WISCONSIN CHRONICLE VOLUME IX, FALL - WINTER CONTENTS 1991 State Convention ............... 2 Generous Donation ................... 2 Learning Braille .................... 3 Death Announcement .................. 3 Death Announcement .................. 4 Braille Reading Contest ............. 4 Exercising Self-Respect ............. 5 Scholarship Report .................. 7 Confessions of a Scholarship Winner ................ 7 What Do Sighted People Think Will Happen? ...................... 8 Welcome to Wausau ................... 9 Northcentral Chapter Information .... 9 NFBW Board Members ..................10 NFBW 1991 Convention Registration Form .................11 _________________________________________________________________ Jodi Cowle, Editor Braille Production Caryn Navy 2938 Coho Street 401 Elmside Blvd. Madison, WI 53713 Madison, WI 53704 (608) 274-1954 (608) 241-2498 1991 STATE CONVENTION by Bonnie Peterson The 1991 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin will be held in the engaging surroundings of the Best Western Midway Motor Lodge, 2901 Martin Avenue, in Wausau Wisconsin. The Convention will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday, October 25, and conclude Sunday, October 27th at 12:00 p.m. This year's convention will feature many fascinating speakers who will share their techniques for success relating to employment, job skills, and education. The program will be of great interest to all blind persons, parents of blind children, and those working with the blind. The highlight of the convention will be a banquet address given by our National representative, Steve Benson. Steve Benson has worked in education, rehabilitation, and administration. He is a National Federation of the Blind Board Member and the President of the Illinois Affiliate. We are proud to have arranged quite reasonable room rates for this year's convention. The rates are single, $45.00 (one person) double, $55.00 (two persons) triple, $65.00 (three persons) or quad, $75.00 (four persons). There will be no charge for children occupying rooms with their parents. Reservations are to be made at the Best Western Midway Motor Lodge, 2901 Martin Avenue, Wausau, WI, 54401, (715) 842-1616 by September 24, 1991. A guaranteed reservation requires a major credit card number or one night advance payment on, or before, September 25, 1991. In order to receive our convention rates you must inform the hotel that you are reserving rooms for the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin Convention. GENEROUS DONATION TO NFBW by Cheryl Orgas I would like to thank St. Vincent de Paul of Milwaukee for your generous monetary donation. After Charles Fontanazza and Mary Sheahan of St. Vincent de Paul read the literature of the National Federation of the Blind and met with me at the Counseling Center of Milwaukee, this organization made a donation of $1000 toward our scholarship fund. Your support and faith in our movement is much appreciated. Thank you. LEARNING BRAILLE by Maggie Meeker Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Not I! Although I had heard the worst, learning braille was not any more difficult than learning how to type with a few extra rules. As a 36-year-old sighted woman, I learned to read and write braille over a six month period attending class one night a week. Yes, there was homework involved. Yes, I had to fit it in between a full-time job as an interior designer for my own company and numerous social activities. Yes, I had a lot of memorizing to do for this class. No, I do not have any training or experience in the field of education. But I did have the motivation. Initially my thoughts were to learn braille so as to better communicate with my brother and sister-in-law, neither of whom are sighted. Little things like birthday and Christmas cards were impossible to find in braille and depending on others to braille them did not fit into my typically procrastinating profile! Later I realized what a good opportunity being a braille volunteer could provide. I was quite surprised to learn that specially trained educators of the blind are not required to learn braille! I can't imagine what the thinking was behind that decision. Certainly it has nothing to do with difficulty. A simple three credit course over one semester is plenty of time to develop a working understanding of braille. The basic concepts are simple; and, like any other skill, braille proficiency increases with practice. How can a teacher effectively teach a subject or group of people when her or his knowledge is compromised? DEATH ANNOUNCEMENT by Bonnie Peterson Judy Congdon died on Monday, July 15, 1991 after a long battle with cancer. She was the secretary of the Milwaukee Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, a strong and dauntless Federationist, a loving mother, and trusted employee for the Social Security Administration. Judy stood on the picket line against NAC in Wisconsin, coordinated the hospitality for our State conventions, taught braille to anyone who wanted to learn, and walked the halls of the Capitol educating Wisconsin legislators about the importance of braille. DEATH ANNOUNCEMENT by Jodi Cowle Rick Skoczek died on July 3, 1991. Rick was a former member of the Dane County chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin. He was a kind and determined person who quietly but firmly spoke out for what he believed in. He did not allow blindness, poor health, or the system to prevent him from striving to attain his goals. NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND 1991 - 1992 ANNUAL BRAILLE READING CONTEST The Parents of Blind Children Division of the National Federation of the Blind and the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille (NAPUB) are pleased to announce the Eighth Annual Contest for braille readers, kindergarten through twelfth grade. The purpose of this braille reading contest is to encourage blind school children to read more braille. It is just as important for blind children to be literate as it is for other children. Good readers can have confidence in themselves and their abilities to learn and adapt to new situations throughout their lifetime. Braille is a viable alternative to print, yet many blind children are graduating from our schools with poor braille skills and low expectations for themselves as braille readers. They do not know that braille readers can be competitive with print readers. First, second and third place winners will be selected from each of five categories. All winners will receive a special certificate and a distinctive NFB braille Readers are Leaders T-shirt. Cash prizes are also awarded in all five categories. First Place $50.00; Second Place $25.00; Third Place $10.00. Winners will be determined by amount of braille pages read. The deadline for contest entries will be February 19, 1992. For contest entry forms or more information contact Ms. Linda Mentink, 1737 Tamarack Lane, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 752-8749 or Mrs. Sandy Halverson, 403 West 62nd Terrace, Kansas City, Missouri 64113, evenings (816) 361-7813. EXERCISING SELF-RESPECT by William D. Meeker The staff at the gym where I exercise attempt to lessen the boredom inherent in using the exercycle and rowing machine with a color tv in the work-out area. One and a half years of rowing has given me not only additional muscle tissue but also much tolerance for what spews out of the television between four and five p.m. week days. Sometimes I even become interested. One Wednesday last May was such a day. I was proceeding under full steam on the rowing machine on an imaginary crossing on Lake Michigan (a contest sponsored by the health club) with what remained of my consciousness fixed on "Family Feud." This was a particularly good episode--a grudge match between Operation Desert Storm veterans, the Army versus the Air Force. About fifteen minutes into the show my attention was riveted and interest peaking, when some jerk changed the channel to that paragon of media circuses, "The Donahue Show." This had happened before. What rudeness, to change the tv channel without asking others in the room if they cared! There were times when I had remained silent at this behavior and burned my anger. But today I spoke up. "I was watching that show. Would you mind turning it back?" "Ha," barked the person astride the life cycle to my right. Phil Donahue remained on the screen. What was funny? Maybe he thinks that since blind people can't see we don't watch tv--and I remembered that single barked laugh from once before when I spoke up. I stopped rowing, stood up, and, cane in hand, approached Phil (the tv). My fellow exercisers became silent. It was the stunned silence of those watching an infidel approaching an altar with clearly desecratory intent. I found the channel select button and flipped back to "Family Feud." Okay, back to the trip across Lake Michigan with the Air Force ahead of the Army. No comment from the exercise room. Time passed. I thought about what had just happened. Well, they now know that a blind person can not only watch tv but also change the channel and get angry at impoliteness. I felt at peace because I had done all that one person could do. The incident was resolved and it could go into the past. Had I not acted, I would have stewed over the incident and replayed it in a hundred "I should have, I could have, I would have" variations. A little while later a newly arrived person asked another woman, "Who's watching the TV?" "The asshole," she said, looking my way. The new arrival asked me if I was watching the program. I answered that I was, and the matter ended. My rowing time ended, too, as the five o'clock news burst upon the screen like a ripe, colorful pustule swollen with the day's accumulation of criminal horrors and political double-dealings. The whirlpool and the shower afforded me time to think. Okay, I had done what I felt was necessary. I had, in a direct, adult fashion, stated--demanded-- not that I get my own way by being able to watch the program that I wanted, but that I be accorded the same courtesy as others. That is, instead of assuming that because I'm blind I don't matter when it comes to tv viewing preferences, ask me if I am watching the program or if I would mind if you change the channel. All that may be true, I thought, but won't they just see me as a cranky blind guy with a chip on my shoulder? There are those who will understand and those who will jump at the chance to discount me. And so be it. I'd rather be an asshole with self-respect than a nice guy who is treated as a non-person, and hates himself (and others) for it! Since that minor but significant interaction at the tv, things have happened. More people are saying hello to me and remembering my name when they do. People seem more inclined to just chat in the locker room or at an exercise machine. And people do ask--not always, but more often than before--whether I'm watching a tv program. Not exactly the reaction I would expect toward an irascible blind guy with a chip on his shoulder. Hmmm. Hardly the way I would expect people to react to an asshole either, for that matter. Maybe their reactions are born of understanding; maybe they are born of respect. SCHOLARSHIP REPORT by Cheryl Orgas Jennifer Lehman, a sophomore at St. Norbert's College in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was chosen as the 1991 NFBW scholarship winner. This bright, interesting honor student has already received part of her scholarship in the form of an expense paid trip to the most important Federation event of the year, the National Convention of the National Federation of the Blind, held this year in New Orleans. Her expenses at the state convention in Wausau, October, 1991, will be paid in full and she will receive a check for $1000. Jenny is very deserving of this scholarship award. Jenny is a communications major with a minor in history and hopes to become an attorney. She is very involved in working on the school newspaper and also is a lector at her campus church. Thus far in college she has carried a grade point of 4.0. We are very proud of you, Jenny. Scholarship Committee Cheryl Orgas, Chair Committee Members: Deb Jacobson, Kathleen Sebranek, John Fritz. CONFESSIONS OF A SCHOLARSHIP WINNER by Jennifer Lehman As I stepped from the oppressively humid jetway into the startling coolness of the New Orleans airport, I felt the apprehension I had been fighting to control begin to overwhelm me. Flying alone for the first time, I had just arrived in an unfamiliar city to spend a week attending a convention of a group about which I knew almost nothing. Lurking beneath my apprehension, however, was a spark of excitement. I realized that this trip could be a kind of challenging and fun adventure. I could not have known then how much I would learn and what an exciting and unforgettable experience the national convention of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) would be. Prior to this convention, my contact with other blind people had been limited. I was the first blind student to enter the Watertown public school system, and am presently the only one at St. Norbert College. Besides my younger sister, many of the blind people I had met seemed to exemplify the stereotypic image of blindness. They seemed totally dependent upon others to meet all of their needs. I was not anxious to spend a week surrounded by such people. I felt that there were no blind people like my sister and myself, people who thought of their blindness not as a handicap or an insurmountable hurdle, but as something which, though sometimes a nuisance, did not have to keep us from doing what we wanted to do with our lives. Soon after arriving at the convention I discovered, to my relief, that I had been wrong. The ideas about blindness which I had thought were unique to me and my sister were actually part of the philosophy of the NFB. I was among people whose attitudes and accomplishments I admired and who reached out and made me feel that I was a part of their huge family. The sense of community I felt was one of the most positive aspects of the convention for me. Another positive aspect was the chance to learn more about the NFB. Before this trip, I knew almost nothing about the group. I had heard some mixed reports. For instance, I had heard that it was somewhat radical, especially in its fight for exit row seating on airplanes. I had also heard that it worked hard to promote the teaching of braille, something which I very much support. Through conversations with members and many excellent speeches, I learned a great deal about the philosophy and actions of the National Federation of the Blind. I found that I agree with much of this philosophy. I plan to become an active member and may even work to start a student division in Wisconsin. The convention taught me as much about myself as it did about the NFB. I have always considered myself fairly independent, but this convention taught me to be even more so as a better cane traveler. Walking with so many other people who were also using canes, I gained new skills as well as more of the confidence I needed to help me travel better. As I relaxed and opened up to people, I also gained much-needed self-confidence. I hope that the positive effects this convention had on my self-image will last a lifetime. Attending the national convention of the National Federation of the Blind is an event I will never forget. I am extremely grateful to the members of the scholarship committee and all those who worked to make this experience possible for me. By winning the Wisconsin NFB scholarship, I received more than just the money to help pay for my tuition. I gained confidence, knowledge, and friends and memories which I will cherish forever. WHAT DO SIGHTED PEOPLE THINK WILL HAPPEN by Randy Black I believe most sighted people still have serious reservations about our ability as blind individuals to survive in the everyday world. If I took a poll of sighted people, I suspect most would have no idea how to respond to questions like these: What do sighted people think will happen when we refuse their help crossing streets? When we drop something and they're not there to pick it up for us? When there's no one at the bus stop to tell us which bus is approaching? When we start our first day of work with all job related materials available only in print? When we refuse their help going through a buffet line? Despite all of the educational programs designed to demonstrate the competency of blind people, there remains much work to be done. Perhaps our most effective educational tool is ourselves. For example, a student recently came to my work place, the Registrar's Office of the University of Wisconsin- Madison, and told me he really admired my skill level. This student said he had observed me on my job for as long as I had worked there, and was impressed that I handled it so well. I accepted the intended compliment from this stranger, yet felt the underlying message as well: He was really impressed that a blind person could handle the job. But at least he now knows a blind person is out in the work force handling a full-time job. Perhaps he won't be quite so amazed when he encounters another successfully employed blind individual. WELCOME FROM WAUSAU by David Schuh Welcome to Wausau from the Northcentral Wisconsin Chapter! On October 25 - 27 the NFB of Wisconsin will be holding its 1991 State Convention in Wausau. It will be held at the Best Western Midway Motor Lodge. The Northcentral Wisconsin Chapter will be hosting a hospitality room on Friday night. We will serve cheese and crackers, vegetables and dip, potato chips, pretzels, fruit punch, and coffee. On Saturday morning before the meeting we will also have muffins and coffee for the people attending the convention. We will have people registering guests and also have people in the hospitality room getting to know the other members of the NFB. On Saturday night there will be an auction. The Northcentral Wisconsin Chapter has decided to purchase $500.00 worth of aids and appliances from the NFB's Material Center in Baltimore. These will be on display Friday night and Saturday, and then auctioned off on Saturday night. Hopefully there will be some bargains for our NFB members in attendance and at the same time increase the NFB of Wisconsin's treasury. There will be literature from the national office available at the convention. This will include such things as the: 1991 Presidential Report, 1991 Banquet Address, Braille Monitors, Future Reflections, Voice of the Diabetic, and various other reports. We will have these in print, cassette, and braille. Our chapter will also make information about the Wausau area available in large print and braille. We will also get the menus at the hotel in large print and braille. The hotel is a very nice place to stay, probably the nicest in the Wausau area. Some of the major attractions are: indoor swimming pool, whirl pool, sauna, playground area for children, Friday and Saturday night videos for kids, room service, and coffee pots in each room. Donna and I have eaten at the restaurant several times. The food is excellent and the desserts are out of this world. The Jericho Lounge is a nice bar with a D.J. working on the weekend. NORTHCENTRAL CHAPTER INFORMATION by David Schuh Our chapter's board seems to be a happy one. We have a birth and a marriage. Denny and Margie Schuh are the proud parents of a baby girl named Theresa Marie. Denny is the Treasurer and Margie is a Board Member. As President Maurer said, "This is a great way to increase our NFB membership!" Rhonda Amundson and John Baranowski were married on June 29. Rhonda is the Secretary and John is a Board Member. We wish them many happy years together. September 15 will be the first anniversary of our chapter. We have been busy during this first year recruiting new members, fund raising for equipment and special projects, doing jobs for the state and national level of the NFB, and planning for the state convention in Wausau. We currently have twelve members with two prospective members coming to our next meeting in September. Following is a list of the Northcentral Wisconsin Chapter's Board Members: David Schuh, President Connie Miller, Vice-President Dennis Schuh, Treasurer Rhonda Baranowski, Secretary Margie Schuh, Board Member John Baranowski, Board Member NFBW Board Members Bonnie Peterson, President 5331 South 8th Street Milwaukee, WI 53221 (414) 483-3336 Jodi Cowle, First Vice-President 2938 Coho Street Madison, WI 53713 (608) 274-1954 Kathleen Sebranek, Second Vice-President 1612 Winnebago Street LaCrosse, WI 54601 (608) 784-2343 Linda Mentink, Secretary 1737 Tamarack Lane Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 752-8749 Larry Sebranek, Treasurer 1612 Winnebago Street LaCrosse, WI 54601 (608) 784-2343 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF WISCONSIN 1991 CONVENTION REGISTRATION FORM The Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin will be held October 25 - 27, 1991 at the Best Western Midway Motor Lodge, Wausau, Wisconsin. Registration will cost $5 for each person preregistering and $7 for those registering after October 15. Registration will be available at the Convention but preregistering will help us provide you with better service. This form may not be used to register with the hotel. Hotel registration should be made by calling the Best Western Midway Motor Lodge, (715) 842-1616, or by writing them at 2901 Martin Avenue, Wausau, WI, 54401 by September 24, 1991. In order to get convention rates be sure to say you are registering for the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin Convention. Costs for the Convention are as follows: Room Rates: $45 for singles; $55 doubles; $65 Triples. A deposit of one night's lodging is required if you will arrive after 6 p.m. Convention Registration: $ 5.00 in advance or $7.00 after October 15 Banquet Ticket $12.00 Names of Persons Registering:____________________________________ ___________________________________ Mailing Address: ________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Telephone Number (including area code): _________________________ Number of Persons Registering on this Form: ____________________ Amount enclosed for Registration: _____________________________ I require ___ banquet tickets and am enclosing $_____ to cover this cost. Total Amount Enclosed: ________________________________________ Please make all checks payable to the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin and send them, along with this form, to Linda Mentink 1737 Tamarack Lane Janesville, WI 53545 Subscriptions to the WISCONSIN CHRONICLE cost the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin about $5.00 per year. Members are invited and non-members are requested to cover the subscription costs. Donations should be made payable to the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin, 5331 So. 8th Street, Milwaukee, WI, 53221.