, or even less, have a driver's license. This is the same dilemma that faces the child who is told that reading print is better than reading braille. The message for adults is it is better to drive than ride the bus. The issue of public safety does not seem to enter into the discussion. The general public would much rather take the chance that a low vision person could kill someone in an automobile accident than accept that it is all right for someone to be different. I offer these observations to illustrate what we in the National Federation of the Blind are up against. Society in general will always want everyone to conform to an accepted norm. Reading braille and riding the bus are certainly not in the norm. The fight will be never ending. The pressures are immense to conform to the general perception of the norm. Passage of the Braille bill in Washington State is essential as a tool to help the blind show everyone else that it is okay to be an individual. 1993 NFB of WASHINGTON CONVENTION BY Bennett Prows It's time to beat the bushes, beat the drums, then beat your feet to the 1993 NFB of Washington Convention. This year's celebration of Federationism will be held at the Holiday Inn Boeing Field at 11224 Pacific Highway South in Seattle from October 15 through October 17, 1993. We plan many activities that are important to the blind population of this State and of the nation. Betty Nicely, President of the National Federation of the Blind of Kentucky has been appointed by President Marc Maurer to represent the national office at this year's Washington State CONVENTION. Betty has many attributes, one of which is to convey to all of us the energy of true federation spirit. You won't want to miss her presentations on Saturday October 16. This is your opportunity to meet and get to know a great national board member. The activities begin on Friday with a student division seminar. Our scholarship award will be held on Saturday at the banquet, and a discussion of rehabilitation services will be a part of this year's activities also. So, you students will want to take a break from the mundane, unimportant scholastic activities, and join the study of the NFB of Washington. The room rates are still good. $52.00 each night for singles, doubles, tripples, and quads. The registration is $15.00 prior to the 10th of October, and $18.00 at the door. Be there! CHAPTER NEWS (Editors Note: This section of the Blind Washingtonian is dedicated to Chapter Reports. We hope you find it interesting.) SPOKANE COUNTY CHAPTER By Susan Phillipy The Spokane County chapter of the National Federation of the Blind wants you to know that it is alive and growing! MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT In the last six months we have had three new people become members. Lynda Waring moved to Spokane last fall from California. Some of you met her at this year's mini-convention. She is the mother of three children, (Robin 16, Stacey 13, and David 11), and is currently looking for work in the area of child-care. Linda Schappals is currently enrolled as a student at Eastern Washington University, in Cheney. She is majoring in Applied Psychology with a minor in alcohol and drug addiction counseling. She has jumped right into being an active member as co-chair of our fundraising committee. She is also a transplanted Californian. On top of her studies and activity in the chapter, Linda and her fiance Dweight are operating a "juice bar" at the Spokane Marketplace each Saturday this summer. Karen Holman came to us in February, the mother of a deaf- blind daughter, Ashley, as the result of our Statewide "kiddy cane" bank. Unfortunately, due to Ashley's illness and subsequent death from a nerve disorder, Karen has not been as active as she would have wished. She Says: "I want to be active because of what I have learned from you!" She and her husband Bob are the parents of two other children. Karen works as a secretary for the Spokane City Engineering Department, while Bob works as a "feeder" driver for United Parcel service. OUTREACH AND FUNDRAISING While we are proud to have our new members, we have been active in other areas as well. Our chapter President, Albert Sanchez, has been busy on the "speaking tour". He has spoken to several community groups recently such as the Kiwanis club, and the Quota Club of Spokane County. We started the year off with a fifty-fifty drawing at the mini-convention in March. After that, John Croy and Linda Schappals, did a booth at a "Scoutarama" in early June, where literature was distributed and braille name cards were made. Also in June we had a "yardsale" in my front yard that was moderately successful. We distributed literature and sold some nice items. Linda Schappals got the Spokane Indians baseball team to donate some tickets for which we had a drawing. Probably the best, (and most unusual) fundraiser project that we did this summer was "Neighborday". During the July 4th weekend we raised funds by having a "car parking concession." (Editor's Note: We have been asked to mention the following): NAPUB PLANS NATIONAL BRAILLE-A-THON FOR DETROIT For the past five years, the National Federation of the Blind of Louisiana has held a Braille-A-Thon as a pre-convention event at its state convention as a means to both promote Braille literacy and to raise funds for the state affiliate. During the past five years, the NFBL has raised over five thousand dollars and has received some excellent publicity about Braille literacy in almost every major city in Louisiana. Volunteer Braille readers pledge to read a set number of Braille pages between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. on the Friday before a state convention begins. For several weeks prior to the state convention, these volunteer readers procure sponsors, and then the volunteers gather in a large room in the hotel where the state convention is held and complete their page goals. Some read as many as three hundred pages, and others read just a few pages. For example, Harold Wilson raised over $11300.00 on just ten pages the first year the event was held. Harold, who had just completed grade two Braille at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, pledged to read his ten hard-earned pages during the Braille-A-Thon, and using a sign-up sheet, he found persons in his hometown who were willing to pay him money to see him reach his page goal. "It was easy to find sponsors. People seem to like the idea of helping us become better readers. There is still a mystique about Braille, and the more we promote and show people that it is not so amazing, the better off we will be," Harold said. During one Braille-A-Thon in New Orleans in 1989 the New Orleans Times Piceyune featured a blind father and daughter both reading Braille together, and almost every major television station in cities like Shreveport and Baton Rouge has covered this event. Because the Braille-A-Thon has drawn many volunteer readers in Louisiana and because it is an excellent way to promote Braille through the media in different cities each year, the National Association To Promote the Use of Braille (NAPUB) has decided to hold a similar event at next year's national convention in Detroit, and if successful, it will be continued at each national convention. "We expect to have excellent Braille readers and brand-new Braille readers participating on Saturday from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. In Detroit," said Betty Niceley, President of NAPUB. "We should have at least two hundred people reading Braille in one room in Detroit, and we will try our best to have every major television station and newspaper in the Detroit area there to cover the event. We will be calling on our membership in NAPUB to pledge to read their pages and to find sponsors in their home states who would be willing to pay them handsomely for their hard work. Half of the money will go to NAPUB and half will go to the national organization. If Louisiana can raise two thousand for a state convention, there is no reason why we couldn't raise over one hundred thousand for our national Braille-A-Thon," said Nicely, smiling. "We want to make this an annual event. I bet it will be one of the quietest fund raisers we could ever have." If you would like to participate and receive some sponsor sheets, you may contact either Betty Nicely, 3818 Dayton Avenue, Louisville, KY 40207, (602) 897-2832 or Jerry Whittle, 101 South Trenton Street, Ruston, LA 71270, (800) 234-4186. NFB of Washington East 707 Garland Spokane, WA 99207 CHANGE OF ADDRESS REQUESTED