CCB OUTLOOK Spring, 1999 Steve Dresser, Editor Published by The Connecticut Council of the Blind Alice Jackson, President Toll-free: (800) 231-3349 Hartford area: (860) 521-6749 On the World Wide Web: http://members.tripod.com/~dmclean/ccb.html Together, we can make a difference. This newsletter is published four times a year, and is available in braille, print, large print, on cassette, via E-mail, and on the CCB Web site. TABLE OF CONTENTS FROM THE EDITOR PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE BRAILLE BILL UPDATE by Marcia Dresser "PAMPERED CHEFF" PARTY RAISES MONEY FOR CCB by Kim Soucy UPDATE ON ACCESSIBLE STATE PARKS by Linda Levine PAY YOUR PHONE BILL BY PHONE by Howard Goldstein LAKE ZOAR WATERSKI CLUB by Lynn Frosceno REPORT FROM GDUCT by Jeanne Dugas GETTING LOST IN THE LIBRARY by Cheree Heppe CCB STANDING COMMITTEES CCB BOARD OF DIRECTORS =========================================================================== FROM THE EDITOR I'm almost afraid to say it, but it looks like spring is finally here! Now that we're free of the ice and snow, it's time to start making plans for the warm weather ahead. In addition to our usual fare, you'll find articles suggesting new ways to fill up your spring and summer calendar. You'll also discover an exciting way to wile away those chilly spring nights without ever leaving the comfort of your home. So read on, and enjoy. In the last, you've probably noticed that the _Outlook hasn't always gone to press on time. In an effort to correct this problem, I've decided to set four fixed deadlines for submitting articles. They are: January 16th, April 16th, July 16th, and October 16th. These deadlines will be the same every year, and anything that comes in after a deadline will be included in the next newsletter. Speaking of contributions, I want to remind you that in addition to providing information, this newsletter is also a public forum where we can discuss things that are important to us. Perhaps you've read something in these pages that pleases or upsets you. Or maybe you've heard about something you think we might benefit from knowing. No matter what the case, we'd like to hear from you. Even if you're not up to the task of writing an article, you can suggest a topic that needs looking into. Just leave a message for me on CCB's voice-mail system, and I'll call you back to discuss what's on your mind. Not only will you contribute to the newsletter, but you'll be helping to make CCB work for you. In the meantime, settle back and enjoy this issue of the CCB _Outlook --and welcome to spring! --Steve Dresser =========================================================================== PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE As I begin this message for the spring newsletter, it is March. Spring has recently arrived officially according to the calendar, and we are anticipating Easter and Passover. I hope that this season is a blessed one for each of you and your families. For me, spring is a time of reflection. Recently, I have been thinking about an English teacher I had in high school my sophomore year. He used to tell us that we were all apathetic. None of us ever denied his statement, although I am sure we all wanted to, but lacked the courage. In the late '60's, many of us wanted to save the world and make it a better place. Many of us were disillusioned with the Vietnam war and the "drug culture." I share this because being a leader is often a very lonely position. If I were to say that you are all apathetic, as my high school English teacher did, I wonder what kind of response I would get. Luckily for us, not everyone in this organization is apathetic. I have a very hard-working Board of Directors to whom I am deeply grateful. But I must make all of you aware of some serious disappointments which we have to face. A conference on self awareness and self image was planned for March 27, to be held at the Connecticut Institute for the Blind, co-sponsored by CCB and CIB. It had to be canceled at the last minute due to lack of interest. The Board has determined that we cannot offer a scholarship this year because of a motion passed at the fall, 1998 Convention stipulating that there must be a minimum of $3,500 in the Scholarship account; we currently have $2,031.18. This organization has to face some hard facts. When I became your president, I stated that fundraising would be the main focus for the coming year. The Ways and Means Committee is working hard to develop some long and short term projects which will require a major commitment from every member for them to work. In order to continue to offer a scholarship each year, we must work to raise enough funds so we still have a growing account after withdrawing the scholarship money. The Membership Committee will be polling each of you to determine what you want from your organization. I am asking you to be both fair and honest, not to simply fall back on the worn-out line that "we never do anything." Please think about what you want this organization to do, and how you will help. We must work together to keep CCB a viable organization. Saying it isn't enough. I leave you with this message which came to me on the Internet. Lessons From The Geese As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an "uplift" for the birds following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone. Lesson: People who share a common direction and a sense of community can get to where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another. Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the birds immediately in front. Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will join in formations with those who are headed where we want to go. When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position. Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership--with people, as with geese, interdependent on one another. The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. Lesson: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging-- not something less helpful. When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow their fellow member down to help and provide protection. They stay with this member of the flock until he or she is either able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or catch up with their own flock. Lesson: If we have as much sense as the geese, we will stand by one another like they do. Let us look at our common goals and take these disappointments to heart as lessons, as a means to push us forward to a better place. --Alice Jackson =========================================================================== BRAILLE BILL UPDATE by Marcia Dresser It was an honor and a privilege to work with Alice Jackson, Dave Bates, and NFB members Mary Brunoli, Maureen Carr, Ben Snow, and Mark Tardiff as we composed a braille bill to be submitted to the legislature. I must say that I felt exhilarated after our meeting. It was fantastic to see members of our two organizations collaborate for a common goal. Shortly after our meeting, we discovered that Rep. Richard Tulisano had submitted a braille bill of his own. We asked Mr. Tulisano if he would withdraw his abbreviated, "bare bones" version and sponsor our bill instead. Fortunately, he agreed. Next, some of the language had to be altered slightly in order to meet the requirements for submission. Once that was accomplished, our bill, which became House Bill 5020, was sent to the Human Services Committee for consideration. A public hearing was held on March 4th at the Legislative Office Building. Carol Gillispie, Cheree Heppe, John Mattioli, and I, along with several NFB members and the parent of a blind child, spoke in support of this bill. In addition, Steve Dresser, Laurie Mattioli, Jeanne Dugas, Bryan McGucken, Tina Ciarciello, and others submitted written testimony. It was a long day, since there were many bills under discussion. People testified in order according to when they signed in; as a result, we could be talking about braille one minute and assisted living the next. Legislators and agency heads spoke first. BESB Executive Director Ken Tripp appeared to be lukewarm in his support. He mentioned that BESB is working on this bill with the National Federation _for the Blind, the Connecticut Council _for the Blind (emphasis added), and the State Department of Education. He also stated that BESB is submitting a bill to certify teachers of the visually impaired, but did not elaborate. (The necessity for this bill eludes me, since teachers of the blind are currently certified by the State Department of Education.) In answer to a question, Mr. Tripp reported that a ninth-grade algebra book in braille costs $6,000. (I found that hard to believe, so I later called Phyllis Campana, an administrator at the American Printing House for the Blind and a member of the board of the Braille Authority of North America. Phyllis informed me that that is actually a very good price, since transcribing a math book is extremely labor intensive and requires specialized skills.) Several of us stressed in our testimony that although the cost of braille production can be prohibitive, literacy is the key, and braille is as vital to blind people as print is to the sighted. In addition to our testimony, Rep. Paul Doyle of Wethersfield gave a ringing endorsement of our legislation, as did Linda Presley, an advocate for children whose testimony mainly concerned funding for Long Lane School. Apparently, our comments were well received. On April arast, the Human Services Committee voted in favor of the bill and sent it to the Appropriations Committee. I don't know if there will be another public hearing. If the Appropriations Committee votes favorably, the bill will come before the full House and Senate for a vote. Therefore, now would be a great time to contact your senator and representative and urge them to vote in favor of House Bill 5020, the braille literacy legislation. If you're not sure who your representatives are, contact the registrar of voters in your town. Please take a few minutes to do this. Your phone call or letter really will make a difference. Thanks in advance for your help. Hopefully, with a little luck and a lot of hard work, Connecticut will become the 31st state to adopt braille literacy legislation. We'll keep you apprised as things develop. If you'd like a copy of the bill, please contact us at (860) 521-6749 or (800) 231-3349. =========================================================================== "PAMPERED CHEFF" PARTY RAISES MONEY FOR CCB by Kim Soucy First I would like to thank everyone who was able to make the party or place an order. I apologize for the confusion about the date. I was surprised with the total for the party since there were only a few of us here. The total was $907.20, from which CCB received $136.00. Thanks to Laurie Mattioli who booked a party, CCB received an additional $3.00, bringing the grand total up to $139.00. Again, thanks to everyone and a special thanks to my sister Melanie who filled in for me since I had to work that night. =========================================================================== UPDATE ON ACCESSIBLE STATE PARKS IN CONNECTICUT by Linda Levine [Linda Levine, from the Connecticut State Parks Division, spoke to us last year at our spring convention about accessible parks in Connecticut.] "Things don't always happen as quickly as I'd like" and "there aren't enough hours in the day" seem to be familiar phrases at work and at home. After meeting with you last spring, I spoke with several organizations to find out more about recordings and braille. A folder worth of information is waiting to be used based on the copy or text that needs to be assembled. Unfortunately I can't write about all 92 parks in the State! To facilitate this process, a request has gone out to the park supervisors asking for descriptive pieces on each park. They were asked to include obvious amenities (bathrooms, picnic areas, swimming, etc.) and unique features, i.e. a waterfall, a rhododendron or laurel sanctuary's bloom time, historic gardens with fragrant heliotrope, summer concerts, etc. To go one step further, have you visited a CT State Park? Would you like to share your experience? Spring is my favorite time of year. I love being out in the fresh air and enjoying the warmth of the sun, waking up to the sound of the birds, and getting out and taking a walk. You can e-mail me at linda.levine@po.state.ct.us Any help would be appreciated. In the meantime, here are a couple of websites that may be helpful: http://dep.state.ct.us is the Department of Environmental Protection's site. It has information on the parks and upcoming events. It is mainly text. www.crpa.com is the CT Parks and Recreation Association's website. CRPA manages the blue trail system in CT. The Friends of CT State Parks website should be up and running soon, and I will pass the address along. Progress may be slow but the information will be available. In the meantime, if you have a specific question you can e-mail me. =========================================================================== PAY YOUR PHONE BILL BY PHONE by Howard Goldstein Did you know that you can now pay your SNET phone bill with a credit card? All you have to do is pick up the phone and dial 811. After navigating through a few simple menus, you will be asked for your account number. This is your phone number plus three additional digits. It's listed on your phone bill. Once you have entered your account number you will be told the amount of your bill and asked for your credit card information. Enter that, wait for the confirmation, and you're done. That's one less check to write each month! =========================================================================== LAKE ZOAR WATERSKI CLUB by Lynn Frosceno The Lake Zoar Waterski Club, located in Sandy Hook, CT (just outside of Danbury), was started by Joel Zeisler in 1991 and has specialized in waterski training for the disabled. The club's goals are to recruit and expose as many skiers as possible. Our coach, Joel Zeisler, has trained skiers who are blind, amputees and others. We have two champion skiers in the club, Allan Golabek and Mark Hieftje, who hold national titles in various waterskiing events including jumping. These men are totally blind. They have been chosen to represent the United States at the 1999 World Disabled Waterski Championships in London, England this August. They are a real inspiration as to what one can accomplish despite the odds. We are always recruiting new skiers, children and adults, either for recreation or competition. Joel can adapt the sport to suit many special needs. We invite anyone who is interested in joining in the fun to attend one of our waterski clinics. We are a non-profit/tax exempt organization and operate through contributions from private and corporate sources. If you would like to participate in waterskiing, or would just like to offer a donation to help keep the club open to all and support our athletes as they train and travel for their competitions, please call (203) 426-0666 for more information. =========================================================================== REPORT FROM GDUCT by Jeanne Dugas Greetings from the GDUCT Treasurer! We would like to let all of you know what we are doing and what we are planning on doing in the upcoming year. Lots of changes have been made since last year; we have a new president, April Hutchins, and a new vice president, Tina Ciarciello. This year, our plans include bake sales and other fundraising projects. We are also working on a newsletter, which will keep its original name "Lead-Time." We need the support of everyone in CCB to make this affiliate work. After all, we are a part of CCB and together we all will make a difference. For further information about Guide Dog Users of Connecticut, please feel free to leave a message for President April Hutchins in CCB voice- mailbox 21 at (800) 231-3349, or (860) 521-6749 in the Hartford area. You can also reach Treasurer Jeanne Dugas via E-mail at jingles@ntplx.net =========================================================================== GETTING LOST IN THE LIBRARY by Cheree Heppe "Reading is fundamental," says one of the literacy commercials, but for many blind people, "literacy" seems synonymous with "compromise." Even after Louis Braille perfected his dot based reading system for the blind, braille was banned from schools for the blind until the early twentieth century. With braille, the blind could independently communicate to the outside world, to family and friends about the true nature and conditions of the organizations and schools purporting to help them. With braille, the blind could read and write independently of sighted interpretters, and the knowledge and use of braille became an empowerment tool. Still, if we want to read, as blind people we have to be creative. Not all materials are available in braille. Alternatives include large print, recorded materials on cassette tape, a reading machine such as an Optacon or a scanner, or live readers. Lately, the computer and Internet have opened unexpected doors to information access. Can blind people take advantage of this access? The Internet Public Library, accessible on the World Wide Web at www.ipl.org offers amazing new possibilities for using everything from encyclopedias and reference materials to looking up favorite authors and reading fiction. It is possible to call upon teaching resources to educate children or to ask the reference department to check on whether a foreign language text is available in e-text. Imagine my surprise and delight when in the reference section of the IPL, I discovered a whole section on Native-American authors, artists and performers. I recognized many names from social gatherings or from my stint as co-host of the Native-American show on a local college FM station. One of these, Luci Tapahanso, writes and performs her poems. I especially love her work because it reminds me of home. I found myself wondering how I would tackle the vast amount of information suddenly available to me. I felt like a starving person suddenly presented with a banquet; I spent the next several hours in the "library," layers deep in links, looking through material. Does this mean I will have to learn new skills? Certainly. The computer access and various protocols seem complicated, but ultimately give access to worlds of information once closed to me. Does this computer access mean that braille goes the way of the dinosaur? Certainly not. With a disk, material may be ported to a place with a braille embosser and printed out. Refreshable braille displays allow immediate reading of these Internet resources. A braille embosser at home could print out material to allow me to read children's bed time stories to my daughter, try new recipes while they are still current, read poems and look up encyclopedia entries--all at my fingertips. The trouble arises in the cost of such equipment. Even the least expensive, single sided braille embosser costs one thousand dollars, well beyond the average blind person's individual means. In fact, most any specialized blindness-related piece of computer equipment costs well over what the newest, fanciest state-of-the-art computer would cost a sighted person. Then there's the specialized software to interface--programs that transcribe braille, and speak and read the computer screen output and user input. The cost of most of these programs would set the average working person back a month's salary. What's to be done? Why, go to the "library," of course, and look up funding sources. The IPL offers grant writing information and books on how to do it. With a bit of research and some persistence, high-priced technology may be obtained by blind people free of any agency entanglements or restrictions. So, if you find my telephone lines busy of an evening, it's a pretty good guess I'm at the library. =========================================================================== Special thanks to Marcia Dresser, Kim Soucy, Linda Levine, Howard Goldstein, Lynn Frosceno, Jeanne Dugas, and Cheree Heppe for their contributions to this issue of the CCB _Outlook. If you'd like to contribute to the next issue, please have your article ready by Friday, July 16. You may submit your article in braille, on cassette or computer disk, via e-mail, or over the phone. If you want to dictate your article, please leave a message on our voice-mail system, and I'll return your call. Remember, this newsletter is nothing without your help, so please keep those articles coming! =========================================================================== CCB STANDING COMMITTEES Convention (Voice-mail box 20): Barbara Blejewski, (860) 721-8601 Marcia Dresser, (860) 521-8903 Legislative (Voice-mail box 14): Jeanne Dugas, (860) 529-1019 Membership (Voice-mail box 15): Marcia Dresser, (860) 521-8903 Newsletter (Voice-mail box 13): Steve Dresser, (860) 521-8903 Publicity (Voice-mail box 16): Camille Petrecca, (860) 563-2259 Scholarship (Voice-mail box 17): Laurie Mattioli, (203) 288-7734 Transportation (Voice-mail box 18): No chair at present Ways and Means (fund-raising) (Voice-mail box 19): John Mattioli, (203) 288-7734 You can leave messages for committee chairs and board members on our toll-free line (800) 231-3349, or (860) 521-6749 in the Hartford area. President Alice Jackson is an ex officio member of all committees. =========================================================================== CCB BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Alice Jackson 191 Centerbrook Road Hamden 06518 (203) 281-0676 Voice-mail: box 11 E-mail: alicej@concentric.net First Vice President: John Mattioli 835 Mix Avenue, Apt. L-6 Hamden 06514 (203) 288-7734 E-mail: mattioli@concentric.net Second Vice President: Dave Bates 44 Garden Street Wethersfield 06109 (860) 257-0602 Third Vice President: Camille Petrecca: 2 Tabshey Court Wethersfield, 06109 (860) 563-2259 Treasurer: Roland Soucy 15 Shawnee Road East Hartford 06118 (860) 895-8157 Voice-mail: Box 12 E-mail: Wtrskii@aol.com Recording Secretary: Cheree Heppe 68 Gilman Street Hartford 06114-2536 (860) 296-4922 E-mail: clheppe@ntplx.net Corresponding Secretary: Bryan McGucken 11 Hilside Lane Wallingford, 06492 (203) 265-2452 Immediate Past President: Marcia Dresser 142 Webster Hill Boulevard West Hartford 06107 (860) 521-8903 Board Member at Large: Barbara Blejewski 4 Tabshey Court Wethersfield, CT 06109 (860) 721-8601 Board Member at Large: Tina Ciarciello 966 Silas Deane Highway, Apartment A15 Wethersfield, 06109 (860) 529-8923 GDUCT Representative: Jeanne Dugas 337 Hartford Avenue Wethersfield, 06109 (860) 529-1019 E-mail: jingles@ntplx.net