ALBANY IN '91 Mark your calendars! November 1-3, 1991, should be reserved for the best weekend of the year! The Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of New York will take place at the Albany Quality Inn and we want you there! Plan for a weekend which will include such activities as an adaptive technology exhibit, a Parents of Blind Children seminar, a talent show, a Halloween costume party/ hospitality auction, the Blind Merchants Committee breakfast, the Dog Guide Users luncheon, the Diabetic Concerns breakfast (with guest speaker), and a gala banquet dinner. The NFB of New York's scholarships will be awarded, too. An exciting weekend of food, friends, entertainment, and information awaits you. Get your reservations at the Quality Inn as early as possible. They will only hold a limited number of rooms for a short time at the fantastic rate of $45 per night. A Convention registration form is included in this newsletter. Please return your reservation slip directly to the hotel. Albany in '91 will be great and the Convention Committee wants you to be a part of it. We can't wait to see all of you there! (The following article is reprinted from the Albany Times Union) Miracle Gadgets For Blind, Their Price May Be Illiteracy Miracle machines that once were the stuff of science fiction are making life more livable for the blind and those with limited vision. Consider the following, all of which already exist: - Gadgets that read books and magazines to blind people by converting them to computer- generated speech. - Computers that take instructions verbally rather than through a keyboard. - Radio stations that broadcast readings of daily newspapers. Critics, however, say these advances have had an unexpected effect on the nation's 13 million visually handicapped people. They are becoming illiterate. The American Printing House for the Blind, which produces books in Braille, the raised-dot language invented for the blind, said the percentage of visually handicapped people who can read Braille declined from 50 percent in 1965 to 12 percent in 1989. The reason, some advocates for the blind contend, is that new high-tech gadgets are making Braille seem less essential. Why learn to read when you can get a machine to do it for you? Some blind people and their advocates argue that learning Braille may be obsolete. A blind person could be able to function quite normally using only the new machines. Other advocates, including the National Federation for the Blind, however, say learning Braille is essential if blind people are to become full and independent members of society. They have lobbied for so- called Braille Laws that would require each blind student to learn the language. Such laws have been passed in five states, but not in New York. "Technology has opened doors and created tremendous opportunities, and they should be used to their full capacity," said Jack Ryan, director of the state Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped, "Yet the irony is that while technology makes us more independent, it makes us dependent at the same time." Ryan, who is legally but not totally blind, said that only about 15 percent of blind people are totally blind. Many with limited sight, he said, can read normal print if it is enlarged through computerized magnifiers. For those people, he said, there is probably no reason to learn Braille unless there are signs that their vision is deteriorating and they may become totally blind. "Our policy is to allow the recipient of services to decide (whether to learn Braille or not)," he said, "I use all forms of communication. The best solution is to complement the advantages of technology with Braille skills." Ryan said that learning Braille allows blind people to do everything from identifying the colors of pieces of clothing to make sure they match, to reading the indicators on a stove to tell how high the flame is. The problem with many of the machines, he said, is they are very expensive and not very portable, while a Braille notepad can fit in a pocket. Machines such as the Kurzweil reader, which turns books and magazines into computer-generated speech, can cost more than $10,000 - well out of the reach of most people. While most organizations that promote the interests of blind people are pro-Braille, some prominent blind people take the opposite view. Laura J. Sloate, president of a New York stock brokerage firm, is totally blind and thinks Braille makes blind people less independent. "Braille is an antiquated means of communication with THE world," she said, "You can get a tape recording of any book you want. The technology has to a great extent made up for our lack of sight. It has become a minor disability. We no longer have to be treated like we're handicapped. It's become a level playing field." Sloate can use her computer terminal to call up a verbal reading of articles in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times and sLOATE believeS that a good communicator is someone who canPUSH a few buttons. "Braille is a symbol of the old way of looking at the blind," she said, "It's one of the things that separates blind people from the rest of society." The organizations that are advocating laws requiring Braille, she said, are allowing outdated ideas about the blind to continue. "They're perpetuating a myth," she said, "If the blind become totally integrated into the mainstream, there will be no reason for those organizations to exist." Sloate said she was most offended by the organizations that considered blind people illiterate if they cannot read Braille. She said if they can learn how to use a computer terminal instead of a Braille writer, "the world has opened up just as much." Local organizations for the blind and teachers of the blind, however, said they still thought learning Braille was essential, especially for those who were totally blind. Grace Franze, a teacher of the blind at various schools in the Capital District for 20 years, said local schools own millions of dollars worth of the new machines. They have their uses, but will never replace Braille, she said. "A lot of books are available on taped and in Braille," she said, "When that happens they choose the Braille. They think the person reading the tape sounds bored." Also, she said, a student who has learned Braille can read faster than a person reading a book on a tape. "I feel very strongly that blind students, especially the totally blind, have to be taught Braille," she said. "It's not an easy thing to learn, but none of my students have ever regretting taking the time to learn it." While the machines may someday replace Braille, those currently on the market all have deficiencies, she said, "They go out of date as soon as you buy them." Scott Oliver, assistant executive director of the Northeaster Association for the Blind in Albany, said his organization favors teaching Braille to anyone who wants to learn it, but opposes mandatory Braille laws. "For a blind person, learning Braille is the equivalent of learning how to read and write," he said, "Without it they would be illiterate. Even people who use tapes use Braille so they can tell which tape is which." Oliver said he thought that those who wanted to make Braille obsolete may be looking more at the economic issues involved. Braille books are bulky and take up lots of space in libraries and warehouses. Replacing them with tapes and discs, he said, could be less costly. The biggest argument against the machines, said Oliver, is that the blind may become too dependent on them. "What happens when the power goes out?" he said, "Then they would be completely in the dark." Editor's Comments: Technology is not a replacement for Braille. On the contrary, Braille has benefited and improved over the years because of improvements in electronics, computers, and the printing process. As good, or rather, as exotic as Kurzweil readers are, they are too expensive, and impractical for the use of many blind people simply because of their cost and that one must be "tied" to one's computer to read. Verbal recognition software is a nice novelty, but real benefits for blind computer users will only be realized when manufacturers find a way to display a whole page of Braille, and to cut down the price of Braille printers to make them more affordable for the average blind person. Radio reading services may be a useful resource if one has the time to sit beside the radio and wait for an article of interest to be read. Most blind people, as most sighted people, find technology helpful. However, no one is suggesting that sighted people stop reading and writing print. Even with the new and smaller computers, some without keyboards, people will always continue to use the familiar pen or pencil and the same can be said of the trusty slate and stylus. Reading a book or article on tape, or via a computer speech synthesizer is in many cases not as useful, efficient, or productive as reading that same document in Braille; just as for a sighted person, reading the same document on a computer screen is less efficient than printing out the document or leafing through a book. The same is true of Braille. Technology will never advance to the point where blind people will not need to learn to read and write for ourselves. Braille is the universal medium of communication for blind people, both those who are classified as "totally" blind, and those who may have some usable vision which may allow them to use print. Machines are no substitute for sitting under a tree and reading a good book, machines cannot help with the pronunciation of a foreign language, they cannot allow for reading aloud with classmates. In short, if machines are really the answer for reading, then sighted people should stop reading print and begin using tape recorders, computers, and radio reading services, too. But since we're talking about blind people, and society isn't sure how blind people can really do what it takes to be responsible members of our society, they feel we really don't need Braille since it makes us look different. Yet many blind people read hundreds of words per minute, and we still look "different" whether we're using Braille, tape recorders, or whatever, since that is not what the majority of people use to read and communicate. It is the perception on the part of many blind people themselves that we really can't compete on terms of true equality which hurt us, not the fact that we read with our hands and not our eyes. What is normal functioning for someone who is illiterate? We would surely function like a normal illiterate. No matter how many gadgets come into our world to improve our lives, nothing will ever take the place of, or rid us of the joys, the satisfaction, and the necessity to read and write Braille. Agency heads contradict themselves when they say blind children need not learn Braille as a matter of course, and that people with usable vision don't need Braille, yet praise how useful Braille is for those who use it. Playing both ends of the field seems to be okay for blind people, but if there were laws against the reading of print, the sighted would never allow it. We will continue to fight for the rights of all blind people to learn and use Braille. If we don't, we'll have it on our consciences that a new generation of blind children and later blind adults can't, and possibly will never be able to reach their fullest potential. When Good Intentions Take Precedence Over Good Sense: Reflections on Beep Baseball By Beth Hatch-Alleyne I have fond memories of playing baseball with my friends and family throughout my years in elementary school and all the way into my adolescence. Sports was a way to meet and make friends, a way to show people that blind people could excel and have fun by being an active participant in community, school, and individual athletic activities. It improved my self-esteem to know that I was playing and competing on terms of equality. I went downhill skiing, played basketball, football, tennis, wrestling, bowling, swimming-- whatever my friends were doing, I wanted to try it. Was I always good at these sports? No, but I always gave it my best shot, and I never let anyone tell me that a blind person couldn't do this, or should do that. I did not know about the Federation until I began college, but my parents had the good sense to make sure that I went to public school and ensured that I participated in regular physical education classes. They always went out of their way to support me academically and in athletics, and for this I am truly thankful. Not everyone is so lucky. I was encouraged to shoot baskets with a friend after school, was asked to go bowling on a Saturday afternoon, or was encouraged to play a game of catch in the evening after school. Fortunately, for those blind children who will be making up the later generations of the National Federation of the Blind, these kinds of attitudes are becomming less rare. A series of reports aired on Wedndsday and Thursday July 17 and 18 shows us how far we still must go to achieve full equality and respect on the playing field. On Wednesday and Thursday, July 17 and 18, WXXI, the local public radio station, ran a series of reports on an exhibition beep baseball game to be played on Sunday, July 21,at Silver Stadium, the home of the Rochester Red Wings (the Triple A minor league team of the Baltimore Orioles) prior to the team's scheduled double- header that evening. There was to be a team of blind players called the "Untouchables" supported by WXXI Reachout Radio, the radio reading service in Rochester jointly sponsored by the radio station and the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Greater Rochester. The Untouchables would play against the "mixed media" team made up of employees of WXXI and other radio and television stations in the area. Let's try to look at beep baseball objectively. Is it enough that blind people are shown to participate in sports with sighted peers? And isn't it important to modify baseball so that a blind person will be protected and not get hurt? Some may be surprised by this, but I believe the answer is a resounding NO! We of course need helmits, cleats, and other standard equipment, but any adaptive equipment beyond beeping balls and bases is unnecessary and unnedded for blind people to appreciatethe joys of playing baseball. When we speak of adaptive equipment, we commonly speak of equipment that will help blind individuals gain access, or to participate equally with their sighted peers. A beeping baseball could give blind people access to the joys of playing a game of baseball, as it did for me in my youth. I played right along with my sighted peers. Sometimes I used a regular baseball since the beeping ball, about threee inches wide, was too big for small hands and small gloves. I was expected to participate, even learning to pitch strikes in hard ball. Beep baseball does not follow any of the conventional rules of baseball. Note the following examples, and keep in mind whether blind people, and the public at large, are getting the idea that blind people can't participate equally with our sighted peers in baseball, without changes so fundamental to make baseball not even resemble its name. If this is true of baseball, how can we rightly expect these same people to hire us, trust their kids in our care, or think we are competent to sit in an airline exit row seat. Offensively, all batters are given a "ready, pitch" command by the pitcher, who incidentally happens to be sighted. This is supposedly to tell the batter the ball is coming at him or her. If the ball is really beeping, I'm sure anyone in earshot could hear it. Three strikes and you're out in baseball, but not beep baseball. Batters get five, not three, strikes before they are called out. All sighted participants, with the exception of the pitcher and the catcher, are blindfolded. Is it any wonder, then, that the reporter quoted a gentleman saying that after he hit the ball and took about five steps he panicked? Of course he panicked! He could not understand what adjusting to blindness means by being blindfolded for a run around the bases. Oh, yes, the bases. The bases do beep. However, when hitting the ball, a sighted person stands at first or third, (there is no second base!) and shouts out directions to the batter. If people are shouting, what good are the beeping bases, unless you prefer to find your base independently without the help of others like anyone else who enjoys America's pastime. Now for the defense. As mentioned before, the pitcher and the catcher are sighted. I used to have someone stand behind me to catch a non- beeping ball, but I did pitch, hit, and catch a beeping one and heard it quite well. Problems arise with the size of the ball, since it's too big, even bigger than the ball used in mens' softball games, at least three inches in circumference. When a player hits the ball, the ball hardly moves, because its bulk makes it impossible to give it a good whack. Another gentleman quoted by the radio reporter said blind people hit very few fly balls in beep baseball. Blind people ccould hit fly balls if the ball were lighter. Apparently the source quoted by the reporter feels that a blind person cannot hit the ball well enough for it to become airborne, since nothing was mentioned about the size of the ball influencing the number of flys and pop-flys that were hit. An individual is called out in baseball if a fielder catches the ball, or second, if the infielder catches the ball before, or one that was thrown to him from the outfield, before the runner arrives, or third, the runner can be tagged out by the infielder. None of these thing happens in beep baseball. If the batter hits the ball, and gets to first base before someone catches it, he/she is safe. However, if the fielder (I use this term loosely since there are six people positioned around the field to catch the ball but not in baseball positions) catches the ball before the runner arrives, he/she is out. I believe such changes to the game of baseball are shameful and destructive to blind people. It says that we cannot participate in a sport in the same way that our sighted friends anf family members do because we are blind. It seems like some, probably innately benevolent, but unfortunately unenlightened about blindness, thought of a game kind of like baseball, but a game that was tinged with the stigma blindness has in our society. Otherwise, blind people would be using the beeping ball and bases to aid us to do what others are doing independently. We do not need people to tell us which way to run, as this should be the reason for having beeping bases. We want equal treatment, and it should go without saying that sighted people should play ball with their sight, and we use our ears to use the ball and the bases. Speaking of the bases, is the lack of second base a problem? Surely it is. It changes the shape of the diamond. As a matter of fact, it isn't a diamond without it. Just arbitrarily removing a position, techniques, or changing the way the game is played so that blind people can play the game is ludicrous. We want full participation, not somebody's idea of what true equality, and active participation means. It is not enough that the public, those of us who are blind and sighted, see us hitting a ball, or running the bases. Our abilities will only matter, and be truly accepted when we are given an equal chance to participate, and not placed on a show piece, or on the back burner to show that with the proper modification, blind people can kind of, but not really, play baseball. Fighting The Good Fight: The NFB And A Personal Struggle For Change By Kate Mayer My name is Kate Mayer. I am 23 years old and I live in Buffalo, New York. Though I have been blind since birth, I was never told I was legally blind until I entered high school. I have been trying to define that term ever since. I am rapidly realizing that I have consistently overestimated the amount of sight I actually have, though my vision is at the cut-off point for legal blindness. Yet it is with this residual vision alone and no adaptive aids other than glasses that I made it all the way through high school. Not until college did I become acquainted with such commonplace things in the life of a blind person as the Commission for the Blind, SSI, and low vision aids. Yet all through college I relied on my vision. I never felt comfortable with my blindness, never knew how to describe it to others with even a modicum of accuracy, and never learned that alternative techniques existed which would allow me, as a blind person, to do things which I had taken for granted could only be done with sight. When I graduated from Syracuse University in 1990, I realized I had a problem. I was lacking in self-confidence even though I had graduated at the top of my class. A major reason for this was that I had allowed my blindness, which I had never honestly dealt with, to isolate me from others, and I didn't want that separation to continue in the workplace. I did not want to keep pretending I had more sight than I actually did, to continue feeling ashamed and reluctant to reveal my blindness to others, and to keep using the inefficient visual techniques which I had long believed were my only means of doing things. Two recent events have been valuable to me as a blind person who is "coming out," so to speak. In June, I got a mobility evaluation and decided to use a cane. I was finally ready to affirm my blindness to myself and others. Rather than feel awkward or embarrassed when I first used the cane, I felt liberated. I was finally being honest about my blindness. It wasn't a shameful thing anymore. I felt proud and independent, and I have found the cane to be a great aid to both my confidence and mobility. The second event was my attendance at the 1991 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind. This experience truly opened my eyes to the normalcy and competence of blind people, and the fact that my potential need not be limited by my blindness. I discovered that blind people with a high degree of residual vision often shared the common misconception that we possessed more sight than we in fact had. Use of our sight, and the consequent denial of our blindness, had been overly encouraged to the detriment of our development of non-visual techniques. This is a major concern of mine. I am no longer comfortable denying my blindness. I am no longer willing to set myself apart from other blind people just because I possess a high degree of usable residual vision. I have become highly aware of the problems which relying on my sight alone is bound to cause me in the world of work. yet I possess only limited knowledge of alternative techniques. I want to develop effective blindness skills so I can make informed decisions on when I will use my sight and when I will not. At Convention, I learned of the Center for the Blind in Ruston, Louisiana. I became enthusiastic about the possibility of going to Ruston to learn the skills of blindness which I have never received in my 23 years as a blind person. In addition, I would have the chance to bolster my independence and confidence through my close association with competent blind people during my time there. I would strengthen my belief that it is respectable to be blind, a belief often slow in coming to one just beginning to accept her blindness. This feeling of acceptance has been denied me the whole of my psuedo-sighted exit life, and it is a feeling I can no longer live without. Now I am experiencing another circumstance with which many blind people are all too familiar. I must now fight the Commission for the Blind to get the funding to go to Ruston. I feel I must prove the worthiness of my request, since the Commission believes I can get the same benefits from rehab training in Buffalo. I now have the difficult and scary job of proving them wrong. Self-advocacy is new to me, and I am glad I have found the NFB in time to help me deal with this situation. Only in the past year have I become assertive in a positive, self- affirming way. I guess I have always felt like it was too much to ask for extra help when I had some vision to fall back on. So I struggled to do everything visually, assuming that was the best I could hope for. But now I have found a caring organization whose members will listen to me and offer me the benefit of their expertise and involvement. The NFB is a resource which seems too good to be true, more than I would ever have felt entitled to, yet here it is, and I am grateful for it. I will need help getting to Ruston. It will be a battle, or at least a struggle, to bring it about. But I want to be a proud, independent blind person, with a whole- hearted commitment to the positive philosophy of the NFB. Your support will help me maintain the courage and strength I need to fight for my rights as a blind person, and bring about my successful transformation. 1991 State Scholarships Announced The National Federation of the Blind of New York State, Inc., proudly announces our 1991 Scholarship Program. At least three scholarships will be presented at our State Convention Banquet, in Albany, NY, on November 1, 1991. We are sure one $50 scholarship and two $250 scholarships will awarded. There may be more and bigger scholarships available, so why not apply? Applicants must meet the following requirements: - you are a resident of New York. - you are legally blind. - you are currently accepted at or enrolled in a degree program at the under-graduate, graduate, or post- graduate level. - you submit a completed application and essay which are received by the Scholarship Committee on or before September 30, 1991. If you're interested, please answer all the questions on the application. In addition, attach an essay of 500 words (or less), explaining how this scholarship will help you accomplish your goals. If you have any questions, please call Ray Wayne, Scholarship Committee Chairperson, at (718) 596-8195. An application is included elsewhere in this issue of THE BLIND NEW YORKER. NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF NEW YORK STATE, INC. 1991 Scholarship Application APPLICANT'S HOME INFORMATION: NAME: _____________________________________________________ STREET: ___________________________________________________ CITY, STATE & ZIP: ________________________________________________ TELEPHONE: ( ) YOUR INFORMATION AT SCHOOL: SCHOOL'S NAME: _____________________________________________________ YOUR ADDRESS AT SCHOOL (if different from above) : ___________________________________________________ CITY, STATE & ZIP: _______________________________________________________ TELEPHONE: ( ) DEGREE PROGRAM: ________________________________________________ YEAR EXPECTED TO GRADUATE: ______________________ Please return this application and an essay of 500 words (or less), explaining how this scholarship will help you accomplish your goals, to: Mr. Raymond Wayne, Chairman NFB/NYS Scholarship Committee 450 Clinton Street Apt. 2-B Brooklyn, NY 11231 Application and essay must be received by September 29, 1991 for consideration. Quality Inn Watervliet Avenue Albany, New York 12206 Phone: (518) 438-8431 FAX# 1-518-438-8356 Dear Attendee: The Albany Quality Inn is pleased to have been selected as the union host hotel for the National Federation of the Blind of New York State, Inc., November 1st through 3rd, 1991, annual conference. A special group discounted rate has been set for those dates. We are presently holding a limited number of sleeping rooms at this rate. If you are planning to attend the Conference, please fill out the below information. Room rates per night are the same for single or double occupancy. Accompanying children under 16 are free. Sleeping room rates are: Single $45.00 Double $45.00 Tripple $45.00 Quad $45.00 Arrival______________________ Approx. Time:______________________ Departure Date:_____________ Number Sleeping Rooms_______________ Guest Name:_______________________________________________________ Number of People Occupying Room: _________________________________ Address: _________________________________________________________ City/State: ________________________ Zip: _____________________ Home Phone: ____________________ Business Phone: ________________ Additional Names:_________________________________________________ Check in time is 3:00pm Check out time is 1:00pm Room will be held until 4:00pm on date of arrival. In order to guarantee your reservations for arrival later than 4:00pm, please send information. (Hotel accepts Master Card, Visa, Diner's Card, Carte Blanche, American Express or Discover). Card: _____________________________________________________________ Card Number:____________________________ Exp Date: _______________ Complete this letter and mail to: Sales Office Albany Quality Inn Hotel Watervliet Avenue Ext. Albany, NY 12203 or call the hotel directly (518) 438-8431