IN THIS ISSUE 1996 LEGISLATIVE RAP-UP NORMALCY IN A BLIND WORLD VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS MAINSTREAMED LIFE BEYOND THE WHITE CANE TO START A BUSINESS MC STUDENT MSB's FIDELA SIMMONS SPECKS SENATE VOTES FOR MSB OPEN MEETINGS, HOUSE CGM VOTES NO; 1996 LEGISLATIVE RAP-UP by Sharon Maneki At our Day In Annapolis on Thursday, January 18, 1996 we brought two items to the attention of our delegates and senators: (1) To ask Governor Glendening to take the client assistance program out of the Division of Rehabilitation Services; and (2) to create a special board of directors to oversee and supervise the annual state appropriation for The Maryland School for the Blind. Under federal law state governors have the authority to place client assistance programs outside the state agency that administers rehabilitation services. Therefore, no bills were introduced to have Maryland's client assistance program moved out of DORS's purview. Legislators understood the need to locate the client assistance program outside of DORS if this program is to be effective in advocating for rehabilitation clients. Many delegates and senators wrote to Governor Glendening to ask him to consider our arguments and to take appropriate action. Despite these efforts, Governor Glendening and the DORS administration remained adamant in their opposition to moving this program, citing the large number of client cases which were "satisfactorily resolved." They failed, however, to take into account how many clients quit the rehabilitation process because of the difficulties in obtaining services and are too disgusted to even try to use the Client Assistance Program. The decision to recommend the introduction of legislation creating a board of directors, appointed by the Governor, to administer the Maryland School for the Blind's annual state appropriation was the result of discussions held at our board meeting on December 2, 1995. The Senate bill, SB 270, introduced by Sen. Hafer, was heard in the Senate Finance Committee on February 7, while the House bill, HB 1113, introduced by Del. Cummings, was heard in the House Commerce and Government Matters Committee on March 12. As expected, MSB officials mounted considerable opposition at both hearings. In his testimony to the Senate Finance Committee on February 7, MSB's Luis Tutt made the curious claim that MSB board meetings were open to those who needed to know about them. A month later, he embellished his testimony to the House CGM committee, telling committee members that notices of MSB board meetings were published in the "Daily Record." (When I inquired at the Howard County library the reference librarian could find no announcement of MSB's March 1996 meeting in the "Daily Record.") Despite MSB's heavy lobbying efforts, members of the General Assembly were clearly troubled by what blind consumers and some of the parents of MSB's students had to say about MSB's shortcomings. MSB's assertion that it did not consider itself subject to Maryland's Open Meetings Law also did not meet with the approval of many legislators. Unfortunately, when requested to issue a ruling on this matter, the Attorney General of Maryland supported MSB's claim. The Senate took the stronger position against MSB. Although the Finance Committee could not support SB 270 as introduced, it did go out of its way to amend the bill to require MSB's board of directors to include a member from the House of Delegates and a member from the Senate, and to subject MSB's board of directors to the Open Meetings Law. The Senate passed the amended SB 270 towards the end of March. Meanwhile, the CGM Committee had already defeated HB 1113. Our last hope for this legislative session was to convince the CGM Committee and the House of Delegates to adopt the amended SB 270, which went to the CGM committee for hearing on April 2. Despite our best efforts, the CGM Committee defeated SB 270, with a number of delegates abstaining from the vote. I think that the story of our work on SB 270 and HB 1113 can best be told by the various pieces of written testimony and letters that were submitted during the course of action that the General Assembly took on these bills. I am including six items of particular interest. The position paper that we circulated on January 18, explains our position; Ron Metenyi submitted very thoughtful testimony to the Finance and CGM committees, extolling the virtues of involving the community in the education of its children; then there is the written testimony, also submitted to both committees, of Richard Farley from Frostburg, MD, a deeply concerned parent who provides us with valuable insight into MSB; there is my letter to Sen. Hafer on February 12, just after the committee hearing for SB 270; and finally there are my two memoranda to the CGM Committee on March 15, after the hearing for HB 1113, and April 2, testimony for the amended SB 270 when it was heard by the CGM committee. These last three items, although repetitious at times, give a clear picture of the sequence of events that occurred as these bills made their way through the legislative process. There were four other bills of interest in the 1996 session of the Maryland General Assembly. Companion bills SB 49 and HB 227 would require insurance companies to include the educational and equipment costs for diabetics in their health insurance plans. We recommended amendments to include accessible equipments for blind diabetics in these bills. Both bills were recommended for summer study. Since it would represent a loss of employment opportunity for blind persons, we opposed HB 1140, removing vending services and supplies from the list of products that Blind Industries and Services of Maryland may sell under the state procurement law. Despite heavy lobbying efforts by the beverage industry, the bill was defeated in the House CGM Committee. As introduced, SB 591 would have exempted all special education students from taking proposed Maryland school performance assessment tests for high school graduation. We recommended an amendment excluding blind and visually impaired students from this exemption. Sen. Van Hollen, the sponsor of the bill, supported our amendment. In its wisdom, the Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee defeated the bill. This was probably the most difficult and challenging legislative session we have ever had. Although there were no clear-cut victories, we definitely brought the problems with MSB to the General Assembly's conscience. It is fair to say that MSB will never be able to go back to its old ways of doing business. In an ironic turn of events, MSB has recently filed a suit seeking injunctive relief to prevent the National Federation of the Blind from entering the MSB campus to attend its board of directors meetings. The details of this suit will be presented in the next issue. I want to thank all of our members for their active participation in the 1996 session of the Maryland General Assembly. I also want to recognize Sen. Hafer and Del. Cummings for their valiant efforts on these bills. Here are the six items to close out this rather lengthy article. MEMORANDUM Date: January 18, 1996 To: Maryland General Assembly Subject: Reform at the Maryland School for the Blind Proposed Action: The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland recommends the adoption of legislation to create a special board of directors to oversee and supervise the annual state appropriation to The Maryland School for the Blind (MSB). This board of directors, to be appointed by the governor, should consist of: 1) members from the Maryland general assembly, 2) blind persons who represent organizations of blind consumers; and 3) parents of blind students who represent organizations of parents of blind children in Maryland. Background: The Maryland School for the Blind (MSB) is a private institution, administered by a private self-perpetuating board of directors, which is supposed to educate blind children. This board of directors does not answer to any public officials and has unfortunately isolated itself from progressive ideas and practices on the education of blind children. Its members, do not represent constituencies of either parents of blind children or blind consumers. Membership on MSB's board of directors is not determined by an open and independent process. Board members do not serve for fixed terms, and therefore are not subject to performance criteria for maintaining their membership. Thus, The Maryland School for the Blind is a private institution whose management and programs are not subject to public scrutiny. Although MSB claims to be a private institution, eighty percent of its annual operating budget is derived from Maryland's taxpayers in the form of a state appropriation. In fiscal year 1995-96, MSB received $10,344,619 as a state-aided institution under the sponsorship of the Maryland State Department of Education. MSB enjoys the benefit of public funds, but is a private institution with no checks or balances on its operations. Given the self-perpetuating nature of MSB's board of directors, there are no assurances that state funds are spent properly and in the best educational interests of blind children. Over the years, the quality of education at the Maryland School for the Blind has declined considerably. MSB, as the only school for the blind in Maryland, should lead in the teaching of specialized skills that blind persons need, such as Braille reading and writing, and traveling with the aid of a white cane. Unfortunately, this is not the case at MSB, because of the low level of expectations for student performance held by the board of directors, the administration, and many of the teachers. Another disturbing trend at MSB is that instruction time is frequently sacrificed to meet administrative conveniences. Parents also have numerous complaints about MSB's unsafe living and classroom environments. MSB's administration is unresponsive to these complaints, and there is no mechanism for interested parties to bring their concerns to the attention of MSB's board of directors. Since MSB is organized as a private corporation, meetings of its board of directors are not subject to Maryland's open meetings law. Therefore the public is denied a vital avenue of access to information about its operations and educational programs. Parents of blind children who are attending MSB, parents who are considering MSB for their children's education, and consumer organizations such as the National Federation of the Blind, which have a vital stake in MSB and whose participation could be of great value to MSB, only have as much access to information as MSB chooses to disclose. The need for greater accountability by the Maryland School for the Blind was clearly demonstrated by the audit that the Department of Fiscal Services conducted on MSB's 1994-95 state appropriation. According to this audit, MSB misappropriated $296,156, of which it was ordered to repay only $31,604 (used for improperly allocated employee bonuses) back to the state of Maryland. The Maryland State Department of Education determined that repayment of the remaining $264,552 (which was within its legal right) would have had a severe detrimental impact on direct student services. Instead of repayment, MSB was permitted to "juggle its figures," by covering the $264,552 with part of MSB's requested budget amendment, by transferring the expenditures for severance payments to MSB's endowment fund, and by transferring other allowable expenditures to the State appropriation. A private institution that provides such inadequate services would quickly go bankrupt because customers would take their business elsewhere. The majority of the students at the MSB suffer other handicaps in addition to blindness. Frequently, they are forced to attend MSB because it is the only facility that can meet their unique needs. This group of students is especially vulnerable and entitled to the best care that can be provided. They are also entitled to the same quality of education that other students receive in Maryland. They should not be penalized for their need to attend MSB. The best way to ensure an adequate level of education for these severely handicapped students is to promote access and accountability by MSB to the public. The remedy to the lack of accountability and the lack of access to information is the creation of a public board to monitor the use of state tax dollars by MSB. A public board, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, should include members of the general assembly. This board should also include representation from organizations of blind consumers and parents of blind children to bring education issues to the board's attention. MSB has been operating in an educational vacuum for too many years. It is time to open up Maryland School for the Blind to the same public accountability to which all public schools are subjected. This can best be accomplished by the establishment of the special board of directors as recommended by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. Testimony of Ron Metenyi: Listeners to Radio Station W.E.E.A have heard this African proverb: "It takes an entire village to raise a child." Evidently the First Lady believes this; for her new book on children's issues is titled, "It Takes A Village". Children attending the Maryland School for the Blind have two villages: the small village is "We, the Blind", the large village is the community at large. The members of both villages must work closely with the School, helping it to be all that it can be and the best it can be if each blind child is to get a good start in life. Surely nothing can be more important than that! If you establish the proposed oversight board, its meetings will be open. Members of the small village will be able to learn from board members, and board members will be able to learn from us. Also, two of us will serve on the board. These members should be representatives of organizations of the Blind as they can most easily tap the collective wisdom and knowledge of the small village. Parents have primary responsibility for the education of children. The proposed board will include a parent. It will also include two village elders from the large village: two of the people who make the laws governing us all. It will also include two educators. Now, I am not an enthusiast concerning term limits, but I strongly support having terms of definite duration. A two-year term is good; it gives people time to accomplish things while allowing for a fairly frequent influx of new people with new ideas and fresh approaches. Recently, I learned something. I was walking with a lady whom I've known for several years when I reached to grab her arm and accidentally got one strap of her purse instead. She got a little excited. What I learned is this: If you want to get someone's attention, grab the purse. This often works in political life. Yes, we of both villages are concerned about the fiscal soundness of the School. Yes, we want to ensure that our taxpayer money is being well-spent -- 80 percent of the School's budget is supplied from Annapolis. While this new board is monitoring financial matters, it can accomplish much good in many areas. In the spring many of us read disturbing articles in the Sun Paper concerning the school. No one wants to see that. If we of both villages work with the school through the proposed board we can help it do better and avoid controversies. Please pass the bill. Testimony of C. Richard Farley, Jr. (Frostburg, Md.) in support of Maryland Senate Bill 270 "Maryland School for the Blind Board of Directors" before the Senate Finance Committee February 7, 1996 Mr. Chairman, distinguished Senators...Good morning. My name is Dick Farley, and my wife and I are parents of an eleven year old son, Richard, who is in his seventh year as a residential student at the Maryland School for the Blind. I come before you in strong support for Senate Bill 270, which will establish a publicly accountable...and parentally accessible...board of directors to oversee the more than $10 million in state taxpayer support the School for the Blind receives annually, and to guarantee compliance with applicable state policy. Let me qualify myself for what I am about to present to you by noting that I served for two years on the Maryland School for the Blind's "Parent Advisory Committee," having been recruited and appointed to that position by MSB's then Superintendent (now its President) Mr. Louis Tutt. I have much sympathy for the situation Lou has found himself in. Clearly he is taking the brunt of criticisms of MSB's operational policies, something I am about to suggest to you is not entirely justified given what is and has been going on at MSB since earlier in this decade. Despite public accusations by some senior MSB administrators, I am not simply a "disgruntled parent" unhappy with the school's 1994 staff reductions. My son has what I would term an "excellent" program, given his handicapping condition and what is now left of the once- unparalleled "direct services" staff of therapeutic and educational specialists, who were the "heart and soul" of MSB. My efforts and intentions are intended simply and solely to maintain what quality and resources remain at MSB, and to: 1.open the processes governing annual expenditures of more than $10 million in annual state appropriations to public and professional oversight, allowing some "light" to shine on the school's governance process, insuring accountability; and 2.to place into the sunlight of public scrutiny specific information that may establish why Senate Bill 270 is necessary for preservation of Maryland School for the Blinds's viability, maintenance of its educational and therapeutic excellence, and restoration of staff and parent morale. We must be able to trust the school's administration and their priorities. The issue, distinguished Senators, is integrity! Here is what I know from my own inquiries and interviews during the past five years with various of the "players" in and victims of these sad shenanigans including Lou Tutt and more than a dozen other previous AND CURRENT professionals in the MSB "family." It is a bizarre story of ego, petty politics and manipulation. My remaining comments will summarize what I have learned thus far. If you are intent on giving Senate Bill 270 your serious consideration...and beyond that, on helping restore and preserve Maryland School for the Blind's legitimacy and integrity, I hope you will consider holding more hearings into these matters with witnesses testifying under oath, and with protection under whatever state "whistle-blower" statutes may apply, so you may learn what is true. Essentially...the governance structure at MSB on paper...on the school's various organizational charts...is not based on operational reality. In a nutshell the school is micro- managed by a small "executive" sub-group on MSB's board, with board chairman Harry Wright reportedly exercising direct control through MSB's current Superintendent, Dr. Richard DeMott. Please bear with me for a few moments, while I give you some relevant history that will make this clearer. Richard DeMott was summarily fired in the mid-1980's, by the Board of Regents of the State of Iowa's Higher Education system. DeMott had been serving as Superintendent of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, and had tangled with that state's Governor and the Board of Regents over reorganizational issues. In the mid-1980's, DeMott applied for a Director of Education position at the Maryland School for the Blind, and was hired by MSB's then-Superintendent, Dr. Richard Welsh with approval by the school's board of directors, then chaired by long-time MSB director and board chairman, the late James Campbell. According to MSB staffers in the confidence of Dr. Welsh, neither he nor the MSB board of directors checked into Dr. DeMott's story of why he had been fired from his Iowa position. This fact was confirmed to me in July, 1991...when I personally inquired (as a concerned parent, as a member of Mr. Tutt's "Parent Advisory Committee" and with Mr. Tutt's full knowledge), of the man who was Executive Secretary to the Board of Regents at the time, a senior aide to Iowa's then Governor. According to his recollection, nobody from MSB inquired about DeMott's work record or why he has been terminated from the Iowa school. I also spoke (in 1991) with the reporter who covered higher education issues at the time, Mr. George Clifford...of the DeMoine Register, and I located copies of relevant news reports of DeMott's firing. These were provided to Mr. Tutt by me in 1991. And it may be instructive to you why I had done these things. By 1991, after Mr. Tutt had been in place at the Maryland School for the Blind for some time, he had ventilated to me..to some of his senior staff...and in one remarkable "outburst" to the entire parent Advisory Committee...his anger and frustrations that he did not have control over what was happening inside the school. He also was concerned that actions were being taken in his name...such as transfers, program decisions and school priorities...and that these were being executed in ways Mr. Tutt expressed were neither his style nor his preferences, particularly by Dr. DeMott. Mr. Tutt's files, if he maintained them, should contain copies of my research and observations, as well as his responses to me. Let's drop back to our search of recent MSB history. When former MSB board chairman Jim Campbell became terminally ill, he stepped down and his chairmanship was assumed by Mr. Harry Wright. Without going into details or machinations leading to this action, within a couple of years give or take some months, MSB Superintendent Welsh resigned "to pursue other interests." He moved to Pittsburgh. According to senior staff and long-time "MSB parents," there allegedly had been "an understanding" between Dr. Welsh and Dr. DeMott that, if and when Welsh moved on to pursue professional advancement elsewhere, DeMott would be promoted heavily to become the next Superintendent of MSB. And when Harry Wright took over as board chairman at MSB, his hands-on style of management honed in Maryland's banking industry reportedly meshed nicely with DeMott's more "behind the scenes" style as a bureaucrat and "memo warrior' of the type we who study government structures know only too well. To replace Rick Welsh, a search committee of MSB senior staff and parents was organized, and the process began. This was in the very late 1980's. There were four finalists, according to two search committee members with whom I have spoken...first in 1991 and then quite recently, to verify this information. The four finalists for MSB Superintendent were: 1.Mike Bina, then (and now) Superintendent of Indiana's blind school. Bina was reportedly the search committee's first choice for the job, but as he had only recently taken the Indiana position, he decided he could not accept Maryland's. 2.Louis Tutt, then at the Missouri School for the Blind. The search committee was impressed with Lou's gregariousness and "people skills," but did have some concerns about his educational administrative experiences. 3.Richard DeMott, still Director of Education at MSB, and working closely with Harry Wright on administrative issues, as Wright apparently sought to put his own stamp and corporate style on MSB's governance and priorities. The search committee reportedly was adamant that DeMott not be offered the top job at MSB, citing (without being more specific than is appropriate in this venue) his interpersonal skills. According to the Iowa officials with whom I had spoken, this was among the several reasons that state's higher education regents had also cited when they had fired DeMott from his position there. Documentation exists on it. 4.Kirk Walter, then a long-term MSB executive...who applied for the top job to replace Rick Welsh, but did not receive consideration as a finalist. He remains at MSB, having survived the 1994 "wholesale" removal of MSB's professional and therapeutic management team...those who dissented from what was going on. In the end, Louis Tutt was offered the Superintendent's position, and he accepted. But here the story of Tutt's and DeMott's bizarre working relationship at MSB diverges. According to senior staff who were present, after the MSB board had decided on Mr. Tutt to be superintendent, it was Harry Wright who came to a gathering of MSB professionals to announce Tutt's selection. Those staff distinctly recall Mr. Wright's telling them that, while Tutt had accepted the top position, (paraphrasing), "He (Tutt) had asked that Dr. DeMott be named as his 'associate superintendent,' and that the MSB board had agreed." But some six to eight months later, the story seemed to unravel and another account of DeMott's close underpinning of Tutt's position emerged. To a gathering of some of those same senior staffers, Lou Tutt expressed his frustration and he "didn't seem to have any power at all" over school operations, and that (paraphrasing), "I have never worked for a board like this." Tutt reportedly told his professional staffers that, no, it had not been he (Tutt) who had requested DeMott as his 'Associate Superintendent.' Lou reportedly told his staffers that it had been Harry Wright, the board chairman, who allegedly had told Tutt that 'the board' wanted DeMott to be elevated to the 'Associate Superintendent' position, and that Mr. Wright had simply asked Tutt whether he 'had any problems' with that. Tutt, of course, simply said he did not. The occasion for Tutt's reported revelation to his staff about the bizarre line of command and control seeming to lead from Harry Wright to Dick DeMott was after Tutt had not been permitted to move his Superintendent's office from its location in MSB's Newcomer Center to what Tutt felt was a more appropriate setting for administration and development, nearby Morrison Hall. In Tutt's anger, which I must say here he had also ventilated to me at our next Parent Advisory Committee meeting, he acknowledged his frustration at DeMott's alleged undercutting of what Tutt wanted to do...with the way he wanted to do it. Distinguished Senators, I could go on with report after report of similar stories, outbursts and frustrations Lou had expressed to me and to others. I could also go into extensive details about concerns and allegations of DeMott's "heavy handedness" in dealing with dissenting staff and challenges to his primacy. But with all due respect, I leave further inquiries to your discretion and curiosity. Summary: Of what there can be no doubt today, Senators, is that the Maryland School for the Blind and its non-traditional relationship with the State of Maryland, with the county and city school jurisdictions (LEAs) and with the parents and clients it is supposed to serve is dysfunctional, unaccountable and hostile to honest dissent. In such a climate, organizations do not long survive, as they run on "intellectual empty," fueled only by the limited views of folks who have their own agendas and priorities, and whose previous pain and humiliations in their careers may have left them angry, feeling rejected...and having something to prove. What has happened to the Maryland School for the Blind in these past five years has been the gutting of its professional, credentialed direct-service staff. Teachers have been reorganized and reassigned based as much or more on their internal political behaviors, whether they are willing to go along and keep silent, than on educational needs and priorities based on what is best for our children. Establishment of a statutorily empowered Board of Directors as mandated by Senate Bill 270 will go a long way toward beginning MSB's restoration of its soul...and insuring that our "high-needs/low-incidence" children will be served. February 12, 1996 Dear Sen. Hafer, First, I want to thank you again for sponsoring SB 270, concerning the Maryland School for the Blind. I appreciate the work you have done on this bill in spite of the opposition that we anticipated. Please be assured that SB 270 has many supporters within the blind community and the special education profession. Many parents of MSB students also support our position, but are reluctant to speak out because they believe that there are no other alternatives for their children. I want to take a few moments of your time to answer the objections that were raised at the hearing last Wednesday, and to outline some of the actions that should be taken immediately. 1.) ATTORNEY GENERAL RULING: Our understanding, frequently repeated by MSB officials, is that MSB is not subject to Maryland's Open Meetings Law. Although Mr. Wright took great pains to tell us at the hearing that MSB's board meetings are open to the public, the problem remains that the schedule for these meetings is not announced and circulated to the public. Neither are minutes of board meetings mailed out, even though the NFB has requested to be put on MSB's mailing list on several occasions. I think that it would be helpful if you were to request a ruling on this matter from the Attorney General to settle this matter for once and for all. 2.) MSB BOARD OF DIRECTORS: We think that the addition of Del. Klausmeier to MSB's Board is a step in the right direction, and we intend to bring our concerns to her. It remains to be seen, however whether she will have enough of an impact on the Board to see to it that our recommendations receive fair consideration. The basic problem with MSB's Board remains unresolved. We do not know who the Board members are and how to reach them in their communities. Thus far, all communications with MSB's Board members must be filtered through MSB's administration. The same also applies to parents of MSB students. 3.) CONSUMER REPRESENTATION: To the best of our knowledge there are two blind persons on MSB's Board. But, it is a travesty to assert that the Board represents consumer interests to any degree. None of the Board members have made any attempt to solicit the views of the general blind community. Last year, Mr. Wright (and Dr. Demott as well) declined to address the annual convention of the NFB of Maryland, the best and largest public forum for Maryland's blind community. I would invite all of MSB's Board members to the convention if I knew who they were.4.) CONTROL OF MSB: Mr. Wright's statement to the press after the hearing, that the NFB seeks control of his school, boarders on the ridiculous and demonstrates an intolerance for criticism. The NFB has never questioned the Maryland School for the Blind's right to exist and to carry out it's mission with state funds. We have sought, given our unique perspective on blindness and blind persons, improvements in MSB's programs. MSB's Board members (and even MSB's administration) are not expected to command the expertise that the NFB has. Board members and administrators, however, must be able to listen to what we have to say and to evaluate our recommendations. When they agree with us, they should put our advice into practice. When they disagree with us, they should be able to provide rational explanations. For this to happen, there needs to be a high level of cooperation between MSB's Board of Directors and blind consumers. 5.) AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND: Members of the General Assembly perform a great disservice to Maryland's blind community when they place the ACB on an equal basis with the NFB. By it's own admission at the hearing last Wednesday, the ACB is a very small organization which lacks the membership and the resources of the NFB. It is worth noting that there were only two ACB members in the hearing room on Wednesday afternoon. All of the other blind persons in the room belong to the NFB. Simply put, the NFB commands the resources and the membership that it does because it has received wide-spread support in the blind community. The vast majority of blind persons espouse the NFB's progressive thinking and support the NFB in principle if not in fact. Members of the General Assembly should not be overly concerned with opposition from the ACB. 6.) CONCLUSIONS: The NFB of Maryland is committed to bringing about much needed improvements at the Maryland School for the Blind. While we believe that SB 270 is an ideal and workable solution for MSB's problems, we understand that others may have different ideas, and, as always, we are willing to consider amendments to SB 270. If there are workable solutions other than that contained in SB 270, we would be willing to consider those proposals as well. Thank you again for your valiant efforts on behalf of SB 270. I look forward to your earliest response concerning the Attorney General's ruling on the Open Meetings law as it applies to MSB. Sincerely, Sharon Maneki cc:Members of the Senate Finance Committee Del. Elijah Cummings Del. Katherine Klausmeier Date: March 15, 1996 From: Sharon Maneki To: Commerce and Government Matters Committee Subject: Amendments to HB 1113 Thank you for taking so much of the CGM Committee's valuable time on Tuesday, March 12 to hear HB 1113, Maryland School for the Blind - Board of Directors. The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland deeply appreciates your courtesy, patience, understanding, and objectivity on this matter. I would like to discuss two amendments to HB 1113 and to clarify some of the issues that were raised at this hearing. 1. The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland very much appreciates your concern about the degree to which meetings of MSB's Board of Directors are open to the public. Mr. Tutt's statement that "meetings are open to those who need to know" does not provide satisfactory assurance that interested members of Maryland's blind community will be welcome at future board meetings. The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland believes that MSB will use the recent ruling of the Attorney General (that MSB is not subject to the Open Meetings Law) as an excuse to bar public attendance at future meetings. In light of the Attorney General's ruling the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland supports an amendment to HB 1113 to subject meetings of MSB's Board of Directors to Maryland's Open Meetings Law. We understand that the Senate Finance Committee is considering a similar amendment to SB 270. The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland also supports the other amendment under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee, (i.e. that the Governor shall appoint a member of the General Assembly to serve on MSB's Board of Directors.) 2. Contrary to assurances given by MSB officials at the hearing, meetings of MSB's Board of Directors are not open to the public. As President of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland, I have raised the issue of open meetings with Mr. Tutt on several occasions. I have suggested to him that, for its meetings to be "open," announcements of the meeting schedule and minutes of past meetings should be mailed to members of the blind community, including the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. Mr. Tutt has never responded to these suggestions. About three years ago, I requested attendance at a Board meeting to discuss MSB's accreditation policy. In answering my request, Mr. Tutt invited me to attend a meeting of the relevant sub-committee for this issue, and not to attend the regularly scheduled Board meeting. Although I arrived early, before the beginning of the committee meeting, I was instructed to wait outside the meeting room until the committee was ready for my presentation. After I made my presentation I was excused from the meeting, and it was clear that my continued presence would not be welcome. These events clearly indicate that attempts by members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland to attend meetings of MSB's Board of Directors would be futile. 3. With regard to public announcements of meetings of the Board of Directors, the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland first learned that MSB "announces" these meetings in The Daily Record at the hearing for HB 1113, on March 12. It is curious that Mr. Tutt and Mr. Wright did not volunteer this information to the Senate Finance Committee hearing SB 270, the companion bill to HB 1113, on February 7. The inclusion of announcements in The Daily Record is not an effective means of communicating with blind persons. Not only is The Daily Record a publication of limited circulation, but it is also not available to blind persons in an accessible reading medium. 4. MSB does not have consumer representation on its Board of Directors. To the best of our knowledge there are two blind persons on MSB's Board, but it is a travesty to assert that the Board represents consumer interests to any degree. None of the Board members, blind or sighted, have made any attempt to solicit the views of the general blind community. Last year, both Mr. Wright and Superintendent Demott declined to address the annual convention of the NFB of Maryland, the best and largest public forum for Maryland's blind community. I would invite all of MSB's Board members to address the convention if I knew who they were. In conclusion, let me emphasize that the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland is not interested in "taking control of MSB's resources." We are, however, interested in and concerned about the quality of education and care that MSB provides to its students. (For a complete assessment of problems at MSB, we suggest you pay most careful attention to the testimonies offered by Mr. Farley and Dr. Jensema.) There can be no hope for improvements at MSB until its administration and Board of Directors come under greater public scrutiny and are held accountable to the same standards which apply to all public institutions. To this end, we urge you to support HB 1113 with the amendments of the Senate Finance Committee. MEMORANDUM DATE: April 2, 1996 TO: Commerce and Government Matters Committee FROM: Sharon Maneki RE: In support of SB 270 as amended Companion bills, HB 1113 and SB 270, were introduced in an attempt to improve the general public's access to information about the Maryland School for the Blind (MSB). The problems with MSB's Board of Directors and the manner in which state funds appropriated to MSB have been spent, have already been submitted to the CGM committee and will not be repeated here. While the CGM committee has given an unfavorable report to HB 1113, the Senate has approved SB 270 with amendments. Although the provisions of SB 270 have been altered, the original intent has been preserved. The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland supports SB 270 as amended, and recommends it for approval by the CGM committee. I wish to make the following comments in support of SB 270 as amended: 1. The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland is still concerned about the degree to which meetings of MSB's Board of Directors are open to the public. Mr. Tutt's earlier statement to the CGM committee, "meetings are open to those who need to know" does not provide satisfactory assurance that interested members of Maryland's blind community will be welcome at future Board meetings. The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland believes that MSB will use the recent ruling of the Attorney General (that MSB is not subject to the Open Meetings Law) as an excuse to bar public attendance at future meetings. 2. Contrary to assurances given by MSB officials at the hearing for HB 1113, meetings of MSB's Board of Directors are not open to the public. As President of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland, I have raised the issue of open meetings with Mr. Tutt on several occasions. I have suggested to him that, for its meetings to be "open," announcements of the meeting schedule and minutes of past meetings should be mailed to members of the blind community, including the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland. Mr. Tutt has never responded to these suggestions. About three years ago, I requested attendance at a Board meeting to discuss MSB's accreditation policy. In answering my request, Mr. Tutt invited me to attend a meeting of the relevant sub-committee for this issue, and not to attend the regularly scheduled Board meeting. Although I arrived early, before the beginning of the committee meeting, I was instructed to wait outside the meeting room until the committee was ready for my presentation. After I made my presentation I was excused from the meeting, and it was clear that my continued presence would not be welcome. These events clearly indicate that attempts by members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland to attend meetings of MSB's Board of Directors would be futile. 3. With regard to public announcements of meetings of the Board of Directors, the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland first learned that MSB "announces" these meetings in The Daily Record at the hearing for HB 1113, on March 12. It is curious that Mr. Tutt and Mr. Wright did not volunteer this information to the Senate Finance Committee hearing SB 270, on February 7. The inclusion of announcements in The Daily Record is not an effective means of communicating with blind persons. Not only is The Daily Record a publication of limited circulation, but it is also not available to blind persons in an accessible reading medium. To confirm Mr. Tutt's statement, I requested the reference librarian in the Howard County Public Library to search for MSB's announcement about it's March meeting in The Daily Record. The reference librarian reported that this announcement was not to be found in any of the issues starting from March 1. Thank you very much for taking the time to consider the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland's position on the problems at the Maryland School for the Blind. We urge you to support SB 270 as amended and passed by the Senate. "A sense of normalcy in a blind world" By Karen Gardner (Assistant Family Editor) From the Editor: This article and the one that follows are primarily about Rachel Becker, Christina Shorten, and the educational opportunities that our available to them in the Frederick County school system. Much of what is positive in these two articles is due to the continuing efforts of the National Federation of the Blind's parents organization. Danielle Becker, Rachel's mother, is a board member of the NFB of Maryland's Parents Division. Here is the first of two articles by Karen Gardner, which appeared on December 27, 1995, in "The Frederick News-Post." Rachel Becker doesn't see the green wreaths festooned with bright red ribbons decorating the homes in her Frederick neighborhood. She doesn't see the fat red bows topping sleds that herald the holiday season and winter at the same time. Rachel didn't see the early snow that fell last month. And she doesn't see the strings of Christmas lights on the houses in her neighborhood, nor does she see the lights on her own family's tree. But she can hear the bark of a neighbor's dog, the hum of an airplane above and the din of the neighborhood children playing. She can hear the chirps of a bird in a tree. She can hear the crunch of the snow under her shoes, and feel its icy, grainy texture on her hands. Rachel, 5, has been blind since birth. Her parents, Dan and Danielle Becker, who have normal vision, try to make life much the same for their oldest child as it is for their other two children, who also see normally. Inside her house one recent afternoon, Rachel was listening to "Tales of Beatrix Potter," on the VCR as she picked up the toys she and her little brother and sister played with. She stopped running around long enough to talk with a visitor. "I like to play ring-around-the-rosy," she said. Her favorite movies are those that have songs she can sing along with. "Cinderella" and "Snow White" top the list. She attends morning and afternoon kindergarten at Waverley Elementary School, to allow extra time for Braille and mobility instruction. After a full day, she comes home thinking of food. "I always get hungry in school," she said. "When she comes home from school, she likes to get with other kids," Mrs. Becker said. If she gets too restless, Rachel bounces on the trampoline in the basement. "When I get mad, I throw things on the floor," Rachel said. But in a moment of tenderness, she said, "I like touching mommy's face with my face." Rachel has bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia, a condition that causes nearsightedness in some and blindness only in the most severe form. She has some light perception. She knows when the light's on, and doesn't like to be in a dark room. At the same time, she won't sleep with the light on, her mother said. "I'm blind, but I can see my feet," Rachel said proudly. Whether she is imagining or can genuinely see her feet is hard to tell, her mother said. Rachel made another surprising observation not long ago. She knew when she was walking across a sprawling map in the schoolyard. At other times, her eyes itch or hurt. "Ouch, ouch," she said, rubbing her eyes. "My eyes are itching." It was a motion she repeated sporadically over two hours one evening recently. Rachel takes karate, learning by touch. Her mom's thinking about signing her up for Girl Scouts, if Rachel hasn't started too many other activities when she starts first grade. "She wrote a thank-you note to a friend the other day," her mother said proudly, as proud as any mother of a kindergartner who's learning to write. "I helped her compose it, but she told me what to write." Soon, Rachel will be writing her own notes on a slate and stylus, a Braille machine. Several years from now, she'll get a computer system that has a Braille keyboard, with the capability of printing in Braille and in print. Rachel's dad, Dan Becker, said he and his wife and the school are learning by experience about raising and educating a blind child. "They don't always know how much they can push her," he said. "We say 'treat her like every other kid.'" Knowing what to expect is a challenge for the Beckers. "It's something they don't have a lot of data on," Mr. Becker said. "But overall the teachers are really trying." "Visually impaired students are mainstreamed into 'regular' school" By Karen Gardner (Assistant Family Editor) (Reprinted from "The Frederick News-Post," December 27, 1995) Rachel Becker, like many 5-year-olds, takes karate lessons, is learning to read and loves to play games. She doesn't stand out from her kindergarten class at Waverley Elementary School. But when the class heads out to the playground, the cherubic blond child picks up her white cane. Rachel is blind. But for Rachel and the 45 other blind and visually-impaired students in the Frederick County school system, life is pretty close to normal. "There's no reason why she can't go to regular school," said Charleen Evans-Thomas, visually-impaired teacher for Frederick County schools. That's the attitude most educators, and most parents, now take toward blind children. While these children were once shipped off to special schools, far from home, today's blind children go to public schools, ride the school bus, take karate, dance or other lessons, participate in Scouts and watch television. Yes, watch TV, and movies too. Rachel wears "Pocahontas" shoes, carries a "Lion King" back pack, and has favorite TV shows she listens to. In school, while the other kids are learning to distinguish letters, Rachel is learning the Braille counterparts. When the other kids learn sign language, the teacher simply makes the sign in Rachel's hand, and Rachel learns it too. She was talking as she walked into kindergarten class the week before school started. This was the school's meet-the-teacher day, and Rachel was an eager student. This wasn't her first experience at school, however. She spent the previous school year in a pre-kindergarten class. At age 3, she began taking speech and mobility lessons two days a week. "I need a place to put my cane," she announced as she walked in. Rachel is a verbal child who is not afraid to express herself. When she was shown where to put it, she placed it in the slot, and listened as the teacher aide described what she'd do in the coming school year. "We get to meet friends, play games, learn songs and the pledge of allegiance," she said when asked what she was looking forward to She went school shopping like any other eager kindergartner. "We went and got her hair cut and went and had lunch and picked out a backpack and a dress," said her mother, Danielle Becker. "It was a pretty exciting day." Blind children experience a much more normal life than they did as recently as 20 years ago, when the majority left home at a young age to attend state schools for the blind. "I couldn't be separated from her," Mrs. Becker said. "People suggested that I send her away, but she's my first baby." "Federal law makes provisions for the visually impaired," said Celia Kirby, one of two vision specialists at the Frederick County Board of Education. The law, passed nearly 20 years ago, specifies that blind and visually impaired students be included in regular public education wherever possible. Today, most blind children are taught in public schools. "The teacher does a lot of repeating, a lot of descriptions," said Connie Banes, assistant principal at Waverley. Christina Shorten, 15 and a sophomore at Brunswick High, has spent her entire school career in the public schools, and can't imagine ever having gone away to school. An A-student, Christina entertains thoughts of becoming a diplomat or a business owner. For now, she has set aside her ambition of becoming a lawyer, although in a weak moment she admits that may change. Her best friends are Melissa and Jocelyn, two students who sometimes interpret for her in class. Not that Christina needs much help. She is taking college-level biology, is a member of the school's debate and It's Academic teams, and on the student council. "My favorite thing to do is read," Christina said. She's competent in Braille, but prefers books on tape. Tapes of her favorite books, which are usually fantasy and science fiction, arrive via mail from the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore and the Library of Congress. Postage is free. "I'm not a sports person," she said. But she likes to swim, walk, and rider inner tubes. Her past is checkered with academic awards. There's one, for creativity, that she's especially proud of. For a middle school project, she drew plans for a computerized cookbook, with a talking program. It's an invention she would someday like to see manufactured. Christina cooks and helps with housework. General Electric provides Braille panels for free with any GE appliance, and her mother, Terri Shorten, said those have helped Christina do her share of chores. She also baby-sits her brothers and the neighbor's children. And she'd like to get a part- time job proofreading Braille books. "So she can have her own spending money," her mother said. Christina and Rachel get a few special services, but they spend as much time in regular classrooms as they do getting special education. This dates back to the 1950's, when a large number of blind children became school age. Many of these children had been born prematurely. While these children would have died had they been born before World War II, technology was such that they could survive, but many were blind. Incubators were blamed, but the exact cause was never found. Schools for the blind couldn't accommodate this swell of children. Most of these children were middle class, because poorer families often couldn't afford the medical treatment that saved these children. "There was no way these parents were going to let their children go uneducated," said Barbara Cheadle, director of the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore, and the mother of a blind son. Most of these children were sent to public schools, making blind and visually impaired children among the first disabled students to be mainstreamed into regular education, she said. Today, 85 percent of all children with vision problems go to public schools, Ms. Cheadle said. While some visually impaired children can see with magnifying glasses, the truly blind learn to read by the Braille system. In Frederick, five of the county's 40 visually impaired students read totally by Braille. Others use a combination of magnifying glass and Braille, or a magnifying glass. "Braille is just a coded English," said Bill Van Buskirk, mobility specialist for vision impaired students. Christina and Allen Huffman, another blind student, use Braille and Speak, a word processor that has Braille keys, but allows the student to print out an essay in either Braille or print. Christina's $6,000 word processor was purchased through donations made to the school system. Rachel will be getting a Braille and Speak several years from now. Large print and Braille books also come from the school's Vision Impaired program. Most Braille texts are more than $1,000. For instance, Christina's advanced placement biology text is $1,300. It takes up several volumes. The Braille American Heritage Dictionary, all 30 volumes of it, is placed in each school with a blind child. Blind students get more than help with reading skills in the schools. They learn how to cross a room, use the bathroom, walk the halls and run on the playground. Younger children, like Rachel, will play beep-ball, listening for the beep to locate the ball. Older children like Christina learn how to negotiate city streets, traveling to downtown Frederick to cross busy streets and to the malls to learn how to shop. Shopping is nothing new to Christina, however. She shops with friends, and is pretty adept at matching outfits, as long as she's told the color. Eventually, Christina will learn train and subway travel. These students learn through public schools, but often spend a week or two in the summer at the Maryland School for the Blind in Baltimore. There, girls learn makeup skills; they also learn social skills that teach them how to get along in a sighted world. While many blind people use guide dogs, they are normally limited to adults. "We try and work with the classroom teacher," Mr. Van Buskirk said. "Occasionally we'll pull a student out for Braille lessons, but they do not spend much time out of the classroom. At most, it's one hour, one period, out of a day." Celia Kirby, another vision impaired specialist who works with Mr. Van Buskirk, will attend Christina's biology lab class with her. "If something needs to be described for Christina, I can do it," she said. Ms. Kirby and Mr. Van Buskirk also make sure teachers are aware of their students' needs. "You don't tell Rachel to line up over here," Ms. Kirby said. "Or you don't say look at the person in the blue dress." "I had a visually impaired student in auto-body (class)," Mr. Van Buskirk said. "He ended up working on my car." Allen Huffman, a seventh-grader who lives in Frederick and attends Gov. Thomas Johnson Middle School, enjoys science, language arts and chorus, and has a typical adolescent's hunger for sweets. Over a plate of brownies at his home, he said his goal is to learn Spanish and travel abroad. He also likes history, and thinks he may become a history professor, if he doesn't become president. His 10-year-old sister Emilie reads books to him, and he likes to listen to sports events on TV. He also listens to books on tape. Science fiction is his favorite. He doesn't get out of doing chores. "I don't want to be a slob," he said. Allen has been in public schools since kindergarten, in regular classes for every subject but math. This is his first year in a regular math class. "At school, a lot of my teachers will be scared because they don't know how to teach a blind person," he said. "After I explain it to them, they understand I want to be treated like everybody else." "Learning to visualize life beyond the white cane" by Christie Santiago (Reprinted from "The Sun," Sunday, March 17, 1996, page 5K) Betsy Zaborowski: The National Federation for the Blind helped her deal with her blindness, this clinical psychologist says, and now she helps the consumer organization as a consultant. A clinical psychologist by profession, Betsy Zaborowski has a private practice and teaches part-time at Johns Hopkins University. Although she has some residual vision, Dr. Zaborowski has been legally blind since birth. She also works part-time for the National Federation of the Blind as a consultant, primarily working on program development and some fund-raising for the NFB's Newsline Baltimore project. People in Baltimore who can't read the newspaper can listen to stories from several daily newspapers, thanks to the project. Newsline Baltimore is part of a network of adapted computers that convert electronic newspaper text into computer-generated speech available over phone lines to thousands of blind individuals throughout the country, 24 hours a day and at no cost to the listener. Dr. Zaborowski said that for the first time in her life she is able to read newspapers on a daily basis at the same time as the general public. Dr. Zaborowski, 46, first became involved with the NFB in 1979. "I met some very successful, confident blind people that helped me make lots of transitions," explained Dr. Zaborowski, "like the first time that I had to pick up the white cane and use it publicly. That's often a very difficult time for people, and my blind friends at the NFB really helped me through that." The NFB, with its national headquarters here in Baltimore, is the largest consumer organization of people who are blind and visually impaired in this country. "I really needed to deal with my blindness [and] to get more comfortable with it," said Dr. Zaborowski. "I got introduced to the NFB at that time, and it was a real life-saver for me." TEN THINGS TO THINK ABOUT IF YOU WANT TO START A BUSINESS by Maureen Pranghofer (reprinted from "Insight," a publication of the NFB of South Dakota, Spring 1996) Last November, after considerable assistance from Blind Inc., and Minnesota State Services for the Blind, I began a small business. This past year has been a wonderful learning process. Hopefully, if you have the yen to be an entrepreneur, you will glean something for what I have learned. 1.KNOW WHAT YOUR ABILITIES ARE. After my accident in June of 1993, when I became totally blind, I began thinking about what kind of career I might like to pursue. Working from my home seemed to be the most practical thing to do. Make a list of the things which you are good at and think about how they could be used in a business. As you gain skills in other areas they can be added to this list of possible entrepreneur ideas. But it's difficult to start a business unless you know well the area into which you are entering. 2.FIGURE OUT HOW YOU CAN USE WHAT YOU HAVE. As I indicated above, making a list of what one can do is important. You need to know your abilities-strengths and weaknesses, limitations and potentials. After making this list it is necessary to "weed out" what will and will not work. For example, while I was at Blind Inc., I learned a great deal about cooking. Prior to attending Blind Inc., making a grilled cheese sandwich was a major undertaking. Now I cook all kinds of things ranging from Nigerian cuisine to homemade peach sherbet to just plain ordinary fare. Could I start a business preparing some kind of food and selling it? Well, maybe, but in looking at this there are obstacles in that cooking, though I enjoy it, is physically very tiring for me. It would be an inefficient and fatiguing venture at best even though one could perhaps say I have abilities in that area. 3.DON'T BE AFRAID TO DO MORE THAN ONE THING. In "weeding out" what I could and could not do I was left with three things which were all of great interest to me and which I felt had business possibilities. So I came up with a business which utilizes all three things. They are separate entities but I earn money from all of them. In my case my business, therefore, consists of transcription of print material into Braille and onto cassette tape, speaking to groups about the needs of person's with disabilities, and writing music. I love this arrangement. It gives me a great variation in what I am doing and keeps me from ever having the possibility of becoming bored. 4.PUT TOGETHER A BUSINESS PLAN. I received funding for my computer and embosser through Minnesota State Services for the Blind. They first required me to have a small business plan. I had not a clue as to what should be contained in such a plan and so I contacted SCORE. SCORE is a volunteer organization made up of retired business executives who assist people in starting their own business. In one meeting I was able to find out what kind of information should be in the plan. I would advise using them or another business expert to check out the completed plan and assist in its original formation. Items contained in the plan can include but are not limited to, reasons why you think you should go into business, something about your background, a resume, the nature of the proposed business, how you will market the business, your projected expenses in beginning the business, and your projected revenue. 5.DON'T BECOME DISCOURAGED ABOUT MONEY. I have had some other blind individuals phone me during the last year with business ideas. The thing which has been in common for them all is that they have no money which can be used to obtain the necessary equipment they need in order to begin their business ventures. I obtained money from my state agency for the blind. This is an available avenue to many people. However, it is not something that happens overnight. I had to pursue my counselor repeatedly in order to make anything happen. I kept coming back to him time and time again with what I wanted to do and with others from Blind Inc., speaking up on my behalf things moved. If one source tells you "no" pursue it. Don't be afraid, for example, to go to a supervisor. Know your rights. Know what you, as a client of the agency are entitled to before beginning to pursue what you want. Know how to come back to their "no" with a desire to find out exactly why they gave that answer and then to counter that. And, don't give up if your state vocational rehabilitation agency is not the way to go. Most states have a small business agency which has loads of info on how to start a small business. With disability, thanks to the ADA, being a minority we are a protected class and therefore eligible for many small business grants. Pursue these. 6.KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD CONSIDER SUCCESS. If, in your small business plan, you have determined that you need to make a certain income, reach for this goal, but be realistic. Success for one person does not mean the same thing for the next person. For example, in my case, I have wanted to make enough money to supplement my SSDI. Because of other disabilities it's not practical for me to get out of the system but I can still earn the monthly amount allocated and consider that success. For others, they would never dream of doing this and would want to earn far more money in order to consider themselves successful. Know what you are aiming for and make it realistic for your own circumstances. 7.DON'T DROP EVERYTHING TO START THE BUSINESS. Did you know that it takes an average of 5 years for most small businesses to really start showing a consistent profit? This is an average, remember, and so isn't always true, of course. But, what I'm saying is because your business is starting don't leave another job, for example, until you know you are having regular income coming in from your business. 8.PREPARE FOR FEAST OR FAMINE. I have found in the last year that there are times when I am not particularly busy and there are times when I feel quite overwhelmed with the amount I have to do. This feast or famine takes some getting used to-not worrying if there isn't a lot to do-it will come, and balancing your life when there is an abundance of work. I have had to struggle at times to keep from working every waking hour. It's a job and don't get caught up into unhealthy loop of working all the time simply because you work at home. When I'm not too busy I work on things which have been sitting without deadline, for example, and when I'm swamped I get things done but still try to stick an 8 hour work day. 9.LET YOUR BUSINESS GO WHERE IT TAKES YOU. Sometimes we get ideas of how things should be and we want to stick just to the plans that we have made. I have found that flexibility is essential in business. Now it may simply be that I am a creative person and think in those terms, but I have found my business taking me in directions I never would have dreamed it would. Almost all of my speaking to groups about disability has, for example, been made possible because of word of mouth contacts. I have done very little marketing. One day, while I was reading my mail, I got a card from a real estate company advertising their services. I dropped it into the trash but did not drop the thought-"I wonder if there is any way I could market my teaching about disability to people in this field?" I did some digging, found out where people in Minnesota become licensed as real estate agents, and made a cold call to their executive director. I asked if anyone had taught a course dealing with how one assists disabled customers and issues related to accessibility in housing. He said "write a proposal, that sounds interesting." I did and got a lucrative contract out of the deal. They have since hired me to do a number of other classes dealing with aspects of real estate and fair housing which only indirectly have to do with disability. This means that I am delving into new areas which I am having to learn starting at ground zero and requiring research. However, I would not be involved with this if I had not let my creativity take me in this direction and if I had not then used opportunities presented to me. 10.BE CONFIDENT. I can not emphasize this last point enough. Be confident, be confident, be confident. I have made many mistakes along the way, have constantly been learning new things ranging from more efficient ways to use my software to evaluating how I can improve public speaking based on audience critiques. However that is not what I let people know. The biggest drawback I have noticed when talking to potential entrepreneurs is that they seem to lack confidence in what they can do. Believing you can do what you set your mind to do is one of the first steps toward doing it. MC Student Makes Use of Many Opportunities by Greg Smith, SPUR Staff Writer From The Editor: Since immigrating to this country from India a few years ago, Yasmin Reyazuddin has become an active member of the National Federation of the Blind. She is an vice-president of the Sligo Creek chapter and is highly visible at state and national NFB activities. Yasmin's experiences growing up in India and moving to the United States with her family would make an interesting article for a future issue of this newsletter. This article about Yasmin is reprinted from The Montgomery College-Rockville Spur, Monday, March 20, 1995. Yasmin completed her studies at Montgomery College, and is currently attending the University of Maryland. Too many things are taken for granted now-a-days. We walk into a room and flip the light switch, and take it for granted that the lights will come on (unless, of course, the bulb is burned out.) We wake up in the morning and open the shade, and take it for granted that the sun will be there (unless, of course, it's a cloudy day.) We go to class and take it for granted that we can see the changes in our biology experiment (unless, of course, you can't see.) But how can you conduct a biology experiment if you can't see the results, or read the text book, or even look over the questions on Friday's test? These are the questions that I'm sure Yasmin Reyazuddin gets asked almost every day. How can someone who can't see all the things an average student does, even read an ordinary text book? Because, Yasmin is not your average student and her textbook is anything but ordinary. Yasmin Reyazuddin, 29, is blind. She has two brothers and one sister, and is originally from New Delhi, India. Currently, Yasmin is a full-time student taking 13 credit hours at Montgomery College. She is a member of the Affirmative Action Committee and a board member of the Sligo Creek Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). She is also on the Job Seminar Planning Committee for the NFB. In India she graduated from high school and then went on to earn her bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts. She also started work on her masters degree while she was there. Now, she is working on her sociology degree, and after graduation, Yasmin intends to go into vocational rehabilitation for the blind. This semester she is taking Introduction to Probability, Philosophy, Human Relations in Management, and Biology. Recently, I had the interesting experience of accompanying Yasmin to her Wednesday biology lab. I met up with her in the morning at the Learning Center and walked with her to class. She walked a half step behind me, to allow her reaction time to my movement, and explained to me what the class was going to be like. It was hard to picture how it was all going to work, but when we got to class it all started to come together. Yasmin sat down and took out her lab papers (in Braille), a tape recorder (to take notes), and introduced me to Ken, her student aide. Ken, who has already taken the course, is Yasmin's eyes in the class. He explains what is going on, takes the readings down on the lab experiments, and guides Yasmin around the class when it's time to rotate to a different lab station. However, all the studying is left to Yasmin. As the class progresses, I noticed Yasmin listening intently to what was going on. The class was on cellular respiration and the lab experiment was going to require the class to record the metabolic rate of a gerbil in different temperature environments. This teacher, Dr. Barbara Hoffman, went over the experiment and detailed the specifics to the class, then took the time to personally explain to Yasmin what was expected. Taking Yasmin's hands in hers, Dr. Hoffman guided her student's hands over the equipment and explained how the experiment was laid out. Yasmin familiarized herself with the setup, even shrieked when she was introduced to the furry little subject that was the basis of the experiment. Other than that, the class was the same as any other class. Later on that day, I was able to talk with Dr. Hoffman about Yasmin and her presence in class. Dr. Hoffman explained how Disability Support Services (DSS) contacted her about Yasmin's enrollment in her class. DSS set up a conference with her, Learning Center representative Cheryl Berthau, and Yasmin. The three discussed what Yasmin's needs were, what Dr. Hoffman's requirements were, and how DSS and the Learning Center could provide the proper resources for Yasmin to meet those requirements. Yasmin was provided with models, Braille label makers, a student aide, the complete textbook on tape, and access to the Learning Center which had computer disks that work with the blind. In addition, Student Services has a machine that prints out all her handbooks in Braille. Yasmin herself has her own "Perkins Braille typewriter" and a "Braille N Speak" which helps her take notes. When asked how well all of these resources work, Dr. Hoffman says "it's great." She also added that Yasmin is a delightful and enjoyable person, as well as a good student who has adapted well to the class. In an interview with Yasmin, she had the same nice things to say about her teacher. Yasmin enjoys the class and says that the services provided are acceptable to her needs. She wants to let people know that she can succeed as well as anyone else. Speaking for the blind in general, Yasmin stated that "(We are) competent and able to work. We don't want to be put in a corner." MSB's FIDELA SIMMONS COMMITTED TO BRAILLE From The Editor: Fidela Simmons has been a teacher of the visually and is now a librarian at The Maryland School for the Blind, with thirty-four years of experience working with blind and visually impaired youngsters and adults. She holds a Masters Degree in education and sixty additional credits in supervision, special education, and library science. She has also earned an advanced certificate from MSDE in vision, elementary and middle school, library, Spanish, and special education K-12. Fidela Simmons received an award for her distinguished service from the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland at it's convention banquet last November. Here are the brief remarks she made to the luncheon meeting of NFB of Maryland's Parents Division, just one of many activities at our 1995 convention. I welcome the opportunity to make some brief comments to the Parent Division of the National Federation of the Blind. The Maryland School for the Blind is committed to strengthen the Braille program--from pre-Braille skills with our younger children, to full Braille usage including slate and stylus technology with our older students. Many of our students are learning to read and write with Braille. Some of our students have demonstrated that they need Braille, though they have already learned to read print. Braille instruction is available for anyone who needs or wants Braille. One of the most exciting activities during our school year is the students' participation in the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind. Our students have been participating in this contest for about 6 years. We have reached the stage where students ask about the contest in the fall before staff even mention it. Each year in the spring, after the students have participated in the contest, they and our staff are invited to the award ceremony and a reception at the National Federation headquarters. At this reception, the students meet and socialize with other blind students and blind adults who are the role models our children need. Our students thoroughly enjoy the ceremony and reception, and they are already reading in this year's contest and look forward to another visit this coming spring. Last year was particularly exciting for us because our school received a plaque and $100 cash prize for having the largest number of enrolled students participating in the contest. Each student received a certificate and $10 from Friends of the Library of the Blind and Physically Handicapped (LBPH). We are most grateful to the National Federation of the Blind for this reading opportunity and the social situation which reward the students' reading endeavors. In the future, we plan to continue our participation in this very motivating Braille reading activity. Thank you. 1996 BRAILLE READERS ARE LEADERS CONTESTANTS We congratulate the 26 participants of the 1995-96 Braille Readers Are Leaders contest: Name City Grade Level Calvin JacksonBaltimore5-8 Jeremy Cheek Bowie 2-4 Jessica MarkleBel AirP-B Brian BlevinsAberdeen2-4 Raven BakewellHagerstown2-4 Vy Pham Gaithersburg2-4 Laura-Sun CefarattiAnnapolis2-4 Jessica WatsonAbingdon2-4 Nicole WhitePasedena2-4 Danielle ShivesBig Pool2-4 Nikos DaleyReisterstown2-4 Lydia D. RichardsonPocomoke5-8 Michael MooreColumbia5-8 Andre Slacam Baltimore9-12 Amanda DelriegoClarksville5-8 Allen HuffmanFrederick5-8 Emine WatsonPocomokeP-B Carlita LuckeyBaltimore9-12 Shakir Amjad Greenbelt9-12 Lisa JohnsonClinton9-12 Jennifer KarnsBaltimore9-12 Frank Millner Baltimore9-12 William Ransom 9-12 David WellsColora 9-12 Sean SewardBaltimore5-8 Jamelle WordBaltimore5-8 We commend Jessica Watson, Lydia D. Richardson, Jennifer Karns, and Lisa Johnson for reading more than 1,000 pages. We also commend Danielle Shives in grade level 2-4 for reading 703 pages. For the second consecutive year, The Maryland School for the Blind received an outstanding school for the blind award for enrolling 17 students in the contest, representing 33% of the students enrolled in it's academic program. These 17 students read a total of 7,117 pages. This was the largest number of students from Maryland ever enrolled in the Braille Readers Are Leaders contest. We hope that more students enroll in the 1996-97 contest. Details of 1996-97 appear elsewhere in this issue. SPECKS Tips for Tough Times now available Tips for Tough Times is a monthly newsletter published by the Consumer Protection Division of the Maryland Attorney General's Office. It contains a wide variety of consumer information. Some examples from previous issues are, "What consumers should know when stores go out of business" and "Changing your long distance company without your permission." This newsletter is available on the National Federation of the Blind Bulletin Board, NFBNET (612-696-1975). It is also available on computer disks, which can be obtained by contacting Patrick Gormely, 3507 Jefferson Street, Hyattsville, MD 20781, phone number 301-864-4694. You must provide your own blank disk. Contact Mr. Gormely for more information. Repairs: Save money and bring your Brailler back to life. The Selective Doctor specializes in the repair of Perkins Braillers and all IBM typewriters. Repairs made at reasonable rates. Top quality service at yesterday's prices. Free pick-up and delivery in greater Baltimore area only. Thirty day guarantee on repairs. Call 410-668-1143 for further details. New Baby: On March 21, Christopher Pendleton came into the world weighing eight and a half pounds and measuring twenty-two inches in length. Christopher's mother, Keri Pendleton, is the friendly voice at the National Center for the Blind who handles aids and appliances orders. Congratulations to all of the Pendletons. Wedding Bells: On June 14, Patty Fraley, an active member of the Mountain City chapter, married Gary Price of West Virginia. We are pleased to announce that Brenda Williams, state board member and long-time member of the Greater Baltimore chapter, will marry Robert G. Gladden on September 15. Congratulations to both couples. From Dona Sauerburger March 14, 1996 Dear Editor: I was very disappointed to see that in the last issue of The Braille Spectator, you reprinted part of an article out of context from our publication, the Metropolitan Washington Orientation and Mobility Association Newsletter. In our November 1995 issue, we published an article titled "Point-Counterpoint: Alternative Mobility Devices for Children," in which two orientation and mobility specialists, Joe Cutter and Joani Myers, presented opposing views. One view, that of Mr. Cutter, coincides with that of the National Federation of the Blind. That view was reprinted in your newsletter, along with an introduction explaining that it was published as a separate article titled "The Need for 'Pre-Canes": Fact or Fancy?". However, you did not reprint the rest of the article, which presented an opposing view, one which is held by many (if not most) orientation and mobility instructors. Is it your policy to present only one side of these issues to your members? If not, please reprint the rest of the article so that they can consider both viewpoints, or please print this letter so that they realize that there are two sides to this issue and that our newsletter did not endorse or present only one viewpoint, and inform them that they can get a copy of the complete article by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to me. Thank you. Dona Sauerburger, Editor Metropolitan Washington Orientation and Mobility Association Newsletter Talking Newspaper: For information and applications to Newsline, the telephone talking newspaper service featuring "USA Today," "The Chicago Tribune," and "The New York Times," call The National Center for the Blind, 410-659-9314. Aquarium Tour: The Parents of Blind Children Division of the NFB of MD, invites you to spend a special evening with us at the National Aquarium in Baltimore on Wednesday, October 2, 1996 at 6PM. This is a special night at the Aquarium designed specifically for those with special needs. The staff at the Aquarium will tailor the visit to enhance the experience for our visually impaired children. Admission for this event is Free!!! However, due to the nature of this event, attendance will need to be limited to our visually impaired children and a single parent or guardian per child as necessitated by the age or special needs of the child. Sign up early!!! Spaces are very limited. For further information or to sign up for the event contact: Tom or Yvette Woods at 410-553-0740. NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF MARYLAND THIRTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION GAITHERSBURG HILTON 620 PERRY PARKWAY GAITHERSBURG, MD Friday, OCTOBER 25 - Sunday, OCTOBER 27 , 1995 LUXURIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS Indoor pool, whirlpool, saunas, exercise room. Martingayles resteraunt and louge. For your wining and dinning pleasure. ATTRACTIVE ROOM RATES $60.00 for singles, doubles, triples and quads per night, tax included. ARRIVE EARLY Special room rate is available from Thursday, Oct. 24 to Sunday, Oct. 27. RESERVE YOUR ROOM NOW Send your completed reservation form and full payment for your room to Shirley Morris by October 4, 1996. DO NOT call the hotel for room reservations. FOR MORE INFORMATION Call Sharon Maneki, President, NFB of Maryland (410) 992-9608. ATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF MARYLAND 1996 CONVENTION AND DONATION FORM Gaithersburg Hilton Hotel Friday October 25 - Sunday October 27, 1996 Donations are appreciated. This is the only opportunity that we have to ask for donations from most of you. Mail completed forms and checks to Shirley Morris, 16547 Old Emmitsburg Road, Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Do not contact the Gaithersburg Hilton for reservations. No reservation will be confirmed without the total payment of your room. þÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ Please complete and return this form by October 4, 1996, even if you do not plan to attend the 1996 Convention or if someone else is reserving a room for you. Name:__________________________________________________________ Address:________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip:________________________Telephone: __________________ My donation to NFB of Maryland: $____________ _______I will _______ I will not attend the 1996 Convention. __________ I wish to reserve a room in my name. $60.00 per night singles, doubles, triples, and quads. Arrival date: _____________ Departure date: _____________ Payment in full for _______ nights: $____________ Transportation ($20.00 per person) from the National Center for the Blind (1800 Johnson Street) to the Gaithersburg Hilton on October 25, returning October 27, departure times to be announced. Transportation for _________ persons: $____________ Total: $____________ Make your check payable to the NFB of Maryland. I understand that in order to qualify for the special hotel rates I, and everyone in my room, must register at the convention and pay the convention fee of $10.00. Signature: _________________________________________ Continued on Reverse Side ROOM RESERVATION, TRANSPORTATION, AND CHILD CARE List names of all people, including yourself and any children, who will occupy the room with you. If persons in your room do not reside at your address, list their addresses and phone numbers in the space provided. Please check below if you or any members of your group need transportation. þÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ Number of persons in room: _________________ Check if Needs Name under 17 Transportation? __________________________________________ _____ ______ __________________________________________ _____ ______ address:___________________________________ city:_____________________state:_____________ zip:________________phone:_________________ __________________________________________ _____ ______ address:___________________________________ city:_____________________state:_____________ zip:________________phone:_________________ __________________________________________ _____ ______ address:___________________________________ city:_____________________state:_____________ zip:________________phone:_________________ þÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ __________ I am requesting child care service for _____ child(ren) during the Saturday sessions and the banquet.