Taking Stock and Looking Forward

By Jennifer Dunnam, President

The beginning of a new year presents an excellent occasion to take in an "aerial view" of all the many activities that are going on in our energetic and dynamic organization, and to look ahead at the places where we especially want to focus our energy. As always, we are very busy right now in the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. There is much work going on, and if I write about all of it in detail it will at least fill up this entire issue of the Bulletin, so here are only some of the highlights. As you read what follows, think about which of our activities are the most interesting to you and where you would most like to help. We have many capable and dedicated members that make all of our accomplishments possible, yet we always need more ideas and more hands at the tasks.

What Are We Doing?

Children and Youth: Our Minnesota Organization of Blind Parents, under the leadership of Carrie Gilmer, sponsors several monthly events, held at our NFB of Minnesota Headquarters, designed for children and teens. “Teen Night” happens on a Friday night each month. Blind teenagers have the opportunity to get together with blind adults like Jeff Thompson, Deanna Langton, Al Spooner and others, to participate in fun activities while getting exposure to positive attitudes about blindness. "Saturday School” is a monthly session on Saturday morning for younger children to have fun while learning skills of blindness that might not be covered during regular school or at home, like how to carry a lunch tray with a cane or how to pour a drink of water. Steve Jacobson, Emily Zitek, and others have made excellent teachers and role models for the children. These events are beginning to attract the notice of teachers of blind students working in schools—recently a teacher, noticing the positive impact that Saturday school had on one of her students, attended both teen night and Saturday school on her own, and wants to get more of her students involved. Our Rochester chapter is also working on starting a Saturday school, which will be of great help to young people in Rochester who are blind.

Of course, not only do the children benefit from these activities, but the parents do too. The parents have the chance to talk with one another and with blind adults about blindness-related problems and solutions, and they have the chance to tap into the vast, rich network that is the National Federation of the Blind.

Last summer three Minnesota teenagers—Katie Kress, Jordan Richardson, and Anne Naber—joined 200 other youth in Baltimore at our National Center for the Blind attended the Youth Slam to learn not only about science, technology, engineering and math, but also about the truth of blindness. All three of them will be going back to Baltimore in February to attend a follow-up academy.

Seniors: Seniors are just as much a part of the future of the NFB as are the children, because seniors are the fastest-growing group of people becoming blind. A Possibilities Fair is being planned to occur on May 5, 2008 in Minneapolis. The event will be packed with information and resources so that seniors will know that they can still live full and productive lives after becoming blind. Partial funding for the Fair comes from a grant received from the NFB Imagination Fund. Planning for the fair is being done in partnership with State Services for the Blind and Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), and the work of Federationists like Joyce Scanlan, Judy Sanders, and Harry Krueger will make it exciting and successful.

Blindness: Learning In New Dimensions (BLIND), Inc.: A major focus of the NFB of Minnesota is, of course, our support of the work of our adjustment-to-blindness training center, which has so vastly improved the prospects for blind Minnesotans during the twenty years of its existence. BLIND, Inc. literally changes people's lives by immersing them in an environment where everyone believes in them as blind people, often more than they believe in themselves. Graduates of BLIND, Inc.—who have had the opportunity to work with Shawn Mayo, Zach Ellingson, Steve Decker, and all the rest of the remarkable staff—not only have the skills and attitudes to succeed in employment and other endeavors, but they also come to understand the importance of staying connected with other blind people and giving back to the community. People come from all over the country (and beyond) to become students in our top-notch program. We started BLIND Inc. because it was desperately needed, and it has succeeded beyond our imaginings. It is our responsibility and our great pride to work with the staff and the students and support the program in every way we can.

Students: A new president of our Minnesota Association of Blind Students was elected at our most recent convention. Amanda Swanson brings enthusiasm and commitment to her new role and, under her leadership with the support of all of us, there is no doubt the student division will thrive and grow.

We will soon be distributing applications for the 2008 state scholarships, to be awarded at our annual convention in October. Sheila Koenig chairs the scholarship committee.

Fund-raising: We work hard in Minnesota to raise funds to make our activities possible. All of our chapters and divisions around the state are contributing to the effort with candy sales, spaghetti dinners, garage sales, and many other efforts that raise funds as well as educate the public about blindness. Many individuals are contributing through the Pre-Authorized Check (PAC) plan, through the bake auction at our annual convention, and through many other donation opportunities. Our annual move-a-thon continues very successfully because of the hard work of all who bring in contributions from individuals and businesses.

Chapters: Our chapters all around the state are active and led well by chapter presidents Charlene Childrey, Pat Barrett, Andy Virden, Dick Sammons, and Jan Bailey. In addition to attending monthly chapter meetings, chapter members make presentations on blindness; attend meetings and write letters to make our voice heard; distribute NFB literature; raise funds; and teach, mentor, support, and advocate for one another.

Legislation: By the time you read this, sixteen Minnesotans will have joined more than 500 Federationists from around the nation for our annual Washington Seminar, where we work to educate our members of Congress about the issues that are important to blind people in Minnesota and the nation. The Washington Seminar is the forum that helped us achieve passage of a bill for a Louis Braille commemorative coin that will promote braille literacy, and it is the forum where we helped convince the Congress that nonvisual access was imperative in when voting legislation was revamped. We are ever active at the state legislature as well, promoting better transportation, electronic access to newspapers, adequate funding for blindness programs, and the like. Our annual Day at the Capitol is held in February this year.

Oh, and did I mention that Melody Wartenbee leads a weekly braille club to give readers a structured venue for practicing their braille skills? Or that Kathy McGillivray is facilitating the re-starting of the computer club with mini-classes on computer-related topics? Is your head spinning yet?

I pause here to emphasize that the names I mentioned are only a small sampling of the many people to whom we are indebted for all that they do to make our organization go. There are many, many others whose names are not listed here but whose commitment and hard work is no less important or appreciated. So many of you volunteer your time and resources in countless ways, large and small, and without you, our organization could never be the undeniable force that it is.

Of course, the activities of Federationists do not always center directly on blindness. We live our positive philosophy of blindness in all aspects of our daily lives. That’s why, not only do we volunteer our time for the NFB, but we are active in the larger community and the world around us. We are people working in all professions; we are bookworms, sports fans, movie buffs, computer geeks, shoppers, dancers, parents and grandparents, cooks, veterans, bloggers, volunteers in churches and political campaigns, crafters, fitness nuts, carpenters, and on and on.

Where Are We Going?

The National Federation of the Blind has a very clear purpose; we know the purpose well and have been working very effectively for a long time to achieve it. All of our activities are, of course, about making life better for blind people of all ages by spreading the truth about blindness. We have much work to do, and none of it can wait. Too many Minnesotans, blind and sighted, don’t yet know that sight is not a requirement for success, and that lowered expectations are a far bigger problem than lack of eyesight.

Following are a few areas that we should focus on in the coming year to make our strong organization even stronger and to see even more impact from the great work we are already doing.

Getting to know one another better: Did you know that almost half of the staff of BLIND Inc., who give their all to their jobs and also volunteer for NFB activities, are also raising children? Did you know that many of our members took all of their notes in school and college using a slate and stylus (and were excellent students, by the way)? We are an organization full of interesting people who have chosen to be a part of the community of Federationists because of the shared philosophy of blindness, but we come from all different walks of life. If we learn one another's stories and strengths, not only will we have a good sense of the resources in our organization, but our work will go even better because it is easier to work with people we know.

Letting the public know about us: We work hard to spread the word about our organization and all that it has to offer, through our literature, our website, our Minnesota Bulletin and other publications, through getting the press to cover our events, through presentations, through each of us talking to people we know and people we don't know, and more. There is always more we can do along these lines, and everyone can play a part. It is especially important that anyone who has anything to do with blind people, such as teachers, counselors, etc., is or becomes very familiar with us and all that we offer, because blind people need to know us.

Advocating: As was so succinctly and aptly said at one of the seminars at our recent convention, "The status quo is not good enough." It is not even remotely close to good enough while many factors still exist that contribute to a persistent 74% rate of unemployment among working-aged blind people; not while uninformed members of the public still too often pat us on the head, figuratively or even literally, and tell us we are amazing because we do the most basic activities of life; not while too many who are blind do not know that they indeed can do the basics and much, much more; not while today's changing world of technology threatens to close doors that had previously been open to us if we do not take action; and not while many blind people of all ages have to fight every day for some say-so in both the small and large aspects of their lives.

Later in this issue you will see that our convention passed two resolutions—one dealing with discrimination against those without Class D drivers license, and one dealing with inaccessible electronic documents being produced by the state government. Please read these resolutions again, and if you encounter any situations having to do with these matters, please let us know so that we have as much information as possible when acting on these issues. We also, of course, continue to do our very important and necessary part to work with and help improve our state agency for the blind, so that blind Minnesotans receive good training and other needed services and that those services will be of a high enough quality to be truly beneficial. As members know, there are many issues, on the national, state, local and individual levels, which demand and will have our attention and effort.

Fund-raising: This is, as you know, a place where we will need everyone's help to make things even better. Our annual move-a-thon will be held in the Twin Cities this year, still with help from our New Ulm chapter that hosted it for many years and made it a great success. Plan to participate in it by collecting contributions from everyone you know and by showing up on the appointed day in September to walk or otherwise move along the route and educate the public about blindness. Also, consider contributing to the PAC plan if you don't already, and help out with your chapter fund-raisers as well. The more we can put into our treasury, the more we can put into making our goals into reality.

Strengthening our Members: In the NFB, we offer blind people a defined and positive philosophy of blindness and support that will last the rest of their lives. To keep this organization going and growing, we need our members to gain more experience at the many activities of this organization, to be familiar with the ever-growing network of resources that we have, to be grounded in our philosophy so that we can apply it well in today's rapidly-changing world, to stay informed on issues that matter. We need our members to know our history and see our future, and to know how to get things done. This happens when we all take an active role in the organization, and when we make opportunities to learn from those who come before us and teach those who come after us.

We have much to be proud of in our Minnesota affiliate, and we have much to do yet. There are many ways in which each and every member can help with our work—whether you are stuffing envelopes for a fund-raising mailing, pouring a cup of coffee for a co-worker, writing a letter to a city council member, paying full fare or waiting in line like everyone else must do, giving our NFB literature to people you meet, mentoring a student at BLIND Inc., teaching someone to read braille, or even reading this Minnesota Bulletin to stay connected and stay informed. Working together, we will continue to change what it means to be blind.