

                         THE BLIND CALIFORNIAN



                      Quarterly Magazine of the 

                    CALIFORNIA COUNCIL OF THE BLIND



Summer, 2001, Volume 45, No. 3



      Published in Braille, Cassette, Diskette, and Large Print 




                     Catherine Skivers, President 
                          836 Resota Street 
                           Hayward, CA 94545
                           510-357-1986 Res.


                           Executive Office:
                             578 B Street
                           Hayward, CA 94541
                             800-221-6359
                             510-537-7877
                            e-mail ccotb@earthlink.net
                           Fax: 510-537-7830
                           www.acb.org/ccb



                 Los Angeles Area Office, John Lopez 
             3925 East 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90023 
                             323-780-3500


                   Sacramento Area Office, Dan Kysor
                       2657 Truxel Road, No. 41
                         Sacramento, CA 95833
                             Fax/Office 916-648-3936
                       E-mail dan@kysor.net 


Please send all address changes to the Executive Office in
Hayward. 



                       Editor: Winifred Downing
                           1587 38th Avenue
                        San Francisco, CA 94122
                             415-564-5798
                     E-mail wmdowning@mindspring.com




Call the CALIFORNIA CONNECTION at 800-221-6359 for an update on
legislation and CCB events Monday through Friday after 4 p.m. and
all
day on weekends.  At these times it is available also in Spanish.



Nonmembers are requested and members are invited to pay a yearly
subscription fee of $10 toward the printing of THE BLIND
CALIFORNIAN. 





If you or a friend would like to remember the California Council
of the
Blind in your will, you can do so by employing the following
language: 

"I give, devise, and bequeath unto the California Council of the
Blind,
a nonprofit charitable organization in California, the sum of
$---- (or
----) to be used for its worthy purposes on behalf of blind
persons."

If your wishes are more complex, you may have your attorney 
communicate with the Hayward office for other suggested forms.
Thank
you.

                           TABLE OF CONTENTS

FROM THE EDITOR, by Winifred Downing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

PRESIDENT'S CORNER, by Catherine Skivers . . . . . . . . . . . .5

A WELCOME FOR THE DISABLED ON jEOPARDY,
     by John m. Williams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

wHERE YOU CAN GET HELP WITH YOUR ENERGY BILLS,
     submitted by Barbara Rhodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
THE DECISION ON THE CHERI MOKU CASE, 
     by Melita Waters  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

CONVENTION REPORT, SPRING, 2001, by Keith Black  . . . . . . . 13

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ATTENDING COLLEGE, 
     by Ardis Bazyn  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 

REPORT FROM THE REHABILITATION COMMITTEE,
     by Richard A. Rueda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

LIBRARY USERS BOOK LIST, by  Winifred Downing  . . . . . . . . 18

THE TEN ESSENTIALS OF PEDESTRIAN SAFETY, 
     by Dorothea Hass  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

A CONSUMER'S POINT OF VIEW ON THE UNIFIED BRAILLE CODE,
     by Winifred Downing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

BLIND WOMEN AT LOWER BREAST CANCER RATE  . . . . . . . . . . . 26

EYES WITH FOUR HOOVES: TRAINING GUIDE PONIES
     FOR BLIND PEOPLE, by Edith Stanley  . . . . . . . . . . . 27

ITZHAK PERLMAN, by Jack Riemer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

WebABLE, submitted by Kim Charlson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

BULLETIN BOARD,  compiled by Keith Black . . . . . . . . . . . 31

2001 CCB AWARDS PRESENTED, by Roger Petersen . . . . . . . . . 33

BEST ARTICLE AWARDS, by Joan Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

SETTING SIGHTS ON GOOD JOBS, Part 2,
     by Melanie Payne  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

A POEM FOR THOSE OVER 30, submitted 
     by Patricia Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

COLLEGE ENTRANCE IN CHINA: NO, TO THE
     HANDICAPPED, by Elisabeth Rosenthal . . . . . . . . . . . 37

REPORT OF THE MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE, 
     by Rhonda King  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

THE TALKING RX: YOUR PERSONAL TALKING PRESCRIPTION,
     by Patricia Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

SUMMARY OF SPRING, 2001 RESOLUTIONS, 
     by Jeff Thom  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

FEDERAL LEGISLATION, by Ahmad Rahman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

CCB OFFICERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

CCB BOARD OF DIRECTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

ccb PuBLICATIONS COMMITTEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51









                         FROM THE EDITOR

                       by Winifred Downing

     With the BC in preparation and with just two weeks before
it's time to go to Des Moines, life seems mighty hectic.  The
large area we must cover to get from place to place at the 
ACB convention is going to be a great test of mobility skills. 
At least, though, so much walking will be necessary that we will
be forced to get exercise.  
     Some of our regular columnists will aren't back with us, and
others have had unforeseen developments prevent them from
preparing material.  In their absence, though, there are some
different subjects this time, like Seeing Eye horses, the plight
of the disabled in china, another method of prescription
identification, and a delightful poem about computers.  I am, as
you have read many times, always eager for articles from CCB
members about what they are doing and thinking.  Our next
deadline is September 1.  


                        PRESIDENT'S CORNER

                       by Catherine Skivers

     It is hard for me to believe that the CCB spring convention
has come and gone and we are well into planning for the fall
convention to be held Nov. 1-4, 2001,  at the Crown Plaza Los
Angeles Airport Hotel, 5985 West Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
90045-5463;  310-642-7500.  Listen to the California Connection
for details as we get closer to the time.   The theme of our
spring convention was "YOU AND CCB. HOW WE ARE MAKING A
DIFFERENCE".  Those who were present agreed that CCB truly is
making a difference in the blind and visually impaired community. 
     Keith Black has volunteered to do a report on the convention
so I am not going to devote much time to it here.  I want to
thank the chapters and individuals who contributed so generously
to our organization.  Thanks are also due the chairpersons of our
committees.  They had some really great programs and a lot of
work was accomplished. 
     Since we returned from the convention, we have had our
office re-carpeted.  As many of you know, our office was flooded
in January; we were unable to deal with having repairs done until
after the convention.  
     We have had some visitors to the office that you should know
about.  BARC subcommittees have met several times to work on
strategies for SB105, our commission bill, which is now a
two-year bill.  It is important for you to keep in contact with
your local legislators and with John Burton so that they know you
continue to support the bill.  
     On May 15th Tom Lee, Chief of Services for the blind,
Department of Social Welfare, and his assistants, Steve Kugel and
Barbara Lucas, who handle the food supplement program, met in our
office.  Tom Lee has some innovative and interesting ideas about
how his agency can assist blind and visually impaired men and
women in California.  He has accepted my invitation to be the
first speaker on our program in Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 2nd. 
He told me about Publication 13, which is available in county
social service offices in accessible formats.  It is called "Your
Rights Under California Welfare Programs".  I have been around
work for the blind for many years, but this is the first time I
had heard about this document which sets forth the rights of
people who receive SSI and are involved with other programs.  You
can request the publication from your local office; and if you
are not successful, contact Steve Kugel at 916-657-3327.  If that
is not convenient, you can contact our office.   
     Recently, 
 I was part of a panel at a  meeting in Sacramento of all the
district directors of the California Department of
Rehabilitation.  Prior to that event, I was scheduled to
participate in another panel to address rehabilitation counselors
for the blind in Ontario, CA; but, unfortunately, I was unable to
be present at that one.  
     Today, May 29th, I participated in a panel that met with the
combined Oakland and San Francisco districts of the Department of
Rehabilitation.  In all these meetings, there was positive
dialogue and exchange of ideas on how improvements can be made to
assist blind Californians.  Panelists were members of the Blind
Advisory Committee.   
     About a year ago, Jim Willows of the NFBC; Jane Vogel, Chair
of Joint Action Committee (JAC); and I began a dialogue with
Henry Der, Deputy Superintendent of the California Department of
Education (CDE).  Our initial intent was to obtain the services
of a consultant for the blind and visually impaired within CDE.  
Along the way we talked a lot about the Blind Advisory Committee
in the Department of Rehabilitation and urged that a similar body
be established in the Department of  Education.  On June 1st, I
will represent CCB as a member of a task force that Delaine
Eastin has recently appointed.  I will keep you posted on the
events that transpire there.  
     We are coming to the end of our fourth year as part of the
HIV/AIDs Consortium.  To date, more than 400 people have been
trained on HIV Prevention and how to disseminate information to
the populations involved in the Consortium.  You can be proud of
those who are working in this project, for they perform their
duties well and play a major role in the success of this effort. 
The populations involved are the deaf and hard of hearing, those
who suffer from Hemophilia and other blood disorders, the
developmentally disabled, the National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill and the CCB.  Our program has drawn national attention.  
     On June 2nd, I will be attending a town hall meeting at the
Earle Baum Center in Santa Rosa.  This is truly a beautiful place
where great work is being done.  The Sensory Access Foundation
(SAF) has just opened a satellite at this location.  
     We proudly display the lovely award given to us by the
American Foundation for the Blind in recognition of our
involvement in bringing about talking ATMs.  This is one of the
nice things that have been happening to CCB.   We also recently
received a $1,000 contribution from the Bob & Sue Boniface Fund. 
Bob is President of the SAF Board of Directors, and working with
him is indeed a pleasure.  
     It sounds as though the President goes to a lot of meetings,
and I do.  For instance, on June 30th, I will be on my way to Des
Moines, Iowa, to attend the 40th ACB convention.  It is hard to
believe that I was on its Board of Directors for 11 years in its
early days.  CCB will be contributing $10,000 to ACB this year. 
We are in a sound financial position, and it is wonderful to be
able to do something like this.  
     If you know a blind or visually impaired student who could
benefit from receiving a scholarship for college, please have
that individual secure an application immediately.  Our
Scholarship Committee will meet at the CCB office on Saturday,
August  11th.  On August 25th, there will be a joint gathering of
the Publications and Public Relations committees.  As you can
see, we are all keeping very busy.  
     Start saving up to join us at the fall convention.  If you
have any suggestions for our program, just let us know at our
office.  To those of you who chair our various committees and
affiliates, please contact us soon and let us know what your
needs are for time and meeting space.  Chapter and affiliate
presidents need to watch the mail for a fundraiser that CCB will
be holding, and you will be getting some great news from our
Membership Committee.  I hope that by the time we get to Los
Angeles, we will have greatly increased our membership.  After
the energy and interest I observed at our spring convention, I
know that is going to happen and CCB will continue to make a  big
difference in what happens to the blind and visually impaired in
California.


              A WELCOME FOR THE DISABLED ON JEOPARDY

                       by John M. Williams

                     submitted by Sue Ammeter

     Business  Week on Line, March 28, 2001
     Host Alex Trebek, who has made sure his show is inclusive,
calls for the disabled to show how easy accommodating them can
be.  Most Americans know Alex Trebek as the witty, urbane host of
the popular television game show Jeopardy.  But few know that
Trebek has played an influential role in making the show
accommodating for people with disabilities.  On March 16, the
American Foundation for the Blind presented Trebek with one of
six 2001 Access Awards in Washington, D.C.  He received the honor
for helping Eddie Timanus, a blind sportswriter with the national
newspaper USA Today to compete on the show.  After the ceremony,
Trebek sat down with me to discuss his views on assistive
technology, the disability community, and the media.  Here are
edited excerpts from our conversation:
     Q: The country is growing more accepting of differences in
people, and TV is leading the way.  For example, gays and
lesbians, people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, are
now mainstays on television.  Yet people with disabilities aren't
totally accepted.  You rarely see them on game shows or any other
shows.  When do you think this situation will change?
     A: I think you're seeing attitudes about disabled people
changing in the media.  But I think it's a slow change, and it
has to be done in incremental steps.  Let me give you some
examples.  ABC's family drama "Life Goes On" with Christopher
Burke was a step forward in showing the abilities and frailties
of people with Down's syndrome.  We've seen TV shows with deaf
people signing and blind people working.  "Becker" is an example
of a show with a blind person with a sense of humor.  These are
positive steps toward changing attitudes.  And a recurring
character on "The West Wing" is deaf, and she's a high-powered
political operative.  That's progress.
     But remember, as long as mankind has made distinctions
between disabled and nondisabled populations--and that goes back
forever--disabled people have been seen as outcasts.  Now they're
demanding their rights, and they should.  But, you can't change
thousands and thousands of years of discriminatory cultural
attitudes regarding disabled people in a decade or two.
     That said, I think TV can and will do more to promote the
abilities of disabled people.  And yes, there need to be more
disabled people on TV game shows and in TV series.  But let me
add that disabled people need to make themselves more visible. 
Eddie Timanus did.  He showed me and others that blind people
with the right accommodations can compete with sighted people. 
And remember, Jeopardy is geared toward the sighted audience.
     Q: Why are you doing this?  Do you or any member of your
family have a disability?
     A: I don't have a physical or hidden disability.  There is
no one I can think of in my immediate family with a physical
disability.  Your next question, I'm sure, will focus on my
awareness of disability issues and providing reasonable
accommodations to Jeopardy contestants.
     Q: That's right.  What have you learned about issues
regarding disabled people in this country?
     A: I wasn't aware of the 70% unemployment rate among
disabled people in the country.  That's a real eye-opener.  I
think the country needs to commit itself to employing more
disabled people.  But I don't have a specific jobs program in
mind.
     But I don't think that accessibility and accommodation
issues can be separated from making disabled people more
competitive.  Eddie Timanus, who appeared on my show, is a
perfect example of how easy it is to provide accommodations to a
blind person so the person can compete equally.  
     Q: How did you accommodate Timanus?
     A: We did two simple things.  Before the show started and in
front of the audience and his fellow contestants, we provided
Eddie with the answers in each category in Braille.  And so when
I called out the category, Eddie found it and could read the
answer in Braille.  Secondly, at the end, when we asked the final
question to determine the championship, we let Eddie type the
answer on a typewriter.  He was not at an advantage in either
situation.
     Q: Has there been an increase in the numbers of people with
disabilities applying to be contestants since Timanus appeared?
     A: No. But we invite them to apply.
     Q: How about the role of assistive technology?
     A: It has a big impact.  I don't have figures to support
this statement, but I'm positive that closed- captioning adds to
the number of people with hearing disabilities who watch
Jeopardy.  More viewers means more revenues to the broadcast
industry.  This is just one example of how assistive technology
is good business.
     At tonight's event, I saw many others.  A software company
called Cakewalk won an award for making it easier for blind
people to be musicians.  I watched representatives from the
advocacy group California for the Blind accept their award for
convincing banks to install talking ATMs throughout the state. 
Bill Sahlberg from JetForm took home an award for developing
accessible online forms for blind and visually impaired
individuals. And Sun Microsystems won for installing
accessibility features in the Java platform.
     These winners are electronic pioneers.  They aren't asking
the impossible.  They aren't asking the companies to develop the
technology.  They're asking them to include technology into their
products so they can be fully integrated into society.  Society
has a responsibility to be inclusive of everyone.  It's
economically beneficial to include everyone.


          WHERE YOU CAN GET HELP WITH YOUR ENERGY BILLS

                   submitted by Barbara Rhodes

     People struggling to pay their natural gas and electricity
bills might be Able to get help.  Here are some options: 
     Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has a program that provides a 15
percent discount on both gas and electricity bills to households
with incomes of up to 150 percent of the federal poverty
guidelines.  Call 800-PGE-5000.
     The Salvation Army, in conjunction with PG&E, runs a program
called REACH, or Relief for Energy Assistance Through Community
Help.  It provides once-a-year payment assistance of up to $300. 
The program is geared toward people who are unemployed, sick or
disabled.  Call 800-933-9677.
     A Salvation Army program for Stanislaus County seniors in
crisis with utility bills can be reached at 577-4068.  The
program is for people who have received shut-off notices and have
unique circumstances that prevent them from paying their bills.
Non-seniors can call 521-6249 between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on
Mondays and Wednesdays.
     A federal program called HEAP, or Home Energy Assistance
Program, provides help for households that make up to 130 percent
of the federal poverty guidelines.  HEAP can be reached at 800-
433-4327.   
     The Central Valley Opportunity Center also administers
programs to help people with utility bills. Call 527-0978.
The Modesto Irrigation District's new program to assist
low-income residents has started.  Eligible customers can get a
15 percent discount on electricity bills. Call 800-433-4327.
     The Internet provides an abundance of information about
energy and our current crisis.  For some sites offering energy
saving ideas: www.mid.org/html/lt_right.htm
     To check on current statewide power use, including the
probability of blackouts: www.caiso.com
     To check on latest news from the California Public Utilities
Commission, Including the audit of PG&E: www.cpuc.ca.gov
     To provide your child more information about energy:
www.energy.ca.gov/education/index.html
     To learn about new power plants under consideration:
www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/backgrounder.html

     To join a group with strong views about the current crisis
and who is responsible, The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer
Rights:
www.ratepayerrevolt.ormoku.sum


               THE DECISION IN THE CHERI MOKU CASE

                         by Melita Waters

     On Monday, April 30, 2001, I attended the sentencing hearing
for the woman who hit and killed Cheri Moku last October.  For
anyone who does not know the story, here are the details:  
     On an October evening last year, Cheri Moku and her guide
dog Coho were leaving the college where Ms. Moku attended
classes.  It was still light as we were yet on Daylight Saving
time.  Cheri was in a marked crosswalk crossing from the college
side of the street to the side that has a sidewalk.  This
crossing is mid-block and without a signal.  The nearest
intersection is some 500 feet away.  The intersection in the
other direction is considerably farther away.  To get to the
nearer intersection, one had to walk in the street with the
traffic.  
     The natural thing to do, therefore,  was to cross in the
marked crosswalk to the side of the street that did have a
sidewalk.  Cheri did all the things we all do when preparing to
cross a busy street.  When she stepped out into the street, the
traffic on the side nearest her had stopped.  She crossed half of
the five lanes (the middle lane is a turn lane).  A vehicle
coming from the right failed to stop, skidded and hit Cheri. 
some time later, she died in the hospital of massive head
injuries.  Her dog was not hurt but had to be retired because of
traffic trauma.  
     The driver, Susan Ogard, had no excuse other than that she
did not see Cheri.  An investigation of the incident was
undertaken by Merced County law enforcement.  The first Assistant
District Attorney (DA) to work on the case was the felony
charging DA.  He had blood tests run on Susan Ogard 
to see if she was under the influence of alcohol, street drugs or
prescription drugs.  Had the driver used any of these substances,
the incident would have risen to the level of a felony which
would have had jail time as part of the penalty.  Susan Ogard was
under the influence of nothing but inattention.  She just wasn't
looking where she was driving.  Her statement was that she just
looked up and there Cheri was.  
     Since Ms. Ogard wasn't under the influence of a foreign
substance, the case was moved to the misdemeanor department, and
ultimately, charges were filed.  Susan Ogard was charged with one
count of misdemeanor manslaughter and one count of violation of
the White Cane Law.  The case was finalized on April 30, 2001.
Without even having had a trial, a settlement was agreed upon
between the Assistant DA and the Defendant.  It is called a
"negotiated plea".  Ogard entered a plea of No Contest to the
manslaughter charge meaning that she did not deny that she had
killed Cheri.  Her penalty is 3 years informal probation, 10
hours community service, a donation of $500 to an organization
that works with the blind, $250.00 fine, $100.00 restitution, and
a 60-day restriction on her driver's license.  The restriction
was that she would be allowed to drive to and from work, do any
driving required by her employment, and take necessary trips to
transport her mother to and from the doctor, while the DMV
determines if Ms. Ogard should be driving since she admitted that
she is legally blind in her left eye.  The White Cane Act
violation was dismissed.  
     This sentence feels like open season has been declared on
blind people.  We would have been much better served if the
manslaughter charge had been dismissed and sentence had been
imposed for the violation of the White Cane Act (California
Vehicle Code 21963).  
     Just two days later Guide dog Day at the Capitol was held. 
We have all been so interested in improving the safety of all
pedestrians, not just blind pedestrians, that the theme for the
day was Pedestrian Safety.  We were carrying the message to all
legislators that California has some very good laws but that they
are of no avail if they are not enforced.  
     The packets we distributed to each legislator included
copies of all the California laws pertaining to pedestrians, some
ten pages.  We all had the Cheri Moku case to point to as an
example of the problems pedestrians face.  We asked each
legislator to write to the police, sheriff and district attorney
in his  district urging them to vigorously enforce the laws
already on the books.  I found the legislators were most
interested, and I already have in my possession the letter sent
to law enforcement entities in his district by one legislator
reminding them to know and enforce the laws that have already
been passed regarding pedestrian safety.  I hope that each
legislator writes the same kind of letter.  If all the
legislators do that and if more vigilance is exercised by law
enforcement regarding the safety of all pedestrians, not just the
blind, perhaps Cheri Moku's death will not have been in vain.   
 
     (Here is an exchange of letters between Melita Waters and
persons contacted regarding pedestrian safety:

Assembly, California Legislature
Bill Campbell, Assemblyman, Seventy-First District
May 3, 2001

Ms. Melita Waters, President
Guide Dog Users of California
220 Capri
Santa Ana, CA 92703

Dear Ms. Waters:
     I enjoyed meeting with you the other day regarding
pedestrian safety.
     As a result of this meeting, I sent a letter to the Sheriffs
Department, the Police Chiefs in my district and the District
Attorney's office urging them to enforce pedestrian laws that are
already on the books for the sake of all citizens, but especially
the visually impaired.  Enclosed is a copy of the letter for your
records.
     Thank you for meeting with me to discuss your perspective on
this issue.

Sincerely,
Bill Campbell

The Honorable Mike Carona
Orange County Sheriffs Department
550 North Flower Street
Santa Ana, CA 92702

Dear Mr. Carona,
     Last week I met with a blind woman from Santa Ana.  In
talking to her on related issues, she asked me to help her pass
on her message about encouraging law enforcement agencies to
enforce laws already on the books regarding pedestrian safety,
especially as it affects the visually impaired.
     It is vital to the blind community that they have the safe
mobility that was intended to help them get around the community. 
I ask for your attention because the laws will work only if
everybody knows they will be enforced.  Even drivers themselves
are part-time pedestrians once they have parked, so enforcing
pedestrian safety laws protects them, too.
     Enclosed is a copy of the related civil codes that blind
persons depend upon for their day-to-day lives.
     Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely,
Bill Campbell

Here are two letters Assemblyman Campbell received as replies: 
City of Irvine
Charles S. Brobeck, Director of Public Safety
Public Safety, Irvine Police Department - (949) 724-7000
May 8, 2001

Dear Assemblyman Campbell:
     In response to your recent letter to me regarding your
conversation with a blind woman from Santa Ana, I would like you
to know that we share your sensitivity and concern over the
enforcement of current statutes regarding not only the visually
impaired, but the otherwise disadvantaged citizens who frequent
our community.
     Irvine has prided itself on having the ability to work with
a diverse population; and many of those who are disadvantaged are
certainly ones that we pay attention to. 
     Thank you for bringing the concerns of this woman to our
attention.  If there is anything I can do to assist you in your
efforts, please contact me.

Sincerely,
Charles S. Brobeck, Chief of Police 

Office of the District Attorney
Orange County, California
Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney
May 24, 2001

Dear Mr. Campbell:
     Tony Rackauckas has asked me to respond to your May 2, 2001,
letter concerning pedestrian safety as it affects the visually
impaired.
     Thank you for enclosing the relevant Civil, Vehicle and
Penal Code provisions affecting the visually impaired.  We agree
with you that it is vitally important to the blind community that
they have safe mobility throughout the community.  In order to
enhance their mobility, we will add the relevant Civil, Vehicle
and Penal Code provisions to our Deputy District Attorney
training program.
     Thanks again for your letter.

Sincerely,
Bryan Brown, Senior Assistant District Attorney

     (Anyone interested in pursuing correspondence similar to
that given here can obtain a copy of relevant California codes
concerning vehicle and pedestrian safety by calling the CCB
office.) 


                  CONVENTION REPORT, SPRING 2001

                          by Keith Black

     Following a full afternoon of affiliate group meetings and
committee workshops, the CCB Board of Directors met on Thursday
evening, April 19th.  The Treasurer's Report was one of the first
items of business with the figures showing that the CCB is in
good financial condition.  The full report is available from the
office upon request so that I will not try to describe it here. 
In that connection, however, Mitch Pomerantz, Budget and Finance
Committee Chair, told the Board that the spending plan
recommended by his group is designed to balance expected revenues
this year without reduction of CCB programs or services.  
     President Cathie Skivers announced that our vehicle-donation
program has been very successful as a major source of income as
have the efforts of two outside fund-raising organizations.  The
Council can, therefore, continue to provide scholarships to
deserving students and to help struggling chapters to send
delegates to the convention.  In addition, CCB plans to sponsor
five young people who wish to attend the ACB national convention
this summer.  
     The Board then took up the question of rising convention
costs faced by attendees, and Cathie pointed out that CCB already
helps to lessen the price of the Presidents' Dinner and the
banquet.  Various suggestions were offered whereby CCB could
subsidize the cost of hotel rooms and certain other expenses, and
the Board agreed to work on that issue and offer additional help
in the future.  
     Dan Kysor reported on legislation, stating that several
measures of interest to CCB are still in the hearing process; but
he said that SB105, the Commission for the Blind bill, has been
delayed and converted by Senator Burton to a two-year measure
because of the energy crisis in California.  
     These and other reports gave the Board a very full agenda
with adjournment after 11 p.m.  Everyone prepared for a busy and
informative convention.  
     The program on Friday afternoon began, as did each of the
general sessions, with an invocation and the salute to the flag. 
The first speaker was Robert Schmitz, Director of the Folsom
Prison Project for the Visually Impaired.  He described the
extraordinary enthusiasm and dedication of about twenty-five
inmates who work on three different aspects of the project: 
transcribing braille textbooks, recording a variety of materials,
and repairing eyeglasses.  The inmates receive a small amount of
money for the work, but the chief benefit of doing it is the
satisfaction of providing the important service they render. 
Many of the men involved say that working in the Project has
changed their whole point of view and their attitude toward the
rest of society.  Schmitz gives a great deal of credit to the
Lions Club for their support of this program.     
     We next heard from LaVernya Carr, Director of the Transition
Program at the California School for the Blind.  Along with her 
presentation, she introduced Sharon Watson, a graduate of the
school and a CCB scholarship winner.  The Transition Program
serves in many ways to prepare students for independent living
and employment through vocational training, meaningful jobs and
work experience both on and off the campus and training in
apartment living techniques.  
     Dr. Dennis Kelleher, State Consultant on Special Education,
spoke next, explaining some of the many services provided for
totally blind and partially-sighted students.  Included are
training in adaptive technology, braille and orientation and
mobility instruction and a wide range of materials in alternative
formats with special emphasis on braille literacy.  Dr. Kelleher
also proudly listed many graduates of the California School for
the Blind who have entered the field of special education
teaching.   
     The final segment of that afternoon's program featured a
presentation, skillfully handled by Dr. Martin Jones and his
committee, on domestic violence.  In several scenarios, the panel
utilized role-playing to demonstrate examples of verbal abuse and
undue domination which can infringe on the rights and
independence of disabled individuals in terms of mobility,
management of their own money, and choices of lifestyle.      
     The Friday evening session was devoted mainly to the
president's Report and a talk by Penny Reeder, editor of The
Braille Forum.  
     In her remarks, President Skivers expressed great
satisfaction with the spirit of cooperation among the several
organizations that make up the Blind Alliance for Rehabilitation
Change (BARC) resulting in a united front on issues concerning
the need for separate services for the blind in California.  This
combination of groups represents about 60,000 blind and visually-
impaired people in the state.  She was  proud to report this
accomplishment and the introduction by Senator John Burton of
SB105, the bill calling for establishment of a Commission for the
Blind, but she pointed out that we still need to fight for a
consultant on services to blind students in the Department of
Education.  She also reported to the membership the stable
financial condition of the Council which had already been made
known to the Board of  Directors.  
     Penny Reeder, representing the ACB national office,
expressed her fervent belief in advocating for separate services
for the blind.  We should fight for those accommodations we think
are important.  Penny described her public relations work, such
as speaking to the press about issues and to schools and churches
concerning blindness.  She invited members to send articles for
use in The Braille Forum.  
     The Saturday session featured Dr. Catherine Campisi,
Director of the Department of Rehabilitation, who reported on
changes for the better taking place in the agency.  She is
dedicated to improving both the delivery of services and the
record of competitive employment outcomes for blind and visually
impaired clients.  District administrators and Rehab supervisors
will be better trained to work with this disability group, and
access to information will be improved in the state's one-stop
employment centers.  The Director distributed to her audience
copies of a well designed plan to promote these and many other
changes and promised to work closely with the Blind Advisory
Committee to implement them.  
     This positive approach on the part of the Department was
reiterated by Rita Herrington, District Administrator in the
Sacramento office.  She will be forming a unit made up of a
supervisor, RCB's and CT's, all with plenty of experience working
with the blind.  She also intends to work hard on improving
relations with blind high school and college students.  
     The next speaker was Marc Wilkerson, Chief of the Disability
Compliance Program for Sacramento County.  He told us of his
efforts to improve access to printed forms and computer screens
on behalf of blind individuals through the use of braille and
speech technology.  He then introduced a friend of his, Mike May,
who has a similar interest in adaptive equipment.  However, May's
personal experience gives him an appreciation for medical
science, as well.  He told us of his life as a totally blind
person and how he then had eye surgery which restored a
substantial part of his vision.  This led him to utilize his
computer knowledge to develop a mobility guidance device known as
a global positioning system, employing speech software for the
benefit of blind people.  The product is now being marketed
through his small business called the Sandaro Company.   
     The last report of the day was that of Dan Kysor, regarding
the status of legislation of interest to CCB.  He first brought
up the news, previously shared with the Board of Directors, to
the effect that SB105, the Commission Bill, has been delayed and
will be held over until next year because of the state's
financial problems in the energy crisis.  None of the other
measures he is following have reached the floor of the
legislature.  He described eight bills which are still going
through the committee hearing process and one that has been
dropped.  
     No CCB convention would be complete without the banquet, and
this one was certainly an extremely enjoyable occasion.  After
introductions of guests by Mistress of Ceremonies Ann Kysor and
President Cathie Skivers, we heard several presentations by
Awards chairman Roger Petersen and by Joan Black, Chair of the
Publications Committee; their full reports will appear elsewhere. 
      Then some great entertainment was provided by John Dashney,
a gifted storyteller from Oregon, who left us laughing and
completely amazed by his clever wording and rapid-fire delivery.  
     The first item of business on Sunday morning was the report
of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee.  They introduced a
constitutional amendment concerning membership and delegate
responsibility.  It also would have established a new formula for
determining the number of votes allotted to a special-interest
affiliate.  The amendment was defeated by the convention.  
     After the Treasurer's Report was presented to the
membership, the main event of the final session got under way. 
Nine resolutions were recommended by the Resolutions Committee,
and all were passed by voice vote without opposition.  They, too,
will be reported elsewhere in the magazine as will the report of
the Membership Committee.  Rhonda King, the committee chair,
requested information from all chapters regarding their usual
meeting times and places, officers, and major projects.  
     The convention was adjourned right on time at noon.  


             ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ATTENDING COLLEGE


                          by Ardis Bazyn

     If you are a high school student or an adult contemplating
attending college, you may be interested in reading a handbook
prepared and circulated by the Blind Students of California
(BSC).  With its many supportive volunteers, the BSC has recently
published "A Guide to a Successful College Experience."  This
guide provides extensive referencing and insight into achieving
success in college life.  It outlines some basics of the process:
college choices, the admissions process, financial aid solutions,
individual needs, disabled student services, readers and drivers,
applicable laws, and guide dogs on campus.
     This guide can be downloaded from the recently established
BSC Internet Web page.  Please visit:
http://www.geocities.com/bscteam/BSC.html.  The guide is
available free of charge to members in alternative formats.  
     For more information, e-mail bscteam@hotmail.com  The Web
page (which can also be accessed through the ACB and CCB Web
sites) provides resources from scholarships and financial aid to
rehabilitation services.  A list of on-line forums and discussion
groups can also be accessed from the Web site.  The Blind
Students of California hosts an E-mail list-service that links
visually impaired students statewide to one another.  The list
also contains BSC event announcements, facilitates discussions on
how to obtain equipment, and gives updates on current disability-
related legislation.  To join our online community group,
subscribe by sending a blank e-mail message to: 
ca_blindstudents-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.


             REPORT FROM THE REHABILITATION COMMITTEE

                    by Richard A. Rueda, Chair

     On Thursday, April 19th, the CCB Rehabilitation Committee
presented a forum entitled, "Achieving Your Goals Through DR and
Community Resources."  State agencies in northern California
regions having existing relationships with the Department of
Rehabilitation as well as DOR consumers were invited to
participate in this panel discussion.
     The panel presentation lasted close to three hours.  Both
DOR clients and representatives on hand from organizations left
with a sense of empowerment and greater knowledge on the process
by which DOR works simultaneously with consumers, agencies and
vendors (technology specific).
     As the newly appointed chair of the Rehabilitation
Committee, I  seek to work closely with the fine professionals
who are dedicated to projects within the committee. 
Additionally, the committee extendS a warm invitation to those
currently not involved to join and be a part of the planning for
future convention presentations.
     It is our intent this fall to collaborate with the
Technology Committee for a presentation on bridging the gap with
respect to accessing and acquiring technology by consumers, their
rehabilitation for the blind counselors and technology vendors. 
As the age of computers reaches into the lives of all blind
individuals, it is nearly impossible to escape without accessing
one of these devices.  However we often find that it is
impossible for consumers, counselors and vendors to agree on what 
types of equipment are suitable and justifiable for the best
employment outcome in the client-consumer's IPE.
     Stay posted to both this magazine and the weekly California
Connection to hear more about our plan for the fall meeting.  For
more information on the CCB Rehabilitation Committee, contact the
chair, Richard A. Rueda, e-mail at richr_@hotmail.com and/or by
telephone, 562-789-9525. 
  

                     LIBRARY USERS BOOK LIST

                       by Winifred Downing 

     At its spring convention luncheon, members of the Library
Users of America followed its custom of suggesting to each other
books which they enjoyed.  Here is a list of these books and,
where possible, the names of the persons who suggested them. 
Taking the notes under the circumstances is tricky, so please be
patient with misspellings and/or omissions.  We are indebted to
Martin Magid of the San Francisco Subregional Library for
furnishing the book numbers needed for ordering.
     Peltzer, David: A Child Called It rc45004  (suggested by
Nancy Unger)
     Peltzer, David: The Lost Boy rc46336 
     Palmer, Michael:  Critical Judgment rc45957
     Kellerman: A Day of  Atonement rc36304 (suggested by Connie
Shoeman
     Freeman, Nancy:  The Seventh Stone rc37167 (suggested by
Jill O'Connell
     Fosbaugh: India Gate rc34449 (suggested by Maria Mitchel)
     Griffin, W.B. The Corps Series rc32453 41352 31621 31620
31192 47698 34199 25764 
     Gilbreth, Frank B.: Cheaper by the Dozen rc23282 (suggested
by Sharon Benefiel)
     Hill, Grace:  The Atlanta Series Series There are 25 titles;
not evident which are the Atlanta Series (suggested by Carol
Blake)
     Michaels, Finders Keepers Keepers (rc47416 (suggested by
Debby Rogers)
     Hayslit, Lely: When Heaven and Earth Changed Places rc31643
     Pilcher: Snow in April rc42485 (suggested by  Connie
Bateman)
     Michaels, Fern: Seasons of Her Life rc44286 (suggested by
Leslie Thom) 
     Braun, Lillian Jackson: The Cat Who Saw Stars rc47986 
     Shaara, Michael: Killer Angel rc45457 (suggested by Donine
Hedrick)
     Dixon, Judith, editor: Braille into the Next Millenium
rc50969 (suggested by Winifred Downing)
     Homer: The Iliad rc51266 and 09489 
     Homer: The Odyssey rc43541 and 20491 (suggested by Winifred
Downing; both books were read by Alexander Scourby) 
     Brokaw, Tom: The Greatest Generation rc47490 
     Brokaw, Tom: The Greatest Generation Speaks rc49312
     Sobel, Dave: Galileo's Daughter rc48871
     Fadiman, Ann: Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down rc45010
     Fadiman, Ann: Ex Libris br11915 
     Graham,  Katharine: A Personal History rc43945
     Masamoto: Epitaph for a Peach br10551 only)
     Russell, Mary:  The Sparrow rc43892 
     Russell, Mary:  Children of God rc49683


            THE TEN ESSENTIALS OF PEDESTRIAN ADVOCACY

    By Dorothea Hass, Katherine Shriver and Ellen Vanderslice

     (Copies of this article were given to conventioneers who
attended the April 20, 2001 joint program Session of the
Committee on Access and Transportation and the California Council
of Citizens with Low Vision.  It was the desire of those present
that I request that this article be reprinted in the next issue
of the Blind Californian.)
     In the last decade, grassroots organizations that advocate
for walking as a mode of transportation have sprung up across
North America.  In 1996, Walk Boston, the Willamette Pedestrian
Coalition, WALK Austin and Walk New York joined together to form
America Walks, a national coalition of local advocacy groups
dedicated to promoting walkable communities.  Today, the
coalition represents autonomous grassroots organizations across
the country, each working to improve conditions for walking, in
their cities, towns and neighborhoods.  The mission of America
Walks is to foster the development of community-based pedestrian
advocacy groups and to educate the public about the benefits of
walking.  What makes successful pedestrian advocacy? Here are the
ten essentials:
     1.  Organize:  "I agree that pedestrians should be
represented on the transportation committee, but I can't appoint
you as an individual.  Why don't you organize a pedestrian group,
so I can appoint you as its representative."  Within six months
of this advice from the Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation
in 1990, Walk Boston was born.  There are three important reasons
for organizing.
     1) Organizations have more credibility than individuals.
     2) Your organization's members bring a variety of
perspectives and skills that energize and sustain your advocacy
effort.
     3) Organizations bring increased community contacts and
awareness.  The earlier you hear about problems or plans for your
neighborhood, the earlier you can get involved.  The earlier you
get involved, the more likely you are to succeed.  Organizations
do not always need to be large.  Sometimes small, lean
organizations can be very effective.  You can organize your
apartment building or your block, or you can find volunteers
among a more widely dispersed group of likeminded people, ready
to unite over an issue such as installing a WALK signal at a
dangerous crossing.
     At the same time, it's a good idea to have a core of
committed, active members.  Organizations dependent on one person
or a few people face the likelihood of early burnout.  Talk to
people you come in contact with at church, at your children's
school, or at the supermarket.  They may decide to join your
organization.  Advocacy organizations often start out as a group
of people who get together to correct a local problem.  Once the
problem is solved, they find the experience is so rewarding that
they decide to organize formally, recruit more members,
incorporate, and raise money.
     2. Persist:  The most difficult part of advocacy is
persisting, particularly when the outcome is uncertain.  Advocacy
demands commitment and faith in your goals.  But persistence is
your ultimate tool.  If public officials know that you are never
going away, they will eventually deal with you.  When the next
project comes along, they will listen to you sooner than they did
the last time.  Even when local government and transit
authorities support your aims, they can take months and sometimes
years to make decisions.  Advocacy groups must maintain a
presence, attending the seemingly endless meetings and dealing
with agency procedures.  Furthermore, most of this work must be
done by volunteers.  Celebrate small victories along the way. 
Sometimes individual advocates are so personally committed that
they can go for long periods of time with very little positive
reinforcement, but most people need periodic encouragement. 
     3. Provide Solutions and Alternatives:  You can oppose and
stop a bad project.  But if it is possible, use the situation as
an opportunity to offer an alternative plan that will improve the
current situation.  Suggesting a realistic alternative can also
build credibility for your group.  Talk, listen and understand. 
Express your concerns and your reasoning clearly.  Keep an open
mind as you listen to the needs of your opponents.  Make sure you
understand each other.  Can you meet their needs and still
achieve your objectives?  If you are unsure about how to develop
an alternative, seek help from sympathetic professionals who may
volunteer their services.  An alternative solution may demand
compromise.  That's okay.  Usually it is better to get 75% of
what you want than none of it.  Remember, some people in the
opposing camp may agree with you.  They cannot support your
opposition publicly but may be able to support an alternative
plan presented as a compromise.  Alternatives let everyone save
face.
      
     4. Respect Your Opponents:  Make the effort to understand
other positions and the issues that your opponents must deal
with.  Be courteous to them.  If you are a committed advocate,
you are going to see these people again, and being personally
negative is not an effective strategy.  Don't make negative
assumptions about public officials, bureaucrats, and their
employees.  In fact, you should cultivate friendly contacts with
them.  These allies can supply helpful background information. 
Just remember the primary rule: never name your sources, even to
advocacy colleagues.  A reputation for discretion is invaluable. 
If you cultivate mutual respect, even people who hold positions
widely divergent from your own may change.  Their next project
may even use some of your ideas.
     5. Publish:  Many of the successful local groups that make
up America WALKs have won acclaim for the quality of their
newsletters and other publications.  Regular newsletters serve
the dual functions of keeping members informed and educating
decision makers.  The current prevalence of desktop publishing
and inexpensive copying makes it possible to produce a crisp,
clean newsletter on a tight budget.  In our increasingly
computer-savvy culture, the World-Wide Web is another place to
publish your group's positions and activities.  There are
nonprofit agencies that offer free Web pages to worthy causes.  

     6. Build Coalitions:  Working in coalitions with other
groups may seem messy, unclear and inefficient, even for the most
committed.  Everyone needs to be persuaded to be more effective
working with others than working alone.  But in the end,
coalitions have a greater range of talents and far more political
clout than individual groups.  Furthermore, politicians who are
reluctant to appear to "give in" to the demands of a specific
advocacy group more easily compromise with a coalition that
represents a broad cross-section of voters.  
     7. Get Expert Help:  Professionals  traffic engineers,
lawyers, landscape architects, and others speak the same language
of concepts and jargon that public agencies do, which makes them
invaluable.  These allies can give you general background advice
and write letters of support.  More important, they can provide
crucial technical services when you want to develop a plan to
present to public officials.  With luck,  you may find
professionals who share your views and will provide services for
free.
     You must also get help in understanding the review processes
that all public projects go through.  If you want to support,
defeat, or modify any project, you must know what the process is
and where the project is in that process.  Then you will know
when public hearings will be held, and when you should call or
write to news media, public officials, and elected
representatives.
     8. Work with the Media:  Whatever you do, you make a bigger
splash when you involve the media.  Publicize your events in
radio, television and the papers; and you will draw attention and
people to your activities and cause.  Package your products
whether you're speaking on the radio or in public, writing a
press release or an op-ed, or planning a public event.  As you
make public appearances, begin to develop good relationships with
local newspaper, radio and television reporters.  From time to
time, visit with the editorial board of the local daily.  Become
the person or group that reporters turn to for an opinion or view
on a story or current event.  
     9. Walk Your Talk:  Wherever you go, set an example. 
Remember to tell your friends and coworkers how good you feel
when you walk.  Invite others to join you.  If you have children,
walk them to school, and talk about it to other parents.  When
organizations you belong to are scheduling meetings or events,
ask that they be located where people can walk or take transit. 
Always put transit access information in your flyers about
events.
     10. Have Fun:  A shared experience with other people
striving for something you all truly believe in is a great
reward.  When you get involved in your community, you make new
friends (some have even met their future spouses), you acquire 
new skills and you develop contacts that might be useful in your
work.  When you walk down the street, you enjoy the difference
you made: you and your friends had those signs put up, or you got
that section of sidewalk repaired.  When the going gets tough,
maintain a sense of humor, a sense of the ridiculous, and the
ability to enjoy small victories along the way.  Have fun so that
you can persist and ensure ongoing volunteer involvement.  And
don't forget the coffee and cookies!


                A CONSUMER'S POINT OF VIEW ON THE 
                  UNIFIED ENGLISH BRAILLE CODE 

                       by Winifred Downing 

     (At the conference of the California Transcribers and
Educators of the Visually Handicapped (CTEVH), April 26-28, 2001,
a panel of six persons addressed various aspects of the proposed
Unified English Braille code.  Here are the major points of my
presentation.)
     It is a pleasure and a privilege to speak about braille
because it has been so important in my life.  It was braille that
helped me earn a Masters Degree in social work before there were
tape recorders and before Recording for the Blind.  Braille was
integral to my 41 years of employment so that we could have our
own home and so that I could support our four children though my
husband died before any of them was out of school.  It is braille
that has made it possible for me in my retirement to attend a
senior institute on the campus of the University of San
Francisco; engage in volunteer activities like editing The  Blind
Callifornian, writing for Dialog, the Braille Forum, and other
magazines; taking positions on various boards and committees in
the blindness field and my parish; and working one morning a week
at the library serving the blind.
     Everything in my house is brailled: spices, canned goods,
cosmetics, gift wrap, cd's, computer disks, clothing --
everything!  Over the years, I have accumulated a library of more
than a hundred volumes: anthologies of English, American and
world literature; short stories; plays by Shakespeare; Winnie the
Pooh and other children's books; spiritual reading like the New 
Testament and the Confessions of St. Augustine; and lots of books
on cooking, computers, and knitting.  
     Even though I read many books on cassette and with my
scanner, I read braille everywhere: on buses, trains, and
streetcars; in doctors' offices, dentists' offices, and hotel
lobbies; and on planes and muni platforms. Phil Hatlen, whom many
of you know, often laughed about the day I  was to meet him at
the gate of San Francisco State University.  My bus got me there
20 minutes early; and I couldn't accept just standing there all
that time so I pulled out my Syndicated Columnist Weekly, settled
it against my front, and read.  I suppose it was quite a  sight
at 19th and Holloway, and Phil was certainly amused.  
     You understand, then, why I feel intensely about braille and
the changes being suggested.  I don't want to see a code adopted
because it is so computable that no human intervention is
necessary between the scanner and translation program on the one
hand and the printed braille page on the other; or because it
represents advantages or disadvanatages for transcribers; or
because it contains a representation in braille for every
conceivable print style and symbol.  I want a code adopted
because it ensures the same degree of accuracy, speed, and
pleasure that braille has brought to us over the last 70 years. 
     We are told that in the early 1990s there was a ground swell
of demand for a code that would unify all the existing codes.  I
am not aware of any such demand.  I have not known anyone who
avoided learning to use a computer because of the oddities of the
computer code or the lowered numbers that it features. or who
hesitated to learn a foreign language because of the braille
accent signs and umlauts.  I have known people who found math
difficult and avoided it when they could, but that wasn't because
of braille problems but of the subject itself.  Most of my twelve
grandchildren, all of whom are sighted, find math difficult, and
the problem does not arise from any matters of code.
     This is not to say, however, that we may not need a number
of improvements in braille, whether in two codes, one technical
and the other literary, or one unified code.  We need a
consistent sign for the dollar and signs for plus and minus, and
there are math symbols we need to add.  Under some
circrumstances, we may need ways of showing bold-face print,
underlining, italic print,  and other print specialties and of
adopting practices that more closely accord with print.    
     In the beginning, BANA took on the task of initiating a
unified code with several important charges which the members
themselves adopted--that there would be as little disruption as
possible in braille as we had known it; that the use of
contractions would be retained, and that the job was to reconcile
the codes that had been adopted by the Braille Authority of North
America (BANA).  When the decision was later made to involve all
the English-speaking countries in a single code, the whole
picture changed radically.  England and most overseas countries,
with the  exception of New Zealand,  had never used the Nemeth
Code.  Once the effort was international, the determination to
avoid lower numbers became a central issue.  So dogmatic has that
insistence become that no other approach has even been
considered.  
     BANA has been quite rigid in adhering to several of its
other emphases.  It has insisted that the code adopted must at
all cost avoid ambiguity; no symbol can have more than one
meaning, no matter how different the context, and there must be
available an exact representation in braille for every possible
print character.  If we think about it for a few minutes, we
realize that print puts up with a lot of ambiguity.  The same
sign when used before a number means a number sign and when used
after a number signifies pound.  The symbol for the general
quotation mark and that for inches is the same with context
deciding which meaning the symbol has.    
     To avoid ambiguity, to use only upper numbers, and to make
sure that there is an exact replication in braille of every
possible print symbol, BANA has put forward a code that is
extremely complicated, particularly in presenting mathematical
and scientific material, often requiring three or more characters
as indicators to appear before a letter or number.  No one who
reads the Nemeth Code today will be able to read mathematical
material written in UBC; and no one trained in UBC in the future
will be able to read any of the books made available in the
Nemeth Code, thus signifying the waste of all the math and
scientific books produced over the last fifty years.  I have been
on two list-serves where vigorous discussions have occurred; and
I can truthfully say that no teacher of math, no math
transcriber,  and no blind mathematician can see any way in which
the UBC will be able to express advanced mathematical and
scientific material.  BANA proponents tell me they know of really
knowledgeable persons who think differently, but they have never
furnished any names of such persons.  
     UBC proponents insist that children and teachers would find
this new code much easier, but by the time a child gets to
algebra, he might have to read and identify three or more
indicator characters before ever  getting  to the first number or
letter of the problem.  Teachers who do not use their math
knowledge for a year or two would have just as much trouble
recollecting UBC symbols and rules as some of them have with
Nemeth or even with braille itself.  The amount of material that
a child's fingers would have to recognize would slow down test-
taking, and the cost and bulk of braille books would be
increased. UBC proponents make light of this increase, but even a
few pages per volume is significant.  
     Anyone who reads literary braille now will be able to read
what UEBC produces.  Though at one time,  23 contractions were to
be eliminated, that number has been reduced to 8: the signs for
ble, ation, ally, com, dd, to, into, and by and the sequencing of
the signs for and, for, of, the, with, and the word a.  Though
the braille would be readable, it would be slower because the
fingers would have to travel over more characters, and it would
be bulkier and more expensive. Most teachers agree that new
braillists have a hard time moving from one line to the next and
that would be necessary more frequently with UEBC.  Children and
adults educated in the UEBC would not be familiar with the
contractions and sequencing in the present system and would,
therefore, be unable to read the thousands of books in the NLS
system and the many private libraries all over the country.  
     The problem of increased bulk is not insignificant.  The
National Braille Press will remember the vote taken several years
ago about increasing the number of pages in Syndicated Columnist
Weekly.  The proposed expansion was just a few pages, but the
vote against it was overwhelming because we had all appreciated
having something small enough to carry easily and read in unusual
places. 
     Concerning this problem and many others, a well-known
transcriber and teacher has advanced a group of questions which
no one has answered: Who will teach the university-level teacher
trainers? When? Where? With what funds? What will happen with all
the literary and technical books now available?  What will happen
with the adults who read braille? Who will train them? When?
Where? Again, with what funding? What will happen with all the
school districts that have purchased expensive braille
translation software? Does all that become obsolete?  Where will
the funds be developed to replace this material?  What about the
many blind persons who have braille note-taking devices and
refreshable braille computer programs?  It is impossible even to
guess at the cost of these measures.  
     What many of us fear is that, like other braille changes
initiated by BANA, there  will be no built-in process for
disseminating the information. Duxbury can start turning out
material the day after the vote is taken, and we will just begin
seeing the changes in books and magazines and can come to
whatever conclusions  we like about the meaning of what we see. 
I feel that it is irresponsible to vote on adopting any new code
without having in place definite plans and mechanisms for how it
will be implemented.  
     Many of the concerns expressed here have been brought to the
attention of   the Braille Authority of North America; but its
members have pushed ahead strongly for the one code that it has
allowed to be presented.  I heard that a few weeks ago  a
Michigan teacher at a student's IEP (Individualized Education
Plan) meeting said it was no longer necessary to teach the Nemeth
Code because it isn't going to be used anymore.  Where could that
teacher get such an idea?  Even with marked disagreements about
many aspects of the UEBC unsettled, the attitude BANA has
fostered, whether intentionally or unintentionally,  has been
that the code is a fait accompli.  For the last several years,
every Duxbury program sold has had the UBC tables as a part of
that program.   At the Jo Taylor conference a month ago, an
evening with refreshments was sponsored by BANA to acquaint
people with the UBC, and I understand that an entire afternoon of
the literary conference in Philadelphia is to be given to the
same process.  There are people in this room who have strongly
objected to the UBC math approach, but I doubt that most of them
will stand forward to say that.  Why will they not?  Because BANA
is a powerful group of representatives from major agencies
producing braille, and even some   BANA members are loath to be
suspected of resisting the UBC.  People in this audience and
other persons may fear that objecting will cause them to be
discredited professionally or even adversely affect their
employment.  So impressive has the push for adoption been that we
are in great danger of having a unified code chosen not because 
it has been widely studied and considered carefully against other
approaches to the problem, but just because the process has
developed such momentum that it is irresistible.  There  is
another code (the Universal Braille System) which, if adopted,
would alter existing BANA codes far less than the UBC and would
also avoid some of the other objections I have mentioned.  I do
not know what experts would think about that code, but certainly
other possible approaches to the braille issue should be
considered.  That is the message that I leave with you.  Please
study the available options carefully, read and respond to the
UEBC samples, and express your thoughts freely to the BANA chair,
Eileen Curran,  at the National Braille Press, 88 St. Stephen
Street, Boston, MA 02115; e-mail  ecurran@nbp.org  The UEBC
sampler can be requested from the same source. 


             BLIND WOMEN AT LOWER BREAST CANCER RATE

(Taken from The Lantern, newsletter of the Rose Resnick
Lighthouse for the Blind, San Francisco.  New York, Reuters
Health)  

High blood levels of the hormone melatonin may explain why blind
women have significantly lowered risks for breast cancer compared
with sighted women, researchers report. Melatonin, which is
secreted by the pineal gland in the brain and plays an important
role in the body's sleep cycle, is thought to influence the
secretion of estrogen, which in turn influences breast cancer
risk. 

"Our findings give support to the 'melatonin hypothesis," write
Dr. J. Kliukiene and colleagues of the Cancer Registry of Norway
in Oslo. 

Reporting in a recent issue of  the British Journal of Cancer,
(2001, 84, 397-99), the researchers used Norwegian government
health data to track breast cancer in over 15,000 visually
impaired women, nearly 400 of whom were totally blind.  The
investigators found that totally blind women had a 36% lower risk
of breast cancer compared with sighted women.  Women who became
blind relatively early in life (before age 65) appeared to be
especially protected against breast cancer with incidence rates
49% below those of sighted women. 

Only total blindness--not visual impairment--seemed to protect
against
breast cancer.  According to the authors, this supports the
theory that increased nighttime exposure to artificial light
reduces melatonin levels, altering estrogen secretion rates and
upping risks for breast cancer. 
Blind women are by definition unreceptive to light, however, and
may maintain high melatonin production at night regardless of
external light conditions.  Kliukiene's team believe this may be
the mechanism whereby blind women are protected from breast
cancer. 


   EYES WITH FOUR HOOVES: TRAINING GUIDE PONIES FOR BLIND PEOPLE

                         by Edith Stanley

     (taken from the L.A. Times, April 1, 2001.)
     As Delta Flight 192 lifts off for Atlanta, a small chestnut
horse lies stretched across the floor in a bulkhead row. Her name
is Cuddles, and she carries a heavy responsibility on her 2-foot-
high shoulders.
     Cuddles is a 55-pound miniature, one of more than 120,000
registered in the United States, but her words  printed on a
burgundy blanket fastened across her back reveal what makes her
unique: "Service Animal in Training; do not touch."  Janet
Burleson, who has trained 18-month-old Cuddles for the past seven
months, says that she is the first horse to go into full-time
service as a guide animal--and the first allowed to fly in the
passenger cabin on Delta, perhaps on any airline.
     Seated toe to horse in row 20 are Burleson, her husband Don,
and Cuddles' new owner, Dan  Shaw.  Shaw, 44, who owns a bake
shop in eastern Maine, has suffered from retinitis pigmentosa
since he was 17.  It has left him with pinhole vision.
     Shaw, Cuddles, and the Burlesons, who own a ranch 30 miles
north of Raleigh, NC, face a busy day in Atlanta.   They chose
Atlanta because  it is the closest city to Raleigh with a rapid  
rail system.
     Shaw, a graduate of the Carroll School in Boston, often
returns there to visit friends and family.  He uses the subway
and wants Cuddles to experience a similar environment.  Besides
riding on the subway, Cuddles will guide Shaw through the vast
airport terminals and lead him on to elevators, escalators, and
people movers.
     As Shaw moves along a concourse of Hartsfield International
Airport, his left hand grasps the little horse's reins and
harness.  People turn to stare. Cuddles looks straight ahead,
sure-footed in the white leather baby shoes she wears for
traction on the slippery floor.
     "Is that really a Seeing Eye Horse?"  asks Sandy Seenstra
from Cleveland.  "I haven't seen any of those in Ohio; but hey,
if it works, it works." 
     The Burlesons are so convinced that horses can be a reliable
alternative to dogs for the visually impaired that they have
established a non-profit Guide Horse Foundation
(www.guidehorse.org). Its mission is to deliver trained guide
horses at no cost.
     They have more than 40 applicants on the waiting list who
have given various reasons for preferring a horse to a guide dog:
allergy to canines, fear of dogs, needing an animal with more
stamina.  One woman says she walks four miles to work each day,
and the trek makes her dog's paws bleed.
     Shaw's desire for a horse is purely emotional.  "Horses live
35 to 40 years," he says.  "I'm an animal lover. To lose a dog in
eight to ten years, and then have another to train and have to do
that three or four times in my lifetime . . . That's painful."
     Last March as Shaw's wife Ann was filling out an application
for his first guide dog, the television was tuned to "Ripley's
Believe It or Not."  The show featured a segment on the Burlesons
and a miniature horse named Twinkie, who was being trained to
lead a blind woman.  To Shaw, the timing was "divine providence."
     "I want one of them instead of a guide dog," he remembers
telling Ann.  "I don't know what it will take, or what it's going
to cost, but that's the way I want to go."
     When Shaw located the Burlesons, however, he was
disappointed to learn they had no horse to offer.  They were
still trying to raise money to buy some more miniatures, and then
they would have to spend eight to ten months to train them.  
     To the Burlesons' delight, crime novelist Patricia Cornwell
donated $30,000 to their effort.  In an upcoming book, "Isle of
Dogs," Cornwell, who has visited the Burlesons' ranch, includes a
blind character led by a guide horse.
     The couple used the money to purchase six miniature horses
from a breeder in South Carolina.  One, Cuddles, soon was
training for Shaw.  A second, Cricket, is destined for a blind
woman in Gig Harbor, Washington.
     Early in March, horse and master finally met in Raleigh, the
closest city to the Burlesons' ranch with an airport.  "They seem
to have made an instant connection," Janet Burleson says.  "There
was such joy in his face. He's crying; both of us are crying. 
Sometimes when I was doing the training, I'd get frustrated, but
when I saw the end result . . . "
     The Burlesons are proud of Cuddles.  She knows basic leading
and responds to 23 voice commands, including "Wait" (not "whoa")
and "Forward" (not giddyap).
     Just as important, she is housebroken.  "She will absolutely
let you know when she needs to go," Janet Burleson says. "She'll
stand still and stamp her foot and whinny.  If she has to go
really bad, she will stamp her foot and cross her back legs.  I'm
not kidding!
     Evelyn B. Hagge, president of the Equine Research Foundation
in Santa Cruz, questions the suitability of horses as guides
because of their natural instinct to spook or bolt.
     "Cuddles may turn out to be a great horse and never spook,"
she says, "but sooner or later, it will happen." . . . "Imagine a
guide horse spooking in a busy intersection and either running
off or barging into its  owner." 
     But Janet Burleson, a show horse trainer for 30 years, has
no fear.  "I teach them to more or less spook in place.  They
learn to accept the normal things of human life--loud noises,
vehicles, balloons popping, fireworks, dogs barking." 
     The idea of Cuddles bolting makes Shaw smile.  The calm
little horse that licked his nose when they met suddenly going
mad and dragging him off?  "Not a chance," he says.  In May, Shaw 
will return to the Burleson ranch for four more weeks of training
with Cuddles.  Then he and the Burlesons will load the little
horse into a rented Winnebago for the long drive to her new home
in Maine. 


                          ITZHAK PERLMAN
                          by Jack Riemer

     (Taken from the Houston Chronicle.)
     On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on
stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in
New York City.  If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you
know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him.  He
was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both
legs and walks with the aid of two crutches.
     To see him walk across the stage one step at a time,
painfully and slowly, is an unforgettable sight.   He walks
painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair.  Then he
sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the
clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other
foot forward.  Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts
it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.
     By now, the audience is used to this ritual.  They sit
quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. 
They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his
legs.  They wait until he is ready to play.
     But this time, something went wrong.  Just as he finished
the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke.  You
could hear it snap; it went off like gunfire across the room. 
There was no mistaking what that sound meant.  There was no
mistaking what he had to do.
     People who were there that night thought to themselves: "We
figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again,
pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage -- to either find
another violin or else find another string for this one."
     But he didn't.  Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes
and then signaled the conductor to begin again.  The orchestra
began, and he played from where he had left off.  And he played
with such passion and such power and such purity as they had
never heard before.  Of course, anyone knows that it is
impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings.  I
know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman
refused to know that.
     You could see him modulating, changing, recomposing the
piece in his head.  At one point, it sounded like he was
de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had
never made before.
     When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. 
And then people rose and cheered.  There was an extraordinary
outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium.  We
were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we
could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.
     He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to
quiet us, and then he said, not boastfully, but in a quiet,
pensive, reverent tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's
task to find out how much music you can still make with what you
have left."
     What a powerful line that is.  It has stayed in my mind ever
since I heard it.  And who knows? Perhaps that is the way of
life--not just for artists but for all of us.
     So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing,
bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first
with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible,
to make music with what we have left.


                             WebABLE

                    submitted by Kim Charlson

     WebABLE launches first-of-its-kind technology to make Web
content accessible to people with disabilities.  New system
provides immediate solution for Section 508 compliance.
     Boston, MA, March 20, 2001 -- WebABLE (www.webable.com), the
world's premier developer of accessible Web infrastructure and
emerging software technologies that enhance the lives of people
with disabilities, announced today the launch of the WebABLE
Enhanced Accessibility Personalization System that will
dynamically convert Web content into a format accessible to 
people with disabilities.
     This first-of-its kind ASP provides an immediate solution
for Web publishers needing to comply with Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act.  Section 508 states that all Federal
agencies' electronic and information technology must be
accessible to people with disabilities by June 2001.  Faced with
the fast approaching accessibility deadline, one webmaster said
that the concept of an accessibility ASP service is the only way
to truly resolve the problem of Web and Internet accessibility
and is the only solution for a Website to become accessible and
to maintain that accessibility as new content is added.
     "Our goal is to create an application server environment
that performs personalization on-the-fly for people with
disabilities," said WebABLE founder and chief technology officer
Mike Paciello.  When any Web page is accessed through WebABLE's
Enhanced Accessibility Personalization System, that page is
automatically converted to a format that is accessible to people
with disabilities.  "The WebABLE service will allow government
agencies and businesses to dynamically deliver accessible content
to users with disabilities without having to re-create or
re-design their Websites, thus ensuring Section 508 compliance."  
 WebABLE plans to use Reef EveryWare as a core component of its
system.
     Over 50 million Americans today live with disabilities. 
Because of technological obstacles, many of these people are
blocked from information services and products provided through
the Web and Internet. Government agencies, businesses
and organizations that look for a presence in the global, digital
economy cannot afford to ignore the importance of e-
accessibility.
     WebABLE, through its new Enhanced Accessibility
Personalization System and its traditional consulting services,
addresses all e-accessibility challenges faced by a wide range of
industries from government agencies, banking and financial
services, to manufacturing and health care.


                          BULLETIN BOARD

                         by Keith Black 

     EASY-TO-READ DOCUMENTS - your one-stop source for braille
and large print!
     Do you need braille and/or large print business cards?  How
about brailled greeting cards?  Do you use clear plastic,
braillable self-adhesive cassette labels,or perhaps clear, self-
adhesive labels just right for floppy disks or anything else that
size?  Would you be interested in specialty cookbooks in either
braille or large print as a gift or for yourself?  Well, you now
have a source.  EASY-TO-READ DOCUMENTS can serve your needs.
     Do you need a printed document converted into either braille
or large print?  Do you, perhaps, have a need for a scanning
service?  Again, you now have a source.
     EASY-TO-READ DOCUMENTS does all these things and more.  ERD
produces braille and/or large print menus; Covenants, Conditions,
and Restrictions documents (CCRs); wills; rental agreements;
contracts; etc.
     I am a Library of Congress certified literary braille
transcriber.  Call ERD at 714-836-4993 for an estimate on your
project.  You can see us on the Web at
www.EasyToReadDocuments.com 

*****           *****          *****          *****
     Blindskills, Inc.  is the place you can count on to give you
the information you need about products and services that enhance
the lives of visually impaired citizens.  It's toll-free service
at 800-860-4224 can be called for information about products and
services available to visually impaired people.
     DIALOGUE, A World of Ideas for Visually Impaired People of
All Ages, is a quarterly magazine, written by visually impaired
authors who tell of their life's experiences at home, at work and
in their communities.  The "What's New and Where to Get It?"
column describes new products, publications, services and
computer-related information that are of interest to visually
impaired people and their families.  DIALOGUE readers renew their
subscriptions regularly because it is "entertaining,
informational and inspiring."  If you would like a free sample
copy in one of the following formats, call the toll-free number
and request one.  DIALOGUE is available in braille, 18-point
print, audiocassette, and IBM compatible computer diskette.
     If you or someone you know is just beginning to lose sight,
be sure to request a free copy of "Where Do I Go From Here?" a
cassette brochure designed to encourage persons who are beginning
to adjust to sight loss.  This cassette is paired with a print
brochure for family members or acquaintances of the person who is
learning to adapt life without full sight.
     Let the people at Blindskills, Inc.  assist you with the
information you need.  They can be reached at: Blindskills, Inc.,
P.O.  Box 5181, Salem, OR 9704-0181; 1-800-
860-4224; Fax: 503-581-0178; E-mail:  blindskl@teleport.com; Web
site: blindskills,.com  

*****         *****          *****           *****
     From The Matilda Ziegler Magazine, March 2001: Macular
Degeneration Organization.  Macular Degeneration International
(MDI) serves more than 8,000 members with age-related macular
degeneration through a toll-free telephone line, a resource
guide, a news journal and a Web site.  MDI holds free educational
seminars nationwide in cooperation with eye clinics and
ophthalmology centers, and it sponsors a bi-yearly low-vision
conference.  Also, MDI has a research fund and is helping to
recruit patients for many types of studies.  Annual membership
dues are $25.  Contact MDI, 6700 Oracle Road, Suite 505, Tucson,
AZ 85704; 800-393-7634, or 520-797-2525; (fax) 520-797-8018;
info@maculardegeneration.org; www.maculardegeneration.org.  
     From Dialogue Magazine, Spring, 2001: Travelin' Talk is a
global network of people with disabilities who have joined
together and formed a unique family of friends around the world. 
People who are involved share knowledge about hometowns or extend
a hand to other members while visiting or passing through.  Check
out the Travelin' Talk Web site at www.travelintalk.net or
contact Access Able Travel Source at http://www.access-able.com. 
     ErgoBraille combines a speech synthesizer and a grade two
braille notetaker.  It is one of the world's smallest braille
notetakers and has a great tactile feel.  Lightweight and battery
operated, ErgoBraille can store over 2000 note-style files in a
700K Power Safe internal flash ROM.  The editor instantly inserts
text at the cursor and automatically increases the file size as
needed.  There is no need to reserve pages for files.  A Speed
Braille mode for fast fingers eliminates chording errors.  The
device also includes a calculator function.  Price:  $995.  For
more information contact:  Dots-On Enterprises, 1901 N. Baylen
Street, Pensacola, FL 32501; 904-432-0893; Web site: 
http://www.artictech.com/htmTop.  
     Florida-based Broadcast Club of America, Inc. has combined
the concepts of old-time radio with books on tape to form a
company which produces dramas, sci-fi, classic World War II
sagas, and children's stories on CD's and tapes.  Check out the
Web site at www.broadcastclubofamerica.com.  For details on how
to submit your own material, link to "New Writers:  Script and
Song."  
     Now you can find audio versions of magazine articles on the
World Wide Web.  Assistive Media is an outreach audio literary
service for persons with visual impairments.  Through the Web
site at www.assistivemedia.org, visitors can access recordings of
articles from magazines like The New Yorker, Wired, and Atlantic
Monthly.  Tjhrough an on-line service, the audio recordings of
the literary works produced by Assistive Media are entirely free
of charge.  


                    2001 CCB AWARDS PRESENTED

         by Roger Petersen, Awards Committee Chairperson

     At the CCB Convention Banquet on April 21, the Awards
committee unveiled its 2001 CCB awards.
     The induction of Mack Riley, pioneer student organizer and
one-time president of the American Council of the Blind of
California, into the CCB Hall of Fame was not intended to be
posthumous; but, sadly, it turned out to be; for Mack lost his
battle with cancer on April 15, just days before the convention.
     A Humanitarian Award was presented to John Learned and Peter
Palmer for their service to CCB and other ACB affiliates,
bringing us financial stability through automobile donation
programs.
     A CCB Merit Award was presented to Connie Schoeman for her
long and loyal volunteer service as representative to various
committees and as Secretary. 
      Rahman was presented with the Community Service Award for
his tireless efforts to build bridges between the blindness
community and the community at large, whether in the recruitment
of volunteers for conventions or writing grants for community
transportation services.
     For the first time, the Legislator of the Year Award was
presented.  The recipient is Senator John Burton, who has been a
friend to the  California Council for many years in the state
legislature and has now become the sponsor of our Commission for
the Blind bill, SB105.
     The Distinguished Service Award was given to Al Gil, who has
been for more than forty years a mentor, teacher, counselor and
role model for the students at the Orientation Center for the
Blind and many other blind people.  He has always been willing 
to help when a job needed to be done within or outside the CCB.
     The CCB Publications Committee presented some awards, too,
which are described elsewhere in this issue of the Blind
Californian.
     I thank Gussie Morgan of Compton, Joe Smith of Sacramento
and John Lopez of Los Angeles for their service on the Awards
Committee these past four years.  I am especially grateful to
Bernice Kandarian, who, in addition to serving on the committee,
saw to the preparation of the award plaques.


                       BEST ARTICLES AWARDS

                          by Joan Black
                  Chair, Publications Committee
    
     Again this year, for the fourth time, the Publications
Committee went through the process of selecting the two best
articles written by blind Californians during the previous year. 
To be eligible, an article can be printed in any publication.  Up
to this point, however, all winning entries have first appeared
in The Blind Californian although several have subsequently been
reprinted in other magazines. 
     In the selection process, each committee member submits his
or her nominations.  Then the final decisions are made during a
telephone conference call. 
     Last year the committee decided to change the selection
criteria so that two awards would be given, one for the Best
Lifestyle Article and the other for the Best Issue Oriented
Article.  We felt that adding the issue oriented category would
encourage recognition for the people who write pieces that deal
with the ongoing efforts and goals of CCB.   
     This year a very nice thing happened.  Both winners are
producers of columns which appear regularly, proving that they
are consistent supporters of our magazine.  
     Brian Hall won the "Best Life Style Article Award" for "RICK
BOGGS, THE MAN AND HIS DOG" which appeared in  the Summer, 2000, 
issue as part of Hall's biography series. 
     Dan Kysor received the "Best Article Award" for his
Legislative Update Series.  Both selections were unanimous
committee choices; and, from the cheers and applause at the
awards presentation, they seemed to be "The People's Choice" as
well.
     So congratulations to Dan and Brian for their outstanding
efforts, and let's everybody keep writing! 
     And finally, a word of thanks and appreciation to Winifred
Downing for another year of dedication and effort that makes the
The Blind Californian the outstanding publication that it is.  

       
               SETTING SIGHTS ON GOOD JOBS, Part 2     

                         by Melanie Payne

     (Melanie Payne is a staff writer for the Sacramento Bee,
where this article appeared on January  28, 2001.  You will
remember that in Part 1, which appeared in the spring issue of
the BC, the work experiences of three different adults were
described--work experiences that exemplified many of the
employment problems faced by blind persons.  This second part of
the article focuses on approaches to solving some of the
problems.)
     It was a historic moment.  One night early this year over
wine and Chinese food, members of the National Federation of the
Blind of California and the members of the California Council of
the Blind set aside some 30 years of bickering to come together
for a cause.  They, along with other advocacy groups for the
blind, have formed the Blindness Alliance for Rehabilitation
Change.
     The alliance is going up against what they say is a
multimillion dollar bureaucracy--the Department of
Rehabilitation.  The alliance says the best way to serve the
state's estimated 600,000 blind and visually impaired people is
to stop lumping them in with other disabled people.  Instead they
recommend establishing a Commission for the Blind, an agency
specifically designed to meet the needs of the blind.  Alliance
members say that about 70 percent of working age blind people are
out of work despite the booming economy and the estimated $25
million a year that the Department of Rehabilitation spends on
services for the blind.  California's unemployment rate now
hovers about 3.2 percent.  
     The Department of Rehabilitation's mission is to assist
those with all types of disabilities in gaining employment and
becoming independent.  Critics say that, because the Department
isn't focused on the needs of the blind, it doesn't adequately
help the blind.  The 38-year-old department "clearly isn't
established for blind people," said Nancy Burns, President of the
National Federation of the Blind of California and former
counselor for the Department of Rehabilitation.
     "There are special needs and training that a blind person
needs to be independent," Burns said.  "But the 
department doesn't understand that," she said, "and it isn't
giving people the skills they need to be able to work."
     Erin Treadwell, a Department spokeswoman, said the
Department had no position on the commission and declined to
comment on it.  The Department's director, Catherine Campesi, who
moved into the position last year, was unavailable to comment
because of a busy schedule, Treadwell said.  Treadwell did,
however, elaborate on the changes under way at the Department of
Rehabilitation to address some of the blind community's concerns.
     In the last six months, Treadwell said, the Department hired
a new deputy director of specialized service who will oversee
services to the blind and deaf.  It is also reinstituting a
requirement that counselors for the blind and deaf exhibit
additional competency in order to serve blind and deaf clients. 
The Department, which has been understaffed, has launched a 
nationwide search for qualified rehabilitation counselors,
Treadwell added.  Critics contend, however, that this is too
little, too late.
     Nationwide, an estimated 70 percent of blind people of
working age are without jobs, a figure that has remained
unchanged despite record low unemployment levels for the sighted
population, according to statistics from the National Foundation
for the Blind.  In fiscal 1999-2000, the Department of
Rehabilitation placed in jobs roughly 323 people who were blind
or visually impaired, including 19 who were self-employed.  Ten
people in the Sacramento district got jobs with the assistance of
the Department of Rehabilitation.
     Bryan Bashin, Executive Director for the Society for the
Blind in Sacramento, is harshly critical of the job the
Department of Rehabilitation is doing to help the blind find
jobs.
     "California really lags behind," Bashin said. "If you live
in Texas and you're blind, you have seven times the chance of
getting a job as you do in California."  Bashin recognizes that
the Department has begun to change.  Still, he said, the system
needs "a fundamental, structural rebuilding."
     The unemployment rate for the blind and what activists see
as the failure of the Department to adequately address the
situation has galvanized support for a separate commission for
the blind.  The Department of Rehabilitation has "six layers of
bureaucracy" between the rehabilitation counselor and the
director, said Gil Johnson, director of the National Employment
Program for the American Foundation for the Blind.  By its own
admission, the Department of Rehabilitation is spending an
estimated $25 million annually on services for the blind.  It
successfully meets the rehabilitation goals for 1,240 of the
roughly 4,900 clients who use its services each year.  Of those
1,240, about 300, are placed in jobs.
     The Department's total budget is $444 million.  It spends
about $316 million on vocational rehabilitation.  According to
Johnson, the department has 70 rehabilitation counselors who work
with blind clients.  Half of those counselors provide job
services; the others work with clients on independent living
skills.  That means an average of four to five blind people were
placed in employment by each of the department's 70 counselors
last year, Johnson said.  The national average, he said, is 15. 
In addition, the average salary of a person placed in a job
through the Department of Rehabilitation is $350 a week.
     Oregon illustrates the flexibility of a commission for the
blind over an all-encompassing Department of Rehabilitation.  The
55-staff member commission for the Blind placed 114 blind people
in jobs last year with an average weekly salary of $423.  The
blind population in Oregon numbers about 70,000--about one-tenth
California's number of blind and severely visually impaired.  But
the Oregon Commission for the Blind placed in jobs one-third as
many as were placed by the Department of Rehabilitation.
     Frank Synoground, Assistant Director of Rehabilitation
Services for the Oregon Commission 
for the Blind and a former California resident, said that the
commission is "more consumer-driven" than a rehabilitation agency
that serves all disabilities.  Four of the seven commission board
members are blind, he said.  The administrator of the agency
serves "at the pleasure of the board," he said, rather than as a
political appointee.
     Yet, some critics say a small organization wouldn't be
practical in a state like California because it would duplicate
$25 million in administrative services that are already done by
the Department of Rehabilitation.  Even if that's true,
commission supporters argue, employed blind people would more
than make up for the money.  There are more than 100,000 blind
people of working age in the state who aren't paying taxes and
are collecting welfare, disability payments and other forms of
public assistance, said Bashin, who estimates those programs cost
taxpayers $10,000 a year per person.
     Dan Kysor, Director of Governmental Affairs for the
California Council of the Blind, is supporting a bill that would
set up a nine-member commission for the Blind--including at least
five blind or visually impaired members--in California.  He's
enlisted the support of state Sen. John Burton, who introduced
SB105, a Bill to establish a Commission for the Blind and
Visually Impaired.
     Burton said the Department of Rehabilitation "grossly under-
utilized the services of California's 30 community agencies that
serve the blind.  Although Kysor said he expects the majority of
legislators to support the bill, he expects resistance to come
from the governor's office.  A spokesman for the governor had no
comment on the commission bill since it was submitted only
recently and hadn't been reviewed yet.  


                     A POEM FOR THOSE OVER 30

                   Submitted by Patricia Price

A computer was something on TV
From a science fiction show of note
A window was something you hated to clean
And ram was the cousin of a goat.

Meg was the name of my girlfriend
And gig was a job for the nights
Now they all mean different things
And that really mega bytes.

An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano.

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And if you had a 3-in. floppy
You hoped nobody found out.

Compress was something you did to the garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for a while.

Log on was adding wood to the fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode.

Cut you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue 
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu.

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead.


                    COLLEGE ENTRANCE IN CHINA:
                      NO, TO THE HANDICAPPED

                      by Elisabeth Rosenthal

     (Taken from The New York Times, May 23, 2001,  via the
Internet.  
     Changsha, China: When Liu Wenxiu was growing up in central
Hunan province, she never thought of herself as disabled.  She
limped as a result of a misplaced injection when she was a
toddler, but she was smart and popular; that was who she was.  So
when she did well on China's tough college entrance exam, the shy
teenager felt confident setting her sights high: for Nanjing
University, where she hoped to study library science.  Her score
was among the top 150 in the province, well over the minimum
generally required at the prestigious school.

     But her hopes were shattered, as she was rejected not only
by Nanjing but also by all the colleges to which she had applied.
Most offered no explanation.  Her fallback application--to a
school of traditional medicine--said her scores were too high.
     "There is severe discrimination against disabled persons,"
said Ms. Liu, through tears, at the technical school where she
later enrolled with help from the Hunan Province Disabled Persons
Federation.  "And I feel that I have been refused not just by the
school but by society as well.  Before this I felt quite positive
about myself; everyone has imperfections, right?  Now I have lost
all self-confidence."
     Bias against people with disabilities runs deep in China,
where they often find themselves fighting cultural stigma,
deprived of both jobs and educational opportunities.  While China
has strict laws against discrimination, they are often undercut
by policies that allow schools and companies to reject candidates
whom they deem physically unsuitable.  This is a society where
want ads specify "young, tall and thin." 
     "The law stipulates that schools shouldn't reject these
students because they are disabled," said Zhou Chengsheng,
director of the Education and Employment Department of the
Disabled Peoples Association in Hunan province.  "But the schools
all emphasize `moral, intellectual and physical development,' and
they know these students are not physically perfect.  So they
turn them down."
     A recent editorial in The Peoples Daily implicitly
acknowledged the problem and said the State Council had vowed to
improve college access for the disabled in the next five years. 
But that will require a sea change: Beijing's dozens of
universities have altogether enrolled only 236 students with any
kind of disability in the last five years, a Beijing youth daily
reported.
     In some ways, the estimated 60 million disabled Chinese have
never had a stronger advocate: Deng Pufeng, the son of China's
late leader Deng Xiaoping, is the vocal and visible President of
Bhe ational Disabled Persons Federation.  He is paralyzed and
uses a wheelchair.

     The number of disabled children being educated rose to 77
percent last year.  And Mr. Deng has used his influence to push
through laws that require companies to hire a certain percentage
of disabled people.  Still, people with even minor disabilities
tend to be sequestered in low-paying jobs.  And official policy
is often contradictory.
     A 1994 regulation passed by the State Council says
universities "must admit disabled students who meet the state
enrollment standard and not reject them because of their
disability."  But ministry guidelines on the Physical Standard
for National Higher Education Enrollment, revised in April,
specifically and severely restrict educational options.
     For example, students whose legs have a difference in length
greater than two inches or who have a spinal curvature of more
than 1.6 inches are barred from a wide variety of majors,
including geology, marine science, civil engineering, forensic
medicine and veterinary science.  They are not even allowed to
sign up for short courses in cooking, sculpturing and
archaeology.  Those who cannot walk may not be enrolled in
education, diplomacy, law or journalism, the guidelines say.  On
top of that, the ministry gives each province wide leeway in
"deciding whether to enroll" based on "the demands of the major."
     Although university entrance is based largely on the results
of a national exam, universities have some discretion in
admissions.  After the exam, universities receive the files of
students who met their minimum scores (which vary from province
to province and year to year).
     The universities may turn away a small percentage of
candidates after reviewing those files, which contain a list of
physical defects.  And some administrators vigorously defend
their right to reject disabled students.  They note that a
university's reputation depends on its post-graduation employment
rates and that disabled students have a hard time finding jobs.
     "These days no college is willing to take a disabled
student," a vice president of a university in Hunan told The 
China Youth  Daily.  "Once a college gets one, the media will
publicize it, and then there will be more disabled students
applying next year.  Of course, the school should bear certain
social responsibilities, but it's not a welfare organization."
     And so, year after year, Mr.  Zhou, of the Hunan Disabled
Persons Federation, finds himself appealing to the universities
or to higher authorities on behalf of disabled students who have
been rejected.  He says almost all qualified students now do find
places, a great improvement from a decade ago.  But he
acknowledges that they are often at schools far below what their
test scores merit, or in a profession not of their choosing.  
     When Yuan Xin, 19, applied to southern China's most
prestigious medical school at Zhong Nan University, he got the
same response as Ms. Liu: silence.  He heard nothing from the
university through the summer and early fall.  He stayed behind
as his high school classmates headed to college.
     Mr.  Yuan, a skinny, slightly rumpled 19-year-old with thick
glasses, had one of the highest exam scores in the province, and
his dream was to be a doctor.  But he was born feet first and a
nerve was injured during delivery, leaving his right leg weak. 
He can run, but "gets tired quickly," and has a scarcely
noticeable limp.  Because of his limp, the medical college
contends that he is not suited to patient care.
     "We really take an interest in disabled people," said Zhou
Songqiu, Director of the Admissions Office.  "We are a medical
university so it is our responsibility to take care of the weak."
     But, he added, the university "decided that it was not
convenient for him to work in clinical medicine, which requires
standing for operations and running to emergencies and things
like that."
     After lobbying by the provincial Disabled Persons
Federation, the university agreed to admit Mr. Yuan, but they
assigned him to a program in laboratory research.
     Interviewed in a conference room with university officials,
Mr. Yuan said he was initially disappointed but had come to
accept the decision.  "My physical condition is not bad for me,
but I see now it's not fair to patients," he said.
     After Ms. Liu was rejected everywhere, she applied to
another university program.  the provincial Disabled Persons
Federation helped her secure a spot studying accounting at the
Hunan Advanced Specialized School of Finance and Economics, a
junior college where teachers and administrators have shown a
strong commitment to helping poor and disabled students, Mr. Zhou
said.
     They have supported her through bouts of depression and
coaxed her back when she recently tried to drop out.  "I thought:
What's the point of studying if I have to face the same treatment
when looking for a job?" Ms. Liu said. 
     In an interview, an admissions official at Nanjing
University, who would give only his surname, Zhao, defended the
decision to reject Ms. Liu, saying she had been turned down
because her score, 594, was one point below last year's cutoff. 
Statistics from the university for last year are not publicly
available yet, but its cut-off for liberal arts students from
Hunan in 1999 was 557.
     In any case, Mr. Zhao defended the university's right to
base admission on the Ministry of Education's physical standards
as well as scores.  "We look into each case and decide according
to the situation," he said.


              REPORT FROM THE MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE 

                   by Rhonda King, Chairperson

     The meeting of the Membership Committee, held on Saturday,
April 21, at the spring convention in Sacramento, was well
attended;  and everybody was enthusiastic and had some valuable
input.  To ensure adequate time to cover all the business that
was scheduled, the meeting was expanded by a half hour.  This
extra thirty minutes was definitely needed and every minute was
utilized, too.  
     We were able to touch on all the interesting items on the
agenda except one that will be taken up with committee members in
a telephone conference as soon as it can be arranged.  
     The first item discussed was the revision of the "Guidelines
for Organization" handbook which will be ready for publication
later this year.  It will be a valuable tool for chapters and
affiliates to use in organizing and building membership,
supplying them with general guidelines on fundraising, conducting
meetings, engaging speakers, advocacy, the legislative process,
and matters relating to constitutions and bylaws.  The handbook
will also be useful in organizing new chapters and special-
interest affiliates within CCB.  It lays out the necessary steps
involved.
     Secondly, we decided that we would put together a chapter
directory containing the names of chapters and affiliates and the
location, date and time of their meetings.  We will also include
the name of the chapter president, address, phone number, E-Mail
address, and/or fax number.  This will make chapters more
accessible and easier to contact.   
     The third item was the development of a membership handbook. 
It will be smaller than the handbook previously described but a
bit larger with more information than the CCB brochure.  The
mission statement of the California Council of the Blind and
lists of all the chapters, special-interest affiliates, and
committees will be in that publication.  We are just beginning to 
work on an outline for this project so it may well have other
features.  We are all looking forward to seeing the completed 
product. 
     We discussed the possibility of having an introductory gift
for new members.  This will be our special thanks to those
who have chosen CCB as their organization.  The special
introductory gift will be a keychain, which will bear the CCB
motto, "We have a different vision.  We hope to have the
keychains purchased and available by next year.  We would like to
have the CCB Brochure, the membership handbook and keychain
packaged together and given to all new members.  
     The last item that was discussed is also the most wonderful. 
The committee members have been working on ideas for rewarding
our chapters for the work they do in building their membership. 
Two recommendations were voted upon and were presented to the
convention general session on Sunday for final approval.  Both
recommendations were approved.  
     There will be two monetary awards, $50 presented at each
fall convention beginning this year to the chapter that increases
its membership by the highest percentage between the spring and
fall conventions and $50 at the spring convention to the chapter
with the highest total increase during the previous year.  In the
spring of 2002, for instance, the winning chapter's increase will
be based on this year, 2001.  
     The most valuable award will be the Chapter of the Year. 
This award will be in recognition of the chapter as a group. 
Projects that have a significant effect, either on individuals or
on a local matter, as long as it is performed by many members in
the chapter, will be recognized as a group effort.  Chapters will
send a letter to the membership committee for review, outlining
their group functions; and members of the committee will
determine which chapter has done the most significant work for
that year.  A plaque will be placed in the CCB office, and each
year the winning chapter's name will be added to this plaque. 
That chapter will receive a framed certificate that can be held, 
 displayed, and passed to each succeeding president. 
     I want to encourage our chapters and affiliates to remember
that it is our members who make CCB the valuable organization it
is and to recognize members' contributions.  Each one of us has
an area in which he or she has particular ability, and we should
praise our members for what they do.  We must remember, too, that
not all members have the desire to be in the forefront but will
be strong supporters for those who do.  So, to all of you, keep
up the good work.  
     I want to thank those who attended the meeting for their
ideas and for their support of our membership efforts.  I also
want to thank the committee members; see what we can accomplish
as a group!    


        THE TALKING RX: YOUR PERSONAL TALKING PRESCRIPTION

                   submitted by Patricia Price

     (From Vision Enhancement, Volume 6, No. 1, 2001)
     The Talking Rx TM  Tells the Blind and Vision-Impaired How
to Take Prescriptions.
     Millennium Compliance Corporation of Southington, CT. has
launched a new product designed specifically to help people take
their medications correctly.  Created by a pharmacist, the
Talking Rx attaches to the bottom of a standard prescription
bottle and has an audio chip inside.  Simply touch the only
button (red) on the outside of the unit and listen to the
instructions.  The Talking Rx is a self-contained, easy-to-use 
device requiring no up-front investment in software, readers or
other hardware.  It is only 1.5 inches high and retails for
$19.95. 
     This product is ideal for the vision-impaired, seniors and
for those for whom English is a second language.  Users simply
push the red button, listen and follow the pharmacist's or
physician's instructions.  The instructions (up to sixty seconds)
cover what the medication is for, when to take it, how to take it
and possible side effects.  
     The sound quality of the device is clear and audible with
playback at 80-85 decibels.  It should be held at least 3 inches
from the ear.  Instructions can also be given in an individual's
native language, thereby minimizing confusion and misuse of
medications.  After a prescription is finished, the same Talking
Rx device can be used for a different prescription. 
     The improper use of medications (non-compliance) accounts
for $76.6 billion a year of expenses and unnecessary hospital
admissions.  It is a huge problem in the United States; the
Talking Rx was designed specifically to help.  John Dobbins, a
licensed pharmacist for over 20 years, thought of the idea after
listening to talking greeting cards.  He had a Spanish-speaking
customer who couldn't understand how to take his medications. 
the Talking Rx was the solution. 
     Elderly consumers taking multiple medications represent the
largest group of people that can benefit from the Talking Rx. 
The elderly not only use 1/3 of all prescription medications, but
at least 40% of all over-the-counter medications used annually. 
The potential for drug-related adverse events based on the number
alone is further increased by changes in pharmacokinetics and
pharmacodynamics.  98,000 die in hospital a year as a result of
mistakes in taking medications.  That is more that auto
accidents, breast cancer and AIDs.  
     The Talking Rx is particularly useful for consumers taking
medications such as Coumadin, an anticoagulant medication that
require strict adherence to instructions.  Coumadin and other
"Narrow Therapeutic Index Medications" can cause adverse drug
events if not taken properly. 
     "Some of the greatest problems seen in elderly self-care,
often leading to the need for their hospitalization, can be
traced to an individual's inability to comply with the prescribed
medication regimen.  Over and under self-medication are common
problems that often lead to dire consequences.  The Talking Rx
offers an accurate and easy-to-use solution to this serious
problem," explains David McKinnon, RN, Supervisor of Total
Quality Improvement, Visiting Nurse Assoc. of Central Conn., Inc.
     The patented and portable Talking Rx uses 3 readily
available watch batteries, is water-resistant and is
ultrasonically welded for security. The message can be changed at
the point of service, rather than through the mail, which means
caregivers in the home can even change the message.
     Millennium Compliance Corporation has four founding partners
with wealth of business expertise:  President and Inventor John
C. Dobbins, a 20-years pharmacist; Secretary Dr. John Dagianis,
an ophthalmologist, eye surgeon and founder of Nashua Eye
Association; Paul J. Dobbins, Chairman of the Board and
mechanical engineer and VP of Operations; Gary Smith, a biotech
engineer.  For more information about the Talking Rx or to learn
about the device, go to the website at www.talkingrx.com or
contact John Dobbins at 860-426-0542.  Mailing address: 
Millennium Compliance Corporation P.O. Box 649, Southington, CT
06489.

     Responding to the many inquiries I have received following
my announcement of this unique device, I am pleased to report
that I have inspected it and found it to be "as advertised."  In
fact, its features and benefits are quite impressive.  Its cost
is certainly affordable at just $19.95!
     For your information, I am listing a few of its features and
benefits I believe consumers with vision loss will find
interesting and useful.

     (From Pat Price; Note: F. means Feature; B. means Benefit.) 
     F.  Opening accommodates 13 and 16 dram medication
containers.  B.  Fits the most popular medication container
sizes.
     F.  Rubber O-ring in opening holds medication container in
place.  B.  Creates tight, water-resistant seal between
medication container and the device, reducing likelihood of
device disconnecting from medication container.
     F.  Recessed recording button and microphone.  B.  Prevents
message from being erased accidentally; easy for encoder of
instructions to operate.
     F.  Voice playback operated by slightly raised external
button.  B.  Allows visually impaired to quickly find playback
button; easy for user to operate.
     F.  Message plays for up to 60 seconds.  B.  Provides ample
time for pharmacist to record instructions.
     F.  Voice playback at 80-85 decibels.  B.  Provides
instructions that are clear and audible.
     F.  Operates on three readily available watch batteries.  B.
Allows for fast replacement of batteries.
     F.  One year warranty. B.  Assures replacement of a damaged
or defective unit.
     F.  Water resistant.  B.  Allows device to function in the
event of minor water exposure.
     F.  Ultrasonically welded.  B.  Provides security for
internal parts.
     There is now a vendor from whom the device can be ordered:
Vision Dynamics, 470 W. Main St., Cheshire, CT 02410; 203-271-
1944.  Vision Dynamis, 


           SUMMARY OF THE SPRING, 2001 CCB RESOLUTIONS

                           by Jeff Thom

     Let me thank the members of the Resolutions Committee who
were, as usual, of such great assistance: Winifred Downing, Ken
metz, Peggy Martinez, Charles Nabarrete, and Beverly Hammer. 
     The convention acted upon nine resolutions and all were
adopted. 
     Resolution 2001a-1 urged the California Department of
Transportation to establish a California Audible Pedestrian Task
Force. 
     Resolutions 2001a-2 and 2001a-3 expressed the organization's
appreciation to the convention volunteers and the Arden West
Hilton Hotel Staff, respectively. 
     Resolution 2001a-4 provided that CCB will seek the
introduction of legislation to increase dormitory counselor
salaries at the California School for the Blind. 
     Resolution 2001a-5 urged the Federal Communications
Commission to fight to uphold its video description regulations
against the lawsuit sponsored by the National Federation of the
Blind and other groups and provided that this organization take
appropriate steps to show its support for these regulations. 
     Resolution 2001a-6 provided that this organization seek the
introduction of legislation that will include reading as a
benefit  under the In-Home Supportive Services Program.     
Resolution 2001a-7 urged the State Department of Education to
allow its education consultant to either serve on the newly
appointed task force on issues relating to visually impaired
students or be a liaison to the task force.
     Resolution 2001a-8 urged the California Department of
Transportation and local Public Works Departments to cease
installing street crossings that are delineated in brick or other
unit paving materials, except under limited circumstances.
     Resolution 2001a-9 urged the American Council of the Blind
to oppose the proposed Unified Braille Code unless major changes
are made and to take specified actions in that regard.


                       FEDERAL LEGISLATION

                            by  Rahman

     Expanding Medicare Coverage:  Under current law, the
specialized training essential to the rehabilitation of people
whose functional ability is impaired by vision loss in not
covered by Medicare, while similar training for people whose
functional ability is affected by another physical disability,
such as stroke, is covered.  Further, Medicare provides
reimbursement for the cost of durable medical equipment and
prosthetic devices used by persons with a variety of physical
disabilities but does not allow reimbursement for similar items
of use to beneficiaries who are blind.  For the newly blind
person, access to equipment such as white canes and magnifiers
and to basic rehabilitation services such as training in spatial
orientation and independent travel, daily living skills and the
use of optical devices, can enhance that person's safety,
independence and quality of life.
     We support legislation amending Title XVIII of the Social
Security Act to provide Medicare reimbursement for rehabilitation
services and durable medical equipment needed by the blind. 
Services should include instruction by orientation and mobility
specialists, rehabilitation teachers, and assistance from low
vision therapists.  Equipment should be defined in a manner which
ensures that, to the maximum extent possible, individuals would
have access to the devices necessary for their rehabilitation.  
     Statutory Definition of Legal Blindness:  Under current law,
the Social Security Administration (SSA) is required to evaluate
claims for disability benefits using a definiiton of legal
blindness found in statute.  This definition requires specific
diminution in one's visual field, which is determined primarily,
if not exclusively, by using a procedure called manual perimetry,
or the Goldmann perimeter.  For a number of years now
optometrists have been moving toward another standard for visual
field testing, automated perimeter.  These two technologies do
not always give comparable results.  The Social Security
Administration has engaged researchers and held meetings with
advocacy groups and medical professionals to address the impact
of this changing technology on the ability to accurately evaluate
the disabilities of claimants seeking benefits under the
statutory blindness definition, which reflects changes in
technology, while others have suggested more sweeping changes. 
It is noteworthy that many government programs rely on the
definition of blindness used by the Social Security
Administration in establishing their own eligibility criteria. 
Substantial changes in this definition, therefore, could impact
programs and services for the blind nationwide.  A much narrower
definiton, for example, may result in denial of disability
benefits to individuals who should qualify because of severe
vision loss, while a broader definition could extend the criteria
established in the Listings to many individuals who might not be
considered statutorily blind under the current definition,
thereby diluting already scarce resources to persons currently
defined as blind.
     We urge Congress to give careful scrutiny to any proposed
changes in the statutory definition of legal blindness in order
to ensure that the Social Security Administration has the ability
to update its Listings to reflect current advances in measurment
technology without altering the intent of the statute to extend
benefits and services to Americans facing severe vision loss.  We
support a standard of no more than 10 percent of normal vision as
measured either in central or peripheral vision with best
correction in the better eye.


                          CCB OFFICERS, 

     (Editor's note: We are indebted to Bernice Kandarian who
updated and corrected the list of CCB officers and board members, 
cluding the number of the term each is presently serving and the
years covered by that term.  We shall publish the list this way
at least in issues just preceding and following elections and
routinely if members wish.)  

President, Catherine Skivers (00-02, 3rd term)
     836 Resota Street 
     Hayward, CA 94545
     510 357-1986
     e-mail ccotb@earthlink.net
1st Vice President, Jeff Thom (00-01, 1st term)
     7414 Mooncrest Drive
     Sacramento, CA 95831
     916 429-8201
     e-mail jeff.thom@lc.ca.gov
2nd Vice President, Teddie Remhild (00-01 partial term) 
     1100 W. Olive Ave., #220
     Burbank, CA 91506
     e-mail teddieremhild@earthlink.net 
Secretary, Kenneth Frasse (99-01, 4th term)
     141 Del Medio Avenue, #223
     Mountain View, CA 94040
     650 941-2421
     e-mail kfrasse@concentric.net
Treasurer, Peter Pardini (00-02, 1st term) 
     267 Cardinal Road
     Mill Valley, CA 94941
     415-381-9211
     peterpar@pacbell.net
Past President, Mitch Pomerantz
     1344 North Martel Avenue
     Los Angeles, CA 90046
     323 851-5148



             CCB BOARD OF DIRECTORS, January 1, 2000

Al Biegler, (99-01, 1st term)               
     819 Colusa Street
     Chico, CA 95928-4116
     530 893-8840
     e-mail albiegler1@juno.com
Martin Jones (99-01, 3rd term)
     730730 Victoria 
     San  Sa   San Francisco, CA 94127
     415 469-8048
Jane Kardas (99-01, 1st term) 
     rm)810 Maple Street
     Ukiah, CA 95482
     707 468-5510
Rhonda Marshall King (00-02, 2nd term) 
     6426 Greenback Lane
     Citrus Heights, CA 95621
     916 722-7337
Barbara Kron (00-02, 1st term), 
     May-November: 8304 Blue Spruce Way, 
     Windsor, CA 95492 
     707-838-9207 
     November-'Apri\, Box 13010, No. 323 
     Yuma, AZ 85366; 
     520-539-1323 
     e-mail badkron@aol.com 

Eugene Lozano, Jr. (99-01, 2nd term)
     3701 Whitney Avenue
     Sacramento, CA 95821
     916 485-8307
          e-mail lozanoe@csus.edu
Peggy Martinez (99-01, 1st term)
     2510 Cropley Way
     Arcata, CA 95521707 822-3122
e-mai     e-maill pegmar1@earthlink.net
 Rahman (00-02, 2nd term)
     t term19616 Leapwood Avenue
     Carson, CA 90746
     310 327-0463   
Barbara Rhodes, (00-02, 1st term) 
     6396 Tamalpais Ave., 
     San Jose, CA 95120 
     408-268-2110; 
     e-mail brhodes@pacbell.net

                   CCB PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

Joan Black, Chair: 4925 Coke Ave., Lakewood, CA 90712; 
     562-630-2304
Bernice Kandarian, Vice Chair:  2211 Latham St. #120, Mountain   
    View, CA 94040; 650-969-1688
Winifred Downing: 1587 38th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94122; 
     415-564-5798
Brian Hall: 5722 Abraham Ave., Westminster, CA 92683; 
     714-894-3497 
Maria Lopez: 3925 E. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90023; 213-268-4526
Daveed Mandell: 1921 Francisco, #7A, Berkeley, CA 94709-2105; 
     510-665-9260
Teddie Remhild: 1100 W. Olive, #220, Burbank, CA; 818-848-2475
Catherine Schmitt: 1356 B South, Diamond Bar Boulevard, Diamond
     Bar, CA 91765 909-861-2931
Connie Skeen: 3250 Maple Ave., Oakland, CA 94602; 
     510-532-7687
Dorothy Vallerga: 15361 Norton, San Leandro, CA; 94579; 
     510-352-0522
