NABS - Student Advocate Issue Fall 1999

"Supporting Students; Encouraging Leadership."

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Student Advocate Membership Convention Resources

The Student Advocate
Volume XXVIII, Number I
Fall 1999

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Message From the President
From the Editor's Desk
Announcements
CSUN Technology Convention (a review)
What Should I Know About Interviewing And The Law
The Art Of Transferring
The Good Old Golden Rule Days

Published by the American Council of the Blind in September, January, and April. Available in large print and cassette. Please direct all address changes, format changes, and subscription requests to the NABS liaisons at 1155 15th St. NW, Suite 720, Washington DC 20005, 202.467.5081, Fax 202.467.5085.

NABS MISSION STATEMENT

To encourage educational equity and excellence; To seek opportunity and worldwide accessibility; To promote participation in this mission; To provide a forum for blind and visually impaired students to discuss issues of concern to them; To hold annual meetings to focus on topics of interest to blind and visually impaired students throughout the United States; To participate in and establish meetings of interest to blind and visually impaired students; To provide the means by which NABS and its constituencies may achieve these goals.

National Alliance of Blind Students Board of Directors:

PRESIDENT April Shinholster Kalamazoo, MI
TREASURER Lori Miller Kalamazoo, MI
VICE PRESIDENT Eric Bridges
EDITOR Richard A. Rueda Whittier, CA
SECRETARY Sarah Jahn
GOVERNOR Paulette Monthei Milwaukee, WI

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
by April Shinholster

I would like to introduce myself. By the time you read this article, I will have started graduate school at Western Michigan University. I will be studying Rehabilitation Counseling and Blind Rehabilitation Teaching. I am originally from Tuscaloosa, Alabama but lived in Charleston, South Carolina for two years before moving to Kalamazoo to attend school. In my free time I enjoy water skiing and reading. Although living in Michigan might cause me to reconsider the skiing part.

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's convention and feel that I made some excellent friends. I also developed a much stronger support system in the NABS organization. It is a great feeling to meet people who have dealt with the same difficulties as myself. I am certain that others feel the same. It was a great confidence booster to know that the members of and organization such as NABS chose me as their leader. I hope that I Am able to meet your expectations.

I would like to thank everyone involved who made this convention the success that it was. Several key issues related to a variety of interests to students were discussed at these seminars. Members of NABS as well as members of ACB at large presented an assortment of topics ranging from amendments to section 504 of the Rehabilitation act to safety on college campuses. I know that the planning of these programs took a great deal of effort, and I would like to commend all who participated in that process.

At the strategic planning meeting several concerns were voiced. Suggestions and tentative plans to address these issues were also discussed. The three main areas of concern were funding, developing more contact between NABS members and scholarship winners and creating an organization to keep those who are out of college involved. The Delta Gamma Foundation and Lions International were mentioned as possible sources of financial assistance. United Way may also be a possibility. A subcommittee of the scholarship committee was formed to develop and maintain stronger relations between scholarship winners and NABS members. Many of our most active members came to NABS as scholarship winners. We must seek more people of that caliber. I am sure that this new committee will take a huge step in that direction. A group to meet the needs of people from the ages of 25 to 40 was suggested as a solution to our final concern. The organization would focus on the interests of this age group, such as: starting a family, employment issues, and establishing a satisfying home environment. Perhaps this new group would create a stronger bridge between NABS and ACB at large. For a complete reading of the notes from the strategic planning meeting see the NABS web site.

A few weeks after the national convention I visited Washington D.C. and had a long chat with Charlie Crawford. He wanted to know what our plans were for this year, and I briefly outlined to him what I discussed above. He strongly suggested that we find at least three advocacy issues that could show potential members what we stand for and what we can do for them. If you have any ideas, please let me know. I expressed to him a need for stronger connections between NABS and the basic running of ACB. I am to gather for him a list of people who would be interested in serving on key ACB committees. If you are interested, please let me know where your strengths lie and what your interests are. We want to make the best match for everyone involved. His final suggestion was to have a humorous article --perhaps related to the blindness field-- in each issue of "The Student Advocate." Do we have any comedians in our midst?

Well as I complete this article, I am in the final stages of that horrible process called packing. As this issue goes to press, I am leaving Charleston for Michigan to begin school. If you wish to contact me, my phone number and email address are as follows:

Phone: (616) 387-0785
Email: aprildee@gte.net

I look forward to working for and with you this year and hope everyone has a wonderful semester.

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From the Editor's Desk
By Richard Rueda

Hello to everyone. I trust that your summer was full of fun and exciting adventures that took you to the furthest ends of the earth. Attending the ACB convention here in Los Angeles this past July gave me the chance to meet and greet with friends old and new. Additionally I became more familiar with the good people of NABS and affiliate members. A host of high quality seminars and speakers left me with the empowerment and inspiration to continue to seek out my desired career within the Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling field. Truly this was an unforgettable experience.

Appointed your editor of the "Student Advocate," by Paulette Monthei, I plan to continue bringing you the articles and information that you come to welcome as well as implementing some new and innovative ideas. With this being your magazine, we welcome continuous submission of relevant articles of interest for our readers. As well, any letters to the Editor and even some humor is accepted too. Together, let us take on Y2K with a renewed ambition and sense of pride for NABS and its publications. Like April, I welcome your getting in touch with me. I can be contacted at the following locations.

Email: richr@linkonline.net
Phone: 562.789.9525

Thank you for keeping the NABS family within your heart. Lastly, please do pass the articles that appear in the SA along to fellow friends, colleagues and family members as they too may benefit from what we have to say.

Richard A. Rueda

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

ACB Scholarships Available
The American Council of the Blind is pleased to announce that applications for nearly 30 scholarships will be mailed out during the month of November. These scholarships will be for the 2000-2001 academic year. As members of NABS, you will automatically be receiving an application packet.

The Kurzweil Foundation will once again this year make available to all winners a $1,000 cash scholarship and a Kurzweil reading system. March 1, 2000 will be the due date for all applications.

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HELP US PUT IDEAS INTO FRED'S HEAD!
The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) is collecting ideas to put into the Fred's Head Database. Fred's Head is being developed as a dynamic database designed for blind persons to share valuable tips and techniques. It is being called Fred's Head because of the many years Fred Gissoni has shared his wealth of experience and knowledge.

What we're looking for is useful tips or ideas you might want to share with a friend. Basic bits of information may be the most valuable (an everyday process, a good educational trick or a technical tip). Your suggestion might be so simple that you may not realize that other people do not know or use it.

Fred's Head will be available through the APH web site. Persons will be able to search independently for answers and find information. This is your chance to share in its beginning stages. To discuss your idea or send a brief description of your suggestion, contact us by E-mail, phone, or postal mail: Fay Leach, Expert Database Coordinator American Printing House for the Blind 1839 Frankfort Avenue P.O. Box 6085, Louisville, KY 40206-0085 fleach@aph.org 1-800-223-1839. 502-899-2378

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Stay in touch with the issues that matter most 24/7. Go on-line and subscribe to the National Alliance of Blind Student's exclusive listserv, better know as NABS-L. Subscribers discuss and debate various topics of interests to blind students. Subscribe to NABS-L via e-mail by simply writing "subscribe NABS-L" first name last name" (no quotes please) in the body of the out going message. Once you are done, then you're on your way. The e-mail address is "listserv@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu ." We'll see you on-line.

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SKI FOR LIGHT at www.sfl.org now has a downloadable version of the applications for visually-impaired skiers and guides. You are encouraged to visit this site for up to date resource information about this unique opportunity.

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The Galt House in Louisville Kentucky will be the meeting place of ACB's year 2000 national convention. From Saturday, July 1st through Saturday the 8th, the convention will once again bring everyone together for our annual meetings, conferences and spectacular seminars. It's never to early to start thinking about next year. Room rates are $65 per night plus tax. For complete reservation details please phone 502.589.5200 from anywhere. Toll free outside of Kentucky call 800.626.1814, and toll free from within Kentucky you may call 800.962.0150.

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CSUN Technology Convention
by Tim Keenan

(Editors Note: After reading this article, you can find more information on the CSUN's year 2000 convention by logging on to http://www.csun.edu/cod/)

Every March, thousands of people from around the country and around the world flock to Los Angeles, CA for the Conference on Technology for People With Disabilities, sponsored by California State University at Northridge(CSUN) . I had heard about it for a few years, starting when I joined an e-mail list on the net for discussing topics related to Windows. I heard all about how exciting the conference was, and of the new philosophies and approaches to information access people had discovered while there. I'm a computer science major at Umass, and after checking the program and finding a few seminars on accessing calculus and high-level sciences, I new I had to come check it out. So, this year, I decided to forget about extravagant vacations to Florida or the Caribean, and instead head for the city of angels. Another thing I had heard from that mailing list was how expensive the conference was. Conference registration fees alone will run you $400 if you're a student, and twice that if you aren't. Combine that with a room rate of 109 at the Marriott, and you have one expensive trip.

Fortunately, I applied for and received a scholarship from CSUN to cover my conference registration fees, which allowed me to buy myself some food that week. The CSUN conference covers all disabilities, not just blindness. At this conference, the blind are just one population among many. The attendees of this conference are mostly developers of adaptive technology products, and representatives from colleges, universities, rehab agencies, etc. To my knowledge, there weren't many students or unaffiliated individuals in attendance, but that's not to say that there shouldn't be. Before the actual conference gets underway, there is a day of "Pre-conference Sessions". these are three hour seminars which cover major issues like access to Windows 2000 and Office 2000, access to the Web, and more. But after that day, the pace picks up. For the next four days, there are hundreds of seminars and presentations. It becomes a battle to pick the most relevant session to attend out of two or three that may be interesting. In order to get the most from this conference, it's a good idea to have a pre-made schedule of sessions you prefer to attend. I had no such plan, and it made things much more hectic than they needed to be. All sessions are an hour long, except for a few half-hour presentations conducted daily. Varied, topics range from demos of new products to philosophies for implementing technology in the workplace as well as, ways to access high-level mathematics.

For each block of sessions, I could always find no less than two I wanted to attend, but often three or four. Very few sessions weren't what they seemed from their descriptions in the program, and others that fell short of my expectations, but overall, I found the presentations to be very well done and interesting.

There were a few each day geared to instructing blind and disabled children, as well as for developers of adaptive technology products. Students to benefit the most from this convention would be those majoring in a computer-related field or plan to be a teacher of disabled students.

Highlights for the visually impaired student to be aware of included a demo of a system designed to speak mathematical equations, a seminar on conducting research using the Internet, a presentation concerning descriptive videos found on the Web, and more. Another component of the CSUN conference is that of the vast array of numerous exhibits. There were a lot of exhibitors, but again, not all of them were showcasing blindness related products. There were, however, a large number of vendors and manufacturers of adaptive technology for the blind and low vision. Often the president or vice president of the company attended the conference, so it was a good chance for everyone interested to talk to the people "in charge" about their products. Everyone who was anyone in the adaptive technology industry was there, even companies like Sun and Microsoft. One exhibit of note was a prototype of an accessible ATM machine. It involves a ring, with a microchip embedded in it, that functions as your ATM card. Once you lug your ring into the slot, the chip on your ring communicates your need for speech output to the ATM machine, and it responds accordingly, speaking to the prompts. It was designed to showcase Sun Microsystem's Java technology, not necessarily to be practical in the real world. Still, the ring made a nice souvenir. Having attended the various seminars, workshops, and exhibits for five days, I was really in the mood to relax and have a good time. I got my wish in the form of a huge cocktail party, sponsored by a group of exhibitors at the conference. It was the perfect way to wind down a busy week.

After reading my description of the conference, you're probably wondering whether it would be worth it for you to attend. If you are considering work in the field of tech, teaching children who are disabled, or are a science or math major the CSUN experience may be worth the expense. As well if you are genuinely interested in the realm of the latest technology this convention is certainly an event not to miss.

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What Should I know About Interviewing and the Law?
by Paulette Monthei

For many of you, with the end of the semester comes Graduation and the end of four or more years of hard work. But, what's next? Most of you will be beginning that dreaded job search. To often, applicants with disabilities do not realize what they are entitled to under the law or which questions an employer can or cannot ask you as an applicant. This article will present briefly what you are entitled to as an employee or potential employee under Title I of the ADA. Title I is related to employment and non discrimination in the workplace. I will also address section 102(a) of the ADA. In closing, I will provide you with examples of discriminatory questions that are sometimes used in an interview.

Title I

All private employers who have 15 or more full time employees as of July 26, 1994, are required to comply with the ADA. private employers having less then 15 full time employees are not subject to the ADA. Employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor management committees are also required to comply with the ADA.

A "qualified individual with a disability" is an individual who possesses the required skills, education, and other job-related experience and can perform the essential functions of the job. With or without reasonable accommodations, a qualified individual with a disability is entitled to all terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.

102 (a)

Section 102(a) of the ADA bars discrimination in the following areas: job applications, advancement, fringe benefits, hiring, discharge, compensation, leaves of absence, and job training.

In the application process, testing such as drug testing or medical examination may be required if it is required of all applicants.

A potential employer may also ask how you intend to perform the essential functions of the position. You may be asked whether you are able to perform the essential job functions of this job with or without reasonable accommodations and to describe or demonstrate abilities in performing the job. You may be asked about nonessential functions of the job description as well.

Illegal questions and topics include:
- Are you disabled?
- What is the nature or severity of your disability?
- What is your condition or cause of your disability?
- Will you need treatment or special leave time because or your disability?

Other information regarding to Title I of the ADA can be obtained through the Dept. of Justice at 1.800.669.4000. You may also file discrimination complaints through the Dept. of Justice.

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The Art Of Transferring
by Carmella Broome

When I made the decision to begin my post-secondary education at North Greenville College in the fall of 1994, I knew I would eventually have to transfer. I planned to major in psychology and NGC did not offer a degree in that field. I liked the school, though, and really wanted to go there so I decided I would earn my two-year associates degree, take all the psychology classes they offered, and then just change colleges. I figured transferring was little more than relocating and that it was a relatively simple process. I figured wrong. When I was accepted to Columbia International University, the school I'm currently attending, I met with a very nice lady to go over my transcript. She told me all my general education requirements but one had been met and that all my elective slots had also been filled. She also said that several of my psychology classes would transfer, as well. All that sounded good to me and it seemed I had covered a lot of ground. Then,

things began to get complicated. She told me that certain classes, about thirty credit hours worth to be exact, didn't fit into their curriculum. They had no need for the extra math, biology, English, and foreign language credits I'd taken to get my A.S. degree and, since my elective slots had all been filled, there was nowhere to put several other psychology and sociology courses I had taken.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Thirty credit hours amounted to an entire years worth of full-time course work. I'd put considerable effort into my studies at NGC and had made A's in almost all the classes I'd taken there. Though the nice transcript lady told me no education was wasted and complimented me on my excellent grades, I couldn't help feeling both frustrated and indignant. I had put an awful lot of time and energy into classes that served no practical purpose now. Since beginning college, it had been my plan to graduate when I was 21 and begin graduate work just before my 22nd birthday. Now, I realized, I'd be lucky to get out by 23. I still had a ton of classes to take just to get my Bachelor's degree. This meant a couple more years of hard work to add to the two and a half I'd already spent pursuing my undergraduate degree, not to mention the extra money these additional semesters would cost.

If you are planning to transfer schools, or are just starting your post-secondary education and wondering whether or not to start at a school you will eventually transfer from, I hope this article will help you make wiser choices than the ones I made. No one was around to give me the information I am about to share with you and I had to learn this stuff the hard way. If you've recently transferred and are just waking up to this nightmare, know that you're not alone. I've talked to plenty of people who've lost a ton of credits when changing schools. If you do decide to transfer, or already have and have this problem, there are things you can do. Let me continue my story and tell you the steps I've taken to make my life easier.

The transcript lady told me there were things I could look into that might help me make up some lost time and deal with the scheduling conflicts I was facing. I began looking into what these were and have made use of several of them. First, I was able to petition for several of the classes I'd taken at NGC to be accepted. This means I had to fill out a form explaining why I felt each class should be substituted for a course in CIUs curriculum. I gained back about nine credit hours by doing this. I've also taken several extension or distance learning courses. These courses are offered by several colleges and universities now and they basically are correspondence courses in which you work at home and send in lessons. Exams usually have to be taken at a specified location or proctored in some way but, other than that, they save a lot of hassle in terms of transportation. I've taken one offered by my school and am currently working on another through the University of South Carolina. When planning to take an extension course from another school, it is important and often necessary to be sure your college approves the course and will accept it as a transfer credit. These courses do cost money and do require a certain amount of discipline since you are not under definite deadlines or direct supervision by a professor. You usually have nine months to a year to complete them. This means they can be worked on during semesters and breaks. I prefer to take and finish them during summers. Completing three hours in the summer is a lot easier than trying to add an extra three hours onto an already packed schedule during semesters.

Another thing I will be doing this coming semester is taking what's called faculty directed study. One of the classes I need to take is not offered in the fall and, since I will FINALLY be graduating in December, I will be taking it under the direction of the professor who normally teaches the course. It will be like an extension course in that I do the work on my own and I'll also meet periodically with the professor who normally teaches the class to go over some things and clarify anything I don't understand. Again, a certain amount of self-discipline is required and good time management skills are a must.

Though I haven't done this, taking on-campus summer or winter classes is also an option but, again, money is involved. This may also mean going to a different university than the one you normally attend, which means mobility, transportation, and other issues have to be dealt with. Taking summer and winter classes also means working at an excellerated pace and not as much free time and may not be possible because of other commitments.

Dealing with the complexities of transferring has forced me to take responsibility for my education. I have had to do my own research into which schools offer extension courses and how to apply for them. I've had to take the initiative to contact faculty advisors, deans, and professors for the extra guidance necessary in dealing with tricky scheduling situations that go along with transferring.

Careful, sometimes advanced planning can be a must. I've thought I had everything figured out only to be tripped up by prerequisites I didn't know I had to take before enrolling in a needed course. I've learned to be assertive in explaining my reasons for wanting to set my schedule up in certain ways to my academic dean and advisor. This has meant thoroughly thinking through decisions and conducting myself in a professional, competent manner. It's also meant knowing, and being honest about, my limitations. I tried to take more hours a semester to get done quicker, and soon had to admit I wasn't Super Woman. Having a nervous breakdown will just slow down the process and falling grades are counterproductive, as well. If I'd known in advance how complicated transferring would be, I could've done one of several things to make my life easier. These are options for those of you who haven't actually changed schools yet. The simplest thing would've been to begin my college career at a school that offered the four-year degree I wanted so that I would not have to transfer at all. This would also mean I wouldn't have to deal with the challenges of being oriented to a new campus and making an entirely new set of friends. Since I chose to begin college at a school that did not offer what I wanted and knew I would eventually have to transfer, I could've done my best to quickly figure out where I'd most likely go after leaving there and take classes that fit into the curriculums of both schools as much as I could. If I couldn't or didn't do this in advance, once I was ready to transfer, I could've tried to find a school that looked like its educational requirements lined up well with what I'd already taken and transferred there. If this proved impossible, I might even have tried to find a school that gave me some amount of lee-way to personalize my own program of study.

If I had no idea where I'd be transferring to, I'd make sure to keep my grades up. Most places will not transfer in any course with a grade below "C." I would take general education classes, such as English, math, science, and history. I would make sure before beginning studies, the college I started at was accredited by a national organization that makes sure schools are working up to a minimal standard. If a school isn't accredited by such a known organization, such as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or whatever it is n your part of the country, credits will not transfer to an accredited college.

Philosophically, I wouldn't change any part of my college experience because of the special people and unique experiences that have been a part of making me who I am today. But transferring certainly hasn't been easy. If you are planning to transfer, or are even thinking about it, I hope some part of my experience can make the process easier for you. Good luck.

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Those Good Old Golden Rule Days
by Bernice Kandarian

(Editors Note: As NABS celebrates 25 years of service to blind students nation wide, it is only fitting to have an article written to give us a living account of how NABS came to be.)

As things typically work in ACB, the National Alliance of Blind Students came to be as the result of a request in the form of a resolution brought to the membership.

In 1970 TWO TEENAGE convention attendees, with help from ACB board member Judge John Van Landingham from Phoenix, wrote Resolution 70-04, passed on July 18th, 1970 in Oklahoma City. The two teenagers were Michael Byington from Kansas, who was there with his mother, Bonnie, a founding member of the American Council of the Blind, and Scott Marshall from New York state, whose mother let him attend the convention based on a promise by M J Schmitt that Scott would be a good boy at the convention. Some of you may remember Scott as Director of Governmental Affairs for ACB in the 1980s. Michael was a director on the ACB board and has served on many committees, most notably as chair of resolutions.

ACB President Judge Reese Robrahn of Kansas asked Mack Riley of Los Angeles to chair an organizing meeting of interested students at the 1972 national convention in Portland, Oregon. Durward McDaniel had attended a 1971 Associated Blind of California (now California Council of the Blind) convention where he noticed a number of young people. Mack had recently started the California Alliance of Blind Students. Unfortunately, the national group was unable to agree on a constitution at the Portland meeting so another meeting was held at the 1973 national convention in Knoxville, Tennessee. Knoxville was my first convention. I attended the meetings and assumed an active role. A consensus was achieved as to structure and purpose, a constitution was ratified and a board was elected.

President, Ed Bradley of Oklahoma, a Palmer West Chiropractic graduate, 1st Vice President Mack Riley of Los Angeles, a graduate student at the University of California at Irvine, 2nd Vice President, Gail Duchmann (now Lord) from New Orleans, attending Loyola University, Secretary, Bernice Kandarian, from Tempe an unclassified graduate student at Arizona State University, Treasurer, James Dobie, who was attending the IRS training program in Little Rock at Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind (now Lions' World Services for the Blind), and board member Gary Marshall, a graduate student at the University of Kansas at Lawrence.

I typed up the charter membership list of 25 students and the ratified Constitution, Jim Dobie sent me our dues check for $12.50 (NABS dues were $1 from which per capita dues of $.50 were forwarded to ACB) and I sent them off to ACB in May, 1974. In July at the Chicago convention President Mack Riley accepted the NABS Charter from ACB.

During those first five years in which I served as Secretary the succeeding presidents were Mack Riley, Eugene Lozano, Andrew Woods and Chris Gray. NABS had close guidance and counsel from National Representative Durward McDaniel and ACB President Floyd Qualls of Oklahoma. For instance, in Knoxville we asked Durward to meet with us at 2:00 am after our skinny dipping session to get his advice about our draft constitution. And, in Chicago in 1974 we asked ACB President Floyd Qualls to meet with NABS at 4:00 am for guidance on some issues. Both Durward and Floyd were always there to answer questions and give encouragement. Del Aman of South Dakota was also an important counselor for us.

In 1976 at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, NABS really came into its own with the assistance of Andrew Woods, who had just graduated from Columbia University Law School and Miss Billie Elder, a rehabilitation teacher from Little Rock, chair of the convention committee. NABS sponsored a Ho Down dance, raffled an afghan donated by Catherine Skivers of California, submitted some resolutions to ACB and hosted the first combined event in convention history. The event was a water melon bust at the hotel's warm springs pool with NABS and NABT MEMBERS. Also at that 1976 convention, NABS met the first ACB student intern, Chris Gray from Washington state, a graduate student at the University of Washington.

In 1978, NABS was successful in getting Chris elected to the ACB board as the youngest member ever to serve. Chris was instrumental in the acquisition of the first computer used in the ACB national office. He also traveled around the country interviewing people involved in the beginnings of ACB and created a ten part series on ACB history< "From the Archives" in the Braille Forum in 1980. In the fall of 1975, Durward did a national mailing to universities and colleges and NABS membership grew from that original twenty-five to over 150.

NABS President Eugene Lozano was appointed to an AFB advisory committee and worked with AFB in an unsuccessful attempt to secure a grant for a student resource guide that would include information about technology. Summer, 1976 at the request of then President Andrew Woods, EUGENE LOZANO from San Francisco, a graduate student at San Diego State University became Editor and creator of the publication that Gene named "The Student Advocate".

By 1978 NABS had become so active as a source of resolutions, including some of the first environmental access issues, that I was asked by Durward acting as agent for ACB president Floyd Qualls to chair the Resolutions Committee, the only woman to date to do so. Students are always short on funds so we would get two adjoining rooms and pile everyone in, providing the occasion for late night discussions and even a game called sardines, but I'll never tell. One student has never been heard from since. Who would have ever thought twenty-five years later such things are still going on!

NABS has been a training ground for ACB leadership and will always be looked upon by many of us as our foundation. We applaud those of you who have carried on through a quarter of a century. We were always concerned that it would be hard to keep a student group going because of the transitory nature of being a student. We are glad that we created an entity that would withstand the test of time.

American Council of the Blind Resolution 70-04 WHEREAS, the need exists for the accumulation and dissemination of information and facilities of particular interest and aid to visually impaired students; and WHEREAS, students in attendance at this convention feel that the American Council of the Blind could be of great assistance in developing a program and association of visually impaired students from the secondary level up, and that the purposes of this organization would include:
A. help with social adjustment to the school environment;
B. discussions of study techniques;
C. development of materials in special media;
D. investigation of mechanical aids useful to the student; and
E. mobility suggestions for students;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the American Council of the Blind assembled in convention at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, this 18th day of July, 1970, that the President of the American Council of the Blind be authorized and instructed to appoint such committees or persons as he shall deem appropriate to develop such a student organization as an affiliate of the American Council of the Blind to meet at the next general convention of this body. Adopted by convention July 18th, 1970.

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