Table of Content
Contact Information
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
TAKING TO THE STREETS
CHICAGO TRANSIT GETS A REPRIEVE?
I KNOW WHAT FREEDOM IS
NEWS FROM THE BLACKHAWK CHAPTER
CHICAGO CHAPTER REPORT
NOTES FROM FOUR RIVERS
KANKAKEE HEARTLAND NEWS
MEET A FELLOW
FEDERATIONIST - DEBBIE STEIN
Please note the changes in contact information.
Contact Information
President: Lois Montgomery, (309)762-NFBI (6324),
LMM3527@aol.com
Editor: Connie Davis,
condav850@sbcglobal.net, (773) 338-6922
Co-Editor: Deborah Kent Stein, (773) 631-1093,
dkent5817@worldnet.att.net
Print & Cassette Subscriptions: Carmen Dennis, (773) 583-0899,
carmen88@comcast.net.
E-mail & Braille subscriptions: Catalina Martinez, (773) 761-8430,
cattris60@sbcglobal.net
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
by Lois Montgomery
As I write this, several other Illinois Federationists and I have
just returned from Washington, D.C., where we participated in a rally
to save Vocational Rehabilitation Services throughout the country.
Federationists were there in force, along with representatives from
44 other organizations who joined in our cause. It would have been
next to impossible for Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings not
to take note. If any of you haven't written or made calls to
Margaret Spellings and your legislators, I strongly urge you to do so
immediately.
The proposed restructuring of RSA (Rehabilitation Services
Administration) is an issue that affects each and every one of us.
Let's jam the phone circuit and overwhelm them with e-mails. This is
just the beginning. Much hard work lies ahead.
Earlier this spring I hit the road to visit chapters throughout the
state. In early March I enjoyed a morning with members of the
Kankakee Heartland Chapter, attending their election meeting. April
found me in Jacksonville among the Ferris Wheel members. Several
weeks ago I attended Chicago's May membership tea and chapter
meeting.
I met a group of Federationists in Springfield in April to attend a
hearing about funding of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)..
National convention will soon be here. Once again we will gather in
Louisville, Kentucky for a week of excitement, fun, fellowship, and
good old southern hospitality. Remember, the Illinois Caucus will
convene on Tuesday, July 5, at 8:00 A.M.
Two blind Illinoisans deserve special recognition in this
newsletter. Lori Brown, a member of the Blackhawk Chapter, will
attend her first national convention this summer as an NFB
scholarship finalist. Congratulations Lori! Lindsay Upschulte, from
Sparta, Illinois, has once again walked away with top honors in the
Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest. Lindsay read over 22,000 pages
to take first place in her age bracket.
The next NFB of Illinois board meeting is scheduled for Saturday,
August 20. It will be held at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in
Rock Island, the site of our 2005 convention. Plans are moving along
smoothly.
I am here to serve you. Please feel free to contact me with any
questions, suggestions, or comments at:
E-mail: Lmm3527@aol.com
Phone: (309) 762-6324
Mail: 3527-12th Avenue
Moline, IL 61265
TAKING TO THE STREETS
By Brian Johnson
As most Federationists know by now, the federal government is
proposing to dismantle the rehabilitation system as we know it. Plans
are underway to shut down Rehabilitation Services Administration
(RSA) regional centers by October 1, thus radically limiting federal
monitoring of state rehabilitation agencies. Furthermore, under the
new plans federal rehab money will be allocated to the states within
general block grants.
These changes will have a devastating impact on all people with
disabilities, including the blind. Among the programs that will be
most severely affected is the vending program, the largest single
employer of blind people in the country. In addition, cuts will
eliminate many jobs within the rehab system, which are now held by
disabled people. Across the board, the changes to the rehab system
will reduce employment opportunities for all of us. They will, in fact,
cut us off at the pockets.
Since shortly after World War II, the federal government has sent money to the
states each year to provide rehabilitation services. The rehabilitation system
is currently administered under the Department of Education. When operated
correctly, rehabilitation programs can put blind and disabled people back to
work, or into employment for the first time. Under the current formula, the
federal government meets about 80 per cent of the rehab costs per person, and
the states
provide about 20 per cent. It is this longstanding rehabilitation structure,
which the current administration in Washington intends to dismantle.
On Wednesday, May 26, 2005, six Illinois Federationists walked the
corridors of Capitol Hill. We visited as many members of Congress as we could,
in one day; explaining our concerns and asking for their
support. The following morning, we joined a rally in front of the headquarters
of the Department of Education. We carried signs and chanted such slogans as,
"Every time you hear this song, Blind and disabled can't be wrong!"; "the
disabled know our rights!"; and, "2
4 6 8, Hedger's plan is a big mistake!" (John Hedger is the assistant secretary
of the Department of Education.)
This rally made history. For the first time, representatives from more than
forty groups gathered with us to demonstrate for a common cause. These groups
included agencies serving the blind and people with disabilities, and consumer
organizations of blind and disabled people. We marched together to keep our
federal rehabilitation programs intact. But make no mistake, one thing has not
changed. The National Federation of the Blind spearheaded, planned and found
co-sponsors for this rally. We were in the forefront of this entire effort.
This was only the beginning. "We'll be back!", we said at the end of
the demonstration. And we will, until our rehab programs are safe.
We always say that it really means something to be a member of the
National Federation of the Blind. This is just one more example of
why we say, "We know who we are, we know what our rights are, and we
will never go back!"
CHICAGO TRANSIT GETS A REPRIEVE?
By Brian Johnson
On Sunday, May 29, the State of Illinois passed a budget which,
legislators claim, will prevent service cuts and fare increases for
Chicago Transit riders - at least for the time being. The money to
rescue mass transit comes from deferred payments in pension plans for
state workers, including University of Illinois employees. Basically
the state has opted to postpone a debt payment that will increase
over time, so this solution probably isn't regarded by anybody as
wonderful news. However, the state says we can ride on our transit
system for the time being without service reductions or fare
increases. Allegedly the state is forcing the Chicago Transit
Authority (CTA) to sign an addendum saying it absolutely will not
cut service or raise fares if it gets new money.
As you know, the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois was and
will continue to be a leader in the effort to save CTA. As time goes
by we'll see how this drama unfolds.
I KNOW WHAT FREEDOM IS
By Connie J. Davis
For years I have struggled with my own identity. Was I blind or was
I sighted? On one hand, blind people sometimes asked me to read
things to them that were written in print. On the other hand the
same people told me I should use a cane. This is a dilemma faced by
many of us who have partial vision. You aren't totally blind and you
certainly aren't sighted. The situation can be confusing for the
sighted public, as well. How does the public understand someone who
has some usable vision but uses a cane, a magnifier, a monocular, a
CCTV, and screen enlargement for her computer?
In my family, as state president Lois Montgomery mentioned in the last edition's
"Meet A Federationist" article, we never said the word "blind." I was always
described as
"visually handicapped." It wasn't until I was twenty-three that I
heard the term "legally blind." I felt as though someone had hit me
in the stomach. I mentioned it to my mom. Her response was, "I
thought you knew." Wow! I finally decided that no matter what the
terminology, I couldn't see well, and it didn't change who I was.
In 1980, my then boyfriend bought me my first cane at the National
Center for the Blind. I used it for a little while, just to get him
to stop nagging me. Upon his suggestion, I even took it to my parents'
house one day. My parents told me I was not to use my cane, and that
I had to leave it in the garage.
After I moved to Chicago, several people encouraged me to use a cane.
Again I tried it, partly to obtain acceptance in the NFB community.
In 1985 a mobility instructor and NFB member, Sharon Duffy, taught
me, under sleep shades, how to use a cane correctly. Nevertheless, I
gave it up because I felt it was embarrassing and I got tired of
people grabbing me on the bus. In 1997 I developed cataracts. By
the time the cataracts had "ripened" in 2002, I was having increasing problems
with
my vision. Again I thought about using a cane. However, I had the
surgery and decided that I didn't need the cane after all.
Recently my life has undergone some drastic changes. I have to travel
more frequently. I found I couldn't fake being fully sighted, the
way I did when I didn't have to take CTA so often. I mentioned to my
friend Catalina Martinez, an active NFB member, that I was thinking
about using a cane. Cat very wisely did not push. She said I would
do it when I was ready.
About a month ago, I finally decided to use a cane. With the
exception of two occasions, I haven't been without it since. On one
of those occasions, when I had my cane folded, I took a nasty fall in
the street. I broke my sunglasses, skinned and bruised my face, and
sprained my wrist. My friend, fellow Federationist Jim O'Neill, said
he was thankful I wasn't more badly hurt.
Many of my friends and colleagues in the Federation have inspired me
by sharing their experiences of becoming cane travelers. NFBI
President Lois Montgomery has described her painful struggle to start
using a cane in public. Federationist Carmen Dennis tells the story of a bus
driver
who asked her if she was blind or drunk when she asked what she bus she was
boarding. Although, the one person who has probably most influenced me is Kate
Mayer.
These people and many others travel with an ease and confidence that I greatly
admire. Now I am starting to discover what they already knew. I am truly
independent for the first time in my life. I don't have to pretend to see bus
signs. Bus drivers and
other people don't look at me strangely when I use my half-fare pass.
I can use my magnifier and monocular in public without feeling
self-conscious. I am finding out that the sighted public really can
be nice when I need help. Because I travel with greater confidence,
for the most part people don't grab me on buses anymore.
I'm not going to pretend it is always easy. There are some days when
I don't want to use my cane. I still don't like people who live in
my building to see me with it. However, I make myself take my cane
with me whenever I go out, and my neighbors have been more accepting
than I expected. I actually had the chance to educate one of them
when he asked me about my cane. When I explained how it works, in
logical terms, he thought it made sense.
One day while I was traveling on a CTA train a woman came up and
spoke to me. She had noticed my white cane. She said she was
experiencing some vision loss and asked if I would call her. I had
never thought about the fact that my carrying a white cane might help
someone else. Not long ago I found myself urging a partially sighted
friend to use a cane for her own safety!
I'm carrying a cane now for all the right reasons. I'm not trying to
appease or impress anyone else. I am doing it for me.
NEWS FROM THE BLACKHAWK CHAPTER
By Robert Gardner
The NFBI Blackhawk Chapter holds its monthly meetings the second
Saturday of each month at 1:30 p.m. Our meeting place is the South
Moline Township Center located at 637-17th Avenue, East Moline.
Last year, our chapter was awarded a grant to establish a "cane
bank." This enabled us to purchase long white canes for free
distribution, and also to plan a mobility training seminar. Canes of
various sizes and styles have been passed out to persons ranging in
age from teens to those in their eighties. The chapter continues to
look for those committed to using the long white cane who could
benefit from the cane bank. Kate Mayer from the Chicago Chapter will
give a travel-training seminar in the use of the white cane at our
Blackhawk Chapter meeting on Saturday, June 11.
We will again take part in the "Birdies for Charity" fundraiser
associated with the John Deere Golf Tournament in July. This is
usually our largest fundraiser of the year. This is an opportunity
for chapter members to educate the public about blindness-related
issues and to share the NFB philosophy.
Our chapter currently has several raffles in progress as additional
fundraisers. Two hand-crocheted afghans will be raffled off, one
winner drawn at our chapter picnic in August and the other at our
Christmas party in December. We are also raffling a Telex Scholar CD
player. The CD player is designed to be accessible to the blind,
will play all music CDs, and will also play the new Daisy format
electronic books. The winner of the CD player will be drawn at our
NFBI state convention in November. Everyone is eligible to win, so
be sure to buy plenty of tickets. You will not have to be present at
the drawings.
As usual, the chapter will host a swim party at the home of Lois and
Russ Montgomery on Saturday, July 16. This will take the place of
our regular July chapter meeting. We will have our annual chapter
picnic on Saturday, August 13. Again, that will take the place of
our regular August chapter meeting. NFBI members, family, and
friends are welcome to attend these two events.
The NFBI Blackhawk Chapter publishes a monthly newsletter called
"Hawk Talk." The newsletter is available on the IL-Talk listserv and
on the NFBI website. It can also be sent by e-mail or snail mail to
anyone who wishes to receive it. We are the blind speaking for the
blind, and are changing what it means to be blind in the Quad Cities
and northwestern Illinois.
CHICAGO CHAPTER REPORT
By Brian Johnson
On April 16th the Chicago Chapter held its annual election. The
newly elected officers and board members are: President, Brian
Johnson; First Vice President, Joe Monti; Second Vice President,
Anthony Thomas; Secretary, David Meyer; Treasurer, Kate Mayer; and
board members Bruce Paul, Carmen Dennis, Debbie Stein and Debbie
Pittman. As always, we are fortunate to have more leaders than
leadership positions, so changes to our board are not unusual.
At our April and May meetings we have had considerable discussion
about rehabilitation and the future of our transit system. On May
14th we held our semi-annual membership reception. Our attendance
was good; more than 40 people were present. President Montgomery was
also with us.
Our next meeting will be August 13th at Exchequer Pub, 226 South
Wabash in Chicago. We will begin at 1:30 PM and all are welcome to
join us.
NOTES FROM FOUR RIVERS
By Annette Grove
The Four Rivers Chapter has a busy summer ahead. Several of our
members will be attending the convention in Louisville. They will
return to give a full report to the membership at our July 9th
meeting. We are scheduled to make an appearance on a local talk
radio show the following week. This appearance is a fine opportunity
for us to spread information as we entertain questions from the
community.
We have begun a tradition of highlighting the talents and vocations
of individual members during regular meeting sessions. Last month
former president Brian Sumner gave an enthusiastic and interesting
presentation about his eleven-year career as a transporter at
Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Next month we will
hear from Roberta Noble about her work in the healing arts. We'd
love to showcase others of you, so if you have a talent or story
you're willing to share, give me a call and we'll put you on the
agenda.
Our September meeting will feature the annual Potluck Picnic and
White Elephant Sale. You don't have to be one - just bring one. We
meet under a spacious pavilion at a beautiful park in Fairview
Heights, so there's plenty of room for those elephants to parade in
the shade or preen on the green. The event starts at noon and lasts
until the elephants have devoured the food and are safely stowed in
someone else's trunk. We'd love to have guests from other chapters,
so give us a call and we'll provide directions or arrange a pickup at
a local bus stop.
In order to hold our Ride-a-thon in conjunction with Meet the Blind
Month, we have moved the date from July to October. We have high
hopes that the two NFB chapters in St. Louis will co-sponsor the
event with us. Many of you from other chapters have expressed
regrets that you couldn't participate, due to busy summer schedules.
This change will give you the opportunity to join us after all.
Our chapter meets on the second Saturday of each month in the
community room of the Belleville Public Library at East Washington
and South Church Streets in downtown Belleville. We meet at 12:30
and usually spend at least a couple of hours together. Questions can
be directed to Paullette Buetner at (618) 234-0367.
KANKAKEE HEARTLAND NEWS
By Bryan Turner
The Kankakee Heartland Chapter of the NFBI will hold a fundraiser on
June 17 at the Bradley WAL-MART from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. We expect
this to be a busy day, as it is the Friday before Father's Day. This
year we will sell a trail-mix consisting of dried fruits. We will
also distribute information on the NFB, Braille alphabet cards,
copies of Voice of the Diabetic, and information on Newsline. To find
out more, contact: Bryan Turner, President of the Kankakee Heartland
Chapter of the NFBI at: (815) 939-7386
MEET A FELLOW
FEDERATIONIST - DEBBIE STEIN
By Robert Gardner
Debbie Stein, then Debbie Kent, sat waiting with her friends for a
pizza to be delivered. They were in the village of San Miguel de
Allende, 180 miles north of Mexico City. The year was 1975, and
Debbie was on a summer vacation, taking classes at the Instituto
Allende. One of her new friends asked when she was leaving for the
States. "I have to go back on Sunday," Debbie answered.
The friend asked, "Why?"
"Well," Debbie said, "you know - I have a job, an apartment,
commitments. I have to go back."
"Why?" the friend repeated.
Debbie searched within herself for a fateful 45 minutes, as she
waited for the pizza. She enjoyed her job as a social worker back in
New York City, a job she'd struggled to obtain. But she loved San
Miguel, which has been an artist community since the 1940s. "Then,"
Debbie says, "I reached an epiphany." By the time the pizza came,
she'd made up her mind. She would quit her job, then come back for a
year and get a master's degree in creative writing at the Instituto
Allende.
Debbie's adventures in Mexico typify her life - a full, joyful life
unhindered by limitations. Her story, from the very beginning, is
one of embracing the world and the opportunities around her.
She was born in New Jersey in 1948, blind at birth due to a retinal
disorder called Leber's congenital amaurosis. Debbie's parents,
however, didn't shelter her. They encouraged her to interact with
the world around her and with other children. Debbie was even
enrolled in a regular nursery school before entering kindergarten, a
rare occurrence in the 1950s.
Although Debbie's family lived in the suburbs, she was sent to an
inner-city school in Paterson which had a resource room for blind
pupils. There she learned Braille skills, math basics, and typing.
For other subjects, such as science and history, she joined the
sighted students in the regular classrooms. For these subjects there
were no Braille or recorded textbooks, and support from the teachers
was uneven. Debbie and other blind students were mainly expected to
sit and learn what they could simply by listening. However, exposure
to the many Hispanic students in her classes spurred Debbie's initial
interest in learning Spanish.
As she grew up, Debbie's parents encouraged her social development.
Many relatives lived nearby, and she was often immersed in family
gatherings and other social events. She participated fully in Girl
Scouts, and her folks set up their house and yard to attract
neighborhood kids. Debbie says, "My parents were very accepting of
kids coming over and flowing through the house, and that helped me
build the skills I would need later."
As she matured, Debbie heard her neighborhood friends talking about
the local school in Little Falls, and she decided she wanted to go
there. "I kept nagging my parents that I wanted to transfer," she
said, "so finally in eighth grade they let me." Her experiences in
being mainstreamed were much like those of any other adolescent
worries about fitting in and interacting with the opposite sex. She
later used those experiences in writing her first novel.
After high school, Debbie entered Oberlin College in Ohio. In those
days before high tech, she had nothing but a tape recorder, a Perkins
Brailler, a slate and stylus, and a typewriter. During the previous
summer, Debbie finally received training with the long white cane.
Even with her social skills and outgoing personality, starting
college was a big adjustment. "The first year was rough, but in the
long run I had a very good experience at Oberlin," she says.
Debbie wasn't content just to attend college. "Toward the end of my
freshman year," she remembers, "I realized I didn't want to go back
and spend the summer sitting around home doing nothing. All my
friends were going off and doing interesting things for the summer,
and I decided I'd better figure out some way to get a summer job."
She spent that first summer volunteering with a YWCA group that ran a
recreational program for children in a town outside Mexico City. She
worked in similar programs during her other summers, in New York and
California.
After graduating from Oberlin in 1969, Debbie entered a master's
program at Smith College School for Social Work. The two-year
program combined academic study with extensive fieldwork. Debbie was
assigned to field placements at a nursing home in Cleveland and at
Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital. When she began to look for
a job, however, she found rampant discrimination because of her
blindness, despite her educational credentials and proven
adaptability. In the early '70s no laws prevented employers from
refusing job applicants purely on the basis of disability. "I'd go
in for interviews," Debbie recalls, "and they'd say, 'Well, I'll tell
you right now I'm not going to hire you because of your handicap.'"
After a long search, she was offered a job at the University
Settlement House in New York City in 1971. Her ability to speak
Spanish was a major factor in obtaining the job. For the next four
years, Debbie worked in community mental health. "I did a little bit
of everything," she says. Much of her work involved after-care
patients, people discharged from state psychiatric hospitals. She
used public transportation to travel around the city. By this time
she had a guide dog. Then she took a summer vacation in Mexico, and
her life went off in a different direction.
Leaving her job in New York City behind, Debbie stretched her stay in
San Miguel to two years as she explored her passion for writing.
During that period, she wrote her first book, "Belonging," a
young-adult novel about the tribulations of a blind girl in a
mainstream high school. The book was based loosely on Debbie's
experiences on entering the eighth grade in her neighborhood school.
The novel was published in 1978, and is available in Braille and on
cassette in the NLS system.
After two years in San Miguel, Debbie found herself running out of
money. Returning to the States and finding a job seemed unavoidable.
Then a local woman approached Debbie about starting a school for
blind children in San Miguel. "It was like something meant to be,"
Debbie says. Organizing the school and teaching in it would furnish
enough money for her to stay. Debbie had another reason for staying.
She'd started to date Dick Stein, another American writer in San
Miguel. The school began with two blind students. Over the next
three years it grew to enroll thirty-five children with a variety of
disabilities and special needs.
Debbie Kent and Dick Stein were married in 1979, and returned to the
U.S. in 1980. Debbie thought she would have to go back to social
work and leave writing behind. However, she wrote several teenage
romance novels, material for textbooks, and as she says, "...
gathered some momentum." With Dick's similar success, they were able
to support themselves solely by writing, as they still do to this
day. After bouncing around for several years, they finally settled
in Chicago, Dick's hometown, in 1983. At that time, their only
child, a daughter, was born.
Debbie's involvement with the NFB goes back thirty years to her time
as a social worker in New York City. After returning from Mexico,
she reconnected with the NFB by joining the Chicago Chapter in 1987.
Presently, she is a member of the Chicago Chapter Board and serves as
secretary of the state affiliate. She also chairs the NFBI
Scholarship Committee.
At the national level, Debbie heads the Blind Parents Group which
meets annually at the national convention and has an online listserv.
She coordinates Slate Pals, a program for children which matches pen
pals who correspond in Braille. In addition, she chairs the NFB
Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety (CAPS).
Today Debbie continues to have a successful writing career, and
proudly announces that her daughter, Janna, has just graduated from
Beloit College. Comparing the past with the present for the blind,
Debbie says, "We've made headway on our old problems, but we're
facing some new ones." She pointed out the improved availability of
reading material for the blind over the years; technology, in many
cases, has had a positive effect on accessibility for the blind.
"However," she says, "some devices seem to be getting harder to use:
for example, appliances like stoves, washers, and dryers with flat
touch panels." But in true Debbie Stein fashion, she adds, "I think
blind people, in order to survive, have to be extremely resourceful.
And that's something we need to learn from very early on." Certainly,
that would summarize the life of Debbie Stein.
Special thanks to Debbie Pittman for tape duplication.
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