By Jennifer Dunnam, President

The changing of the New Year is an excellent time for renewal, and this particular new year has certainly started out busy and full of promise. A new president of the United States has just been inaugurated, from an election in which, because of the work of the Federation, many of us for the first time cast a completely private and independent vote for a president.

I’ve started this year thinking a great deal about what it is that makes us so unique and important as an organization. Of course, we are an organization about getting things done. The myriad of activities going on at all levels are a great testament to our belief in action. Federationists know, however, that our hallmark is that our actions are infused with our positive philosophy and attitudes about blindness. Our work over many decades has improved attitudes immensely, but there is still a great deal to do, and we are the ones in the best position to do it. Misconceptions and destructive attitudes about blindness can, unfortunately, be found in all aspects of life. Our job is to recognize and respond effectively to them so that wherever they exist, there also exists evidence of what is true and not just what is falsely believed.

Of course, literacy is one area where misinformation and wrong attitudes have held too many blind people back. Views of braille as “slower than print”, “difficult”, or “the last resort” have kept too many people from becoming fluent readers and having more independence. We in the Federation know better, and we have worked hard to set those wrongs to right, but there is much to do yet. Toward that end, all around the country this month and throughout the year, affiliates and chapters will be participating in the Braille Readers are Leaders campaign, placing special emphasis on raising awareness about the importance of braille. One goal of the Braille Readers Are Leaders campaign is to double the number of braille-reading school-age children by the year 2015. Here in Minnesota, events were held in Rochester and in the Twin Cities at libraries and bookstores to honor Louis Braille’s 200th birthday and raise awareness about braille. The Louis Braille Commemorative coin, which will generate funding for braille literacy programs, will be released in late March. Check www.braille.org to follow the progress of the campaign and to see what you can do to help. Dick Davis is the coordinator for Minnesota's Braille Readers are Leaders activities.

Our St. Cloud chapter held its annual spaghetti dinner/fund raiser in mid January. The crowds turned out this year just as always, and the food was as delicious as ever. That event is always an excellent opportunity for educating the public about blindness, both through the publicity generated by the chapter to promote the event, and through attendees having the chance to observe blind people independently navigating the lines and crowds, carrying plates, and generally engaging in normal everyday activities. Every chance like that helps.

We held our Minnesota Day at the Capitol on January 21, and it was well attended and successful. We focused on two primary issues. First, we want to improve the training and qualifications requirements for rehabilitation counselors for the blind working at SSB. Currently, very little background in blindness is required for counselors beginning work at SSB, and the blindness-specific training they receive is minimal. Counselors working with blind people in the rehabilitation process must be well versed in all aspects of blindness, including positive attitudes about blindness, in order to be truly effective in their powerful roles. Second, Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library is increasingly severely understaffed even though some of the positions are federally funded. This has an impact on library services to blind people of all ages. We have much work to do to move forward on these issues, but an excellent foundation has been laid by members all over the state personally meeting with legislators and conveying the importance of these issues.

Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND) Inc., our own “attitude factory” here in Minnesota, is going strong, with many students and lots of activity. In addition to the comprehensive program, there continue to be classes for senior citizens as well as for English language learners. We hope everyone will check out the February 2009 Braille Monitor, which features extensively BLIND Inc. and its nationally recognized programs.

As always, a delegation of Minnesotans attended the Washington Seminar February 8-11. This year we talked to our legislators about three issues. First, we are urging legislation that ultimately would create a minimum sound standard to apply to all vehicles manufactured or sold in the United States, so that blind pedestrians and others can get enough information to make safe travel judgments as we did before the advent of "quiet cars". Next, we are advocating the removal of disincentives for blind social security beneficiaries to go to work. Finally, we are urging instatement of a “Technology Bill of Rights” for the Blind that mandates consumer electronics, home appliances, and office equipment to be usable by nonvisual means. The full information is on the NFB website at www.nfb.org/nfb/Washington_Seminar.asp?SnID=23166200.

Our 2009 Possibilities Fair for seniors will take place May 4 in Bloomington, and promises to be bigger and better than ever. It will be a place where seniors can find resources and solutions for dealing with losing vision, and where they can find hope that they can still lead a productive life after losing vision.

Of course, we will hold our semiannual convention in a couple of months, as well as attend the national convention in Detroit. More information on these is at the end of this issue.

Last November, during the course of a conference I attended out-of-state, I visited a center that held programs for blind youth. The room was full of bright, articulate teens, many of whom were excellent braille readers. However, when the time came for lunch to be served, a few sighted people scurried around passing out the boxed lunches, re-filling drinks, and otherwise serving. I lamented the missed opportunity for conveying normal expectations for blind teens and for letting them apply some basic skills that other teenagers generally have—standing in line and picking up a boxed lunch. At the end of the lunch, I helped a young lady of about sixteen find the trash and it was clear that, although she’d been to this center many times, disposing of trash was not a comfortable experience for her. I observed another young gentleman stand up and attempt to take his own trash to the garbage can, but someone near him said, “I see you’re carrying your cane and your BrailleNote—I’ll take your trash for you.” This was an environment where those involved had good intentions, but these "little things" add up in a big way in shaping the attitudes of young people toward their blindness and determining their prospects for the future.

Here in Minnesota, teens and younger children have the fortunate opportunity to be exposed to an environment with higher expectations for them, such as our Saturday school and teen night each month. The Buddy Program at BLIND, Inc. will happen this summer as always, and more teens than ever will be part of the summer Life 101 program. These programs provide the chance of a lifetime for these young people to work with blind role models and focus on learning new skills and good attitudes, and to have fun while doing it.

Not only that, but the 2009 Youth Slam will be here before we know it. Two hundred blind students from all across the country will gather in Baltimore, MD for this five-day academy that will engage, inspire, and encourage the next generation of blind youth to consider science, technology, engineering and math careers sometimes believed to be impossible for the blind. Kallie Decker is Minnesota’s Youth Slam coordinator. Also, see www.blindscience.org/ncbys/Youth_Slam.asp for more information.

The NFB is working to improve life for blind people in many, many more ways than listed here. We do it every day in countless ways as individual Federationists too—going about our daily lives with skills and confidence, doing our part, taking responsibility for ourselves, doing all those "little things" that make a big difference. When we observe or experience misguided good intentions or just plain ignorance, we recognize the effect they have, but we don't let them get us down. We work to change them, and do our best to respond in a way that promotes greater understanding and better action in the future, rather than being judgmental or turning people away. This work is not easy, but we are the only ones who can do it, and we must do it, because the status quo is not good enough.

Attitudes about blindness affect all of us, whether positive or negative. To stay connected with our organization and the people in it, to read our literature on a regular basis, to participate in our efforts—these things help us individually and collectively. While we work hard to improve opportunities and to beat back the real and growing threats to the independence we have already achieved, may we always remember our basics.

Reading Suggestions

We in the NFB have created a vast body of literature based on our many years of collective thinking and experience. Much of it is available online, either in text or sound files; much of it is timeless even though written a long time ago. There is so much good information available that it is sometimes hard to know where to start! I have three reading suggestions for this month. First, if you have not yet had a chance to read Jim Omvig's book Freedom for the Blind: The Secret Is Empowerment, then I highly recommend it, even for those not working in the rehabilitation field.

Second, check out the NFB’s Access Technology blog at www.nfb.org/nfb/Access_Technology_Blog.asp for the latest developments in assistive technology, reviews of products, tips on using the technology, and much more.

Finally, I recently ran across an article written by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan at the time when the Americans with Disabilities Act was first being considered as legislation. The article is not light reading, but it explains the positions and concerns of the National Federation of the Blind in a clear and compelling manner, and the discussion is just as relevant today as then. The article is "Reflections on the Americans with Disabilities Act" and was printed in the February 1990 issue of the Braille Monitor.