BRAILLE BILLS: WHAT ARE THEY AND WHAT DO THEY MEAN?
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From the Associate Editor: Fred Schroeder has been a leader in the organized blind movement for a number of years. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. He is also an experienced professional in the field of work with the blind. Trained as a teacher of blind children and an orientation and mobility specialist, he directed the low incidence programs in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, public school system before becoming the Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind.
INDEPENDENCE: TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
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From the Associate Editor: Christine Boone is an independent young wife and mother who has worked hard for the Federation wherever she has lived since she first found the organized blind movement. She has learned the truth of the poet's statement that "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage." The most formidable limitations that stifle humanity are chains that bind the spirit, and most of these are forged in the human mind itself.
NEW INTERNATIONAL BRAILLE ORGANIZATION
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From the Associate Editor: Fred Schroeder is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. Ever since he concluded in high school that Braille was an essential tool for him if he was to succeed in life, he has been a passionate proponent of the code. In recent years he has served on countless committees and as a representative of the NFB at numerous national and international meetings concerning the use and proliferation of Braille. Here is his report on one of his most recent efforts:
WHAT USE IS THE LONG WHITE CANE?
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Sharon Duffy is Mobility Instructor at the Orientation Center of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind. She is a good teacher and a perceptive author. The following excerpts are taken from Miss Duffy's The White Cane, copyright, 1987. Apparently they appeared a few months ago in the publication of the NFB of Florida. Although we did not catch them at that time, we picked them up in the October, 1989, Insight, the publication of the NFB of South Dakota. They make a lot of sense. Here they are: Cane travel is one of the most valuable skills a blind person can attain.
THE BLIND SCIENTIST AT LOS ALAMOS
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From the Associate Editor: We in the National Federation of the Blind remind ourselves often that we are changing what it means to be blind in America, and it is most certainly true. But some things seem to take more time to alter than others. We successfully work for the passage of a law, and the conditions affected by that law change relatively swiftly. We persuade one educator teaching blind children of the importance of early Braille and cane instruction, and those youngsters are immediately better off.
LITERACY: THE KEY TO OPPORTUNITY
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On February 3, 1989, Fred Schroeder (member of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind, Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind, and authority on the education of blind children) addressed the Josephine Taylor Leadership Seminar, sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind. The seminar was held in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Schroeder's remarks were insightful and very much to the point, so we have decided to print his entire text. Here it is:
NEW MEXICO TEACHER PROUD OF STUDENTS
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Editor's Note: The following letter arrived in my office this spring. Although the overall picture of education of blind children is dismal indeed, there are some bright spots. Ms. Swiech 's letter reminds us that there are still teachers of blind children who go about their jobs with skill, enthusiasm, pride, and most of all, a rock-solid belief in the abilities of the blind. We can take heart from their example.
COMPETING ON TERMS OF EQUALITY AS BLIND STUDENTS
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Editor's Note: This article first appeared in the Fall-Winter, 1987-88, Student Slate , the publication of the Student Division of the National Federation of the Blind. It was then reprinted in the April, 1988, Braille Monitor . The author, Fred Schroeder, is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind. He is also the Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind.
STEP TOWARD EQUALITY: CANE TRAVEL TRAINING FOR THE YOUNG BLIND CHILD
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[PICTURE] Fred Schroeder, Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind.
[PICTURE] These children know another name for canetravel Freedom!
Editor's Note: Mr. Fredric Schroeder began his career in work with the blind as a cane travel (orientation and mobility) instructor for the blind. He moved on from that to became the Coordinator of Low Incidence Programs for the Albuquerque Public Schools from August of 1981 to June 1986. In 1986 he accepted his current postion as Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind.
BRAILLE: PEDAGOGY, PREJUDICE, AND THE BANNER OF EQUALITY
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(Fred Schroeder was formerly the Coordinator of Low Incidence Programs for the Albuquerque Public Schools. He presently serves as Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind (a position he took on July 1, 1986). This address was given in Toronto, Canada, on June 1, 1988, at a conference sponsored by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the theme of which was Braille: Future Directions. )