A Blind Teenager’s advocacy Soap Box
By: Sarai Hernandez

(Blind Insight February 2012 Issue)

Editor’s note: Sarai is a senior in High School, and has had the chance to intern with the NFB of Texas office. She was the recipient of the third annual NFB Austin Glen and Norma Crosby Washington DC Student scholarship. This scholarship assisted Sarai in joining 500 other Federationist on Capitol Hill to legislate for the rights of blind Americans. Here is the essay that secured the award:

Blind people have the ability to accomplish anything by using skills gained through either training or experience. However, three issues affect their independence: the use of quiet cars on streets, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and voting technology.

Automobile companies have developed cars that are environmentally friendly, but they are very quiet. This presents a problem for blind and sighted pedestrians. Blind people use the sound of traffic to orient themselves when crossing streets. Quiet cars present a danger because blind people don’t know when they’re present. While most people can see them, blind people need to be able to hear them. People should not be afraid to cross a street simply because a quiet car may be around.

Another challenge to the independence of blind people is Section 14C of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which declares that people with disabilities can be paid below minimum wage. People can’t control that they have a disability, yet this law seems to punish them for it. If a person with a disability works as hard as others, then he or she should be paid equally. The law is unfair and should be amended — equal pay for equal work. .

A third issue that affects blind people is voting technology. Some blind people cannot vote on their own and need assistance with the machines. Blind people have the right to vote anonymously and can’t do that if they have to tell someone to enter their choice. There is a risk of that person purposely or accidentally selecting the wrong candidate, so all voting machines should be accessible to the blind.

Congress plays an important role in passing laws that benefit all Americans, including the blind. Legislation that ensures safe streets, fair wages, and secure voting would increase the independence of blind people to fully participate in society.

Editor’s Note: Richie is completing his second year as NFB Austin President. Here is what he has to say about the 2011 Austin Federation work:

With the blessing of our chapter members I was honored to be re-elected to serve as your Chapter President in January 2011. I will tell you from the bottom of my heart that it has been quite the experience. I have learned, listened, and grown to love the beautiful thing that we become when we gather each month. We should be proud of our accomplishments, acknowledge our needs for improvement, and keep marching together toward future successes.

In 2011, this chapter participated in a number of good deeds promoting the good news of blindness to the Austin area. We began by electing a diverse, intelligent, capable, respectable, and hard working board of directors. I thank my colleagues on the board for their help this year. These leaders in the Austin blind movement have represented us as professionals and experts in blindness. I thank Pamela, Janine, Heather, Thomas, Mike, and Angela. Because of you, this chapter continues to succeed. Because of you, I will continue to succeed as a leader in this movement.

We held true to our focus on Youth Initiatives by supporting a High School senior; Krista Akridge of the Texas School for the Blind, to experience the Blind Driver Challenge and the National Association of Blind Student Washington Seminar. With the NFB of Austin financial assistance and mentorship, Krista experienced first-hand the empowering drive, innovation, and voice of the Federation. The investment the NFB of Austin made on Ms. Akridge proved to be worth the expense. This young woman then attended her first National convention in Orlando, and is considering an NFB training center for her rehabilitation. Continuing the spirit of Youth Programming the NFB of Austin hosted its first ever BELL Camp for Blind Children. Together we celebrated the independence of blind people through fun activities in Braille, blindness lessons, and adjustment. Eight students had fun with the NFB of Austin mentors at BELL 2011. We continued to give back to the blind community by sponsoring a Diabetic Awareness March, wrapping gifts for Barns and Noble patrons each holiday season-showing the world what blind people can do, reading Braille to sighted students at the Campfire After School Program, sponsoring and participating in Austin’s White Cane Day celebration, enlightening the Daily Local Newspaper and interested community of the independence and legislative initiatives of the blind, and hosting social gatherings outside our business meetings at local restaurants and member’s homes.

We have expanded our presence on the web thanks to our members and our awesome web master. Thomas Stivers a long time friend of mine has found his nitch in our band. Please join us to celebrate our accomplishments, plans, and federationism at: www.nfbaustin.org. This site makes the Austin blind movement accessible and informative to all. Because of our presence on the web I have received many calls, we gained new members, and our current membership is enjoying this new innovative outlet in furthering our communication with each other and the World Wide Web. Our web page includes: information about blindness relative to Austinites and across the country. The web site continues to promote the calendar of events, meeting podcast, and a message board blogging feature for members. This year we added Blind Insight: our monthly publication written by our members that emphasize the good news of the blind. In addition, we now have philosophy, announcements, Braille awareness, cool pictures, video footage, and much more on our awesome web site. Thomas continues to help us with the call out service that takes a 30-second message, and will call out to all the members on our list.

The Chapter benefited from over 3000 dollars of fund raising efforts. These were represented by a few dances with Dinner’s in the Dark Blind Café events, Holiday Auction, Bake Sales, convention hospitality massages, convention King Size Candy Sale, BELL Camp Registration Fees, and donations. Jane Lansaw and Heather Stivers and their tireless effort organizing the Barns and Noble gift wrapping opportunity also should be recognized for contributing to our finances.

The NFB of Austin has accomplished the networking aspect to our community involvement. We have invited the community to meet the blind on many occasions this year. Our chapter has reached out to community partners such as: The Camp Fire Project-after school program for elementary children, Austin Statesmen-the local newspaper, a summer music camp for elementary aged children, AISD and UT Music Graduate Student Teachers for our BELL Program PE, music, and Art classes, and a private inventor interested in developing blind technology. NFB Austin will continue to broaden our horizons by networking, learning, and shaking hands with community partners.

Finally, we have grown in leadership and membership. The members list of the NFB of Austin has surpassed 100 contacts. We welcome Marcy Gonzalez who has helped our Board of Directors in local projects like: state convention logistics, establishing a presence for a Diabetic Action Network for NFB of Texas, assisting in BELL Camp 2011, and the Dinner in the Dark. We are blessed to have found hard workers such as John Franks, Travis Weed, Taryn Schriewer, Max Nguyen, and Oumar Diallo who have all stepped up this year to help with our chapter projects, events, and fundraisers.

There are a number of areas of improvement in which I hope we work on. First, our voice for the Austin blind needs to raise in volume. As President I have come in contact with agencies of the blind, blind persons themselves, and sighted people that have miss-information about what the NFB really is about. This only means that we aren’t educating the public enough about who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. This begins and ends with a sound philosophy, that in my opinion this chapter can work on establishing. Let’s find our voice, tune it up, and scream the good words, works, and wisdom regarding blindness.

Secondly, because our membership has grown, the chapter needs to find places for everyone. The Austin Chapter membership participation outside of showing up to a meeting has progressed some, but still can use some tuning up. Perhaps this is the fault of your board of directors, it could also be that our membership is unaware of the work that is needed, in fact, I believe it’s a little of both. This needs to change. This is a member’s movement, and we cannot promote our cause without the contributions, voices, strengths, and talents of everyone. Let’s all find a job in this chapter and fit in to this affiliate. Find a job that you enjoy, and take satisfaction from. If you don’t know what to do, ask someone who might have an idea, be open to that idea and give it your best shot.

Lastly, this chapter can work on follow through with the responsibilities it has committed too. The Board of Directors had many dreams our first meeting back in February. I know that we tried many new things, and we learned from each project. I feel with a re-evaluation of our unified philosophy, group participation, and individual commitments we can change what it means to be blind in Austin. I thank you for the opportunity to lead this chapter, and I hope I have represented you well. To next year federationists.

Editor’s Note: Richie travels to Baltimore a few times a year with up to ten Blind Youth from Texas, to attend the Youth Leadership Academy at the Jernigan Institute.  The following is a speech he delivered at the December 2011 Academy to 10 teachers of the Teacher’s of Tomorrow Program, and twenty-five students from across this country.: 

The popular holiday story of the Christmas Carol depicts a man named Scrooge, who despises the holiday season, cheer, giving nature, being Mary and such. Scrooge receives some late night ghostly visitors who show him how his past, present, and future can be heavily affected if one doesn’t take part in happiness, meaningful relationships, and community involvement.  In comparison to my own 30-years of personal experience with blindness this concept rings true as well.  Take note on the following examples of how my Blindness past, Present, and Future have played a significant role in where I am today.

My Blindness past consisted of: cancer in the retinas at 2, loss of total vision at 3, and hurray Braille and canes at 4! In elementary school I learned abacus in the 80’s, Braille N Speaks, Lite’s, Key-Note Goals, Perkins Braille and Print gadgets, and my favorite the clunky Apple2 E, that even had some blind kid video games on it.  This game called Space Invaders was quite annoying for an adult, but I was the kid at the time, so I’m sure I began at a young age providing headaches for my Teacher of the Visually Handicapped as it was referred to then.  I had it pretty good in Elementary school; I was literate, social, the only blind kid in a small town, so a bit of a celebrity, and pretty full of myself.  Blessed with a supportive family, good teachers, and a network of school friends, I at times would pretty much forget that I was blind. Images of my blindness past are: rollerblading with friends, playing football in the back yard with the neighborhood boys, hunting with my dad, first kiss at 12, and doing well in all my classes through the sixth grade.  Middle school brought a new direction in my blindness path.

I was 13, first week at Kenith White Junior High, when my blindness was first ever presented to me which caused me to be embarrassed.  I learned from a friend of mine, that on my street, there were two signs that read: “caution blind child area.”  A young guy interested in remaining cool, and not being singled out as the blind person, I had my friend show me these signs, and without his help took them down, and put them in the family garage.  I found out later that the signs were some local politician’s idea that had approached my loving parents who were just “caring about their energetic and daring blind son’s safety.”  This was an argument that my parents decided to agree to disagree with me, all though the signs stayed down.  “Caution blind child area,” meant people needed to act differently because of me, and I was embarrassed about that.  The dramatic social change in adolescence was in full gear.  I no longer could realistically compete in tackle football. In fact I played the last 3 games when the whole B team failed and the Kenith White Junior High Hawks didn’t even have enough kids to field a team.  Math and Science were no longer solvable with an abacus, I lost my Teacher of the Blind to retirement, and I was struggling with a Teacher’s Aid who was hired to learn Braille who originally wanted to work with the deaf.  Fortunately, I still had some friends, although, my friends began heading down the wrong paths also.

I recall talking one of my classmates who graded my Math homework, in to giving me consistent 85s, whether I deserved them or not.  We got caught, and spent a few days in the in school suspension room together, and that was the last time I ever talked with Rigo.  Who wants to be friends with the blind cheater?  I also had this neat idea that walking without a cane hid my blindness, and therefore people wouldn’t realize I was the only blind person in the room.  That worked up to the point, when at a choir concert I walked off the back risers, twisted an ankle, had some snickers from my peers, and played sick for the next few days.  I would try everything and anything to be cool: which got me in to trouble with my mobility as a blind person, education, and parents.  Walking with the wrong crowd, without a cane, neglecting my studies and holding low expectations for myself and meeting others low expectations of me.  As President of the 8^th grade class, we were responsible for decorating the cafeteria for the Valentine’s dance, and I recall being told by the Student council Sponsor that I was the supervisor, and that I didn’t have to help.  Popular enough to be president, but blind enough to do nothing.  Surely I could have hung balloons, streamers, colored in or cut out hearts.  No one had ever seen a blind person do those types of things, and so the expectations were that I couldn’t.  I accepted this trend of doing nothing, not advocating for myself, getting passed over in education, and equal participation in activities with my peers.  I began to feel sorry for myself. 

I owe all of my success to my blindness present situation.  An awesome mom, who is a teacher herself, who cared, supported, and invested in my education with her heart and love.  She wanted me to be a participant and so talked me in to joining the Future Farmers of America, where I learned to care for a 200 pound lamb, to bulk up for harvesting.  I learned a lot from this experience: responsibility feeding and exercising an animal twice a day, I was able to work with my hands, be outside, and make a new network of friends.  My family also supported my education as a blind teenager, by against my will, recommending that I take Algebra and Geometry over again at the School for the Blind.  Being uprooted and transplanted in to a world of blindness was quite overwhelming at first.  Going from being the only blind person to now having to make friends with blind class and even roommates was quite the experience.  The school for the blind proved to be the answer to many of my educational concerns.  Mainly, because I was able to be guided by a counselor toward applying for scholarships for college, in which I was fortunate to be granted by the NFB of Texas.

If one wins a scholarship from the NFB, it is required that you attend their convention to accept it.  I remember having to miss my School for the Blind prom, to attend a convention in Temple Texas.  Little did I know that I would find the best dance partner of all time at this event?  I got to meet so many successful blind people.  Blind people with real jobs, blind parents, businessmen, pretty girls who danced circles around me with their canes, and and over all presence of confidence, independence, and a positive blind culture.  I found out that many of the cool people I had the pleasure of meeting that weekend all had this boot camp blindness training in nearby Louisiana under this Drill Sergeant named Joanne Wilson.    The very first adult meaningful decision I ever made upon completing High School, was to challenge myself in blindness at this center.  For the first time I had to: cross the interstate, walk from one town to the next, get $100 of groceries home without any car transportation, take a college class, read amd write faster Braille, make a meal for 40 people, build a checker board with my two hands, do something productive with a computer, and have weekly conversations about my opinions, frustrations, and beliefs about blindness with the Sergeant.  You see I may have missed the prom, but I gained a life dance partner with the NFB.  My heavenly ghosts of Blindness Present, or blind guardian angels; Joanne Wilson and her Queen’s Guard.  I recall while in training having to make a pizza for a small group who I wasn’t particularly fond of, and having to clean up someone else’s mess because center instructor rosy Caranza thought it would be a good training opportunity for me.  I promise you Rosy, I now can make a mean pizza from scratch, entertain the four walls around me, and own a pair of these cool shoe looking things that are actual mops to clean and cook at the same time.  Rosy networked me with Jason Ewell who a few years after our training, we traveled the country together building chapters of the NFb, uniting our talents to share the awesome opportunities of the federation.  Because of the NFB, I now had positive blind role models, colleagues, and friends. 

Its meaningful relationships such as the ones I have with the people I just mentioned that assisted me through undergrad and graduate college, and now as a young professional.  Jason use to walk me through college math problems over the phone, rosy always had a listening ear to my daily issues, and Joanne always kept the high expectation that she demands that we succeed.  We cannot buy faith and hope such as that, and for that I am thankful.  For that, I look forward to my Blindness future.  I look forward to continuing to be a loving husband to my lovely wife.  I look forward to advancing my career utilizing my degrees and relative experiences.  I look forward to working with Blind Youth in Texas and across the country with the NFb.  I look forward to being the best friend I can be to others.  I look forward to spending more time with all of you, and getting to know your accomplishments.

By: Marcy Gonzalez

Editor’s Note: Marcey joined the chapter in early 2011, and has help to spark an interest in beginning a Diabetic Action Network for the NFB of Texas. She has been instrumental in the logistical planning of our Dinner in the Dark, BELL Program and State Convention. She is one of our new leaders in our local movement. The NfB of Austin is proud and lucky to have Marcy on our side. Here is what she has to say about her life struggle with diabetes.:

My name is Marcey Gonzalez and I am a diabetic. This unfortunate illness has caused me to lose a substantial amount of my vision. My poor management of my health is partly to blame for what I know now to be “legal blindness.” It is my hope to educate those who may be struggling with diabetes through my work in the NFB of Texas.

For millions like me, diabetes is an earth-shattering realization that happened when I least expected it. I was always proactive when it came to every facet of my life, except with my health. I just took it for granted that my health would sort itself out. My whole life changed because of poor management of my health. I will admit that at some point I convinced myself that I would be ready to deal with the complications at age 60 or 70, but that wasn’t the case. I now had to deal with the consequences in my 30s, the prime of my life. What I had not planned on is that life is unexpected, and it isn’t always on your terms.

A body needs maintenance checks, just like every other thing out there in the world. For example, a phone, a common thing that everyone has and utilizes daily for everything from email, to games, to facebooking, and sometimes even phone calls. We buy coverage to protect it, we get warranties, extended warranties, and we keep up with the latest technology updates. We even sit around and talk about which versions are the best, and so the list goes on and on. The question is, why don’t we do those maintenance health checks for our body? Why don’t most of us take those extra precautions by eating well, getting the warranties such as by exercising, etc. This concept should be applied to our own health as well.

I got my first “floater,” a little dark shadow spot, in my eye driving home from downtown after a happy hour, thinking my glasses were dirty. I realized when I got home that it was indeed the effects of diabetes, and something that my doctor had mentioned I was going to acquire. Here it was, and as I looked in the mirror, I had a flashback of all that I could have done – and should have done – and now it was too late. The rollercoaster ride had begun.

Blindness is the leading complication of diabetes. It can also cause other complications such as heart disease, strokes, kidney, foot problems (including poor circulation, ulcers, and amputations), nerve damage (including tingling, pain, and numbness or weakness in the feet and legs), and even depression. Most of us know that diabetes is a disease that affects so many, but you don’t necessarily realize that you could be next. Review the risk factors and symptoms listed. If you have any of the following symptoms, please don’t hesitate to discuss with your doctor.

One step toward the goal of improving your quality of life is education. NFB’s Diabetic Action Network can help by standing unified to support and motivate each other toward better levels of nutrition and fitness. Knowledge is power, and we need to empower ourselves with the tools that will help us fight the battle.

I struggle every day with weight issues, with making those healthy eating choices and having the motivation to exercise. There comes a point when you’re staring down at the scale, your inner voice constantly struggling to choose to eat healthy or not, and to be active or not, and knowing the realities of what could happen if you don’t take responsibility for yourself. I’m not claiming to be the perfect example – by far I am not. But I am declaring a statement of commitment moving forward to make better choices with healthier eating and staying active. Empowerment comes within yourself, making those right choices and knowing that you are a healthier person than you were yesterday. Eventually that will turn into a month, then a year, and before you even know it, you have made a lifestyle change.

A person must be their own self advocate. Fight for what you have left, because it’s your LIFE, and there is nothing more valuable than your healthy self. No instant gratification is worth what you will have to face – along with your family and friends, who are ultimately affected as well.

Just remember “Positive thoughts equal positive results.”

Risk Factors for Diabetes
Age over 45 years old
High-risk race or ethnic background
Being overweight (especially around the waist)
Low physical activity level
High blood pressure
Family history of diabetes
Bleeding gums
History of diabetes during pregnancy

Symptoms of Diabetes
Urinating often
Being very thirsty
Being very hungry
Being more tired than usual
Being irritable
Losing weight
Experiencing blurry vision
Hair loss
Darkening ring around neck

Stay active and be healthy!

Editor’s Introduction

Richie Flores is the President of the NFB of Austin local Chapter. He and his wife live and work in Austin. Richie enjoys working with youth, playing music, and sports and recreation. This is what Richie has to say regarding the Austin Chapter’s involvement with “Meet the Blind Month.”

The month of October is a very important month. First, it’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Secondly, America’s game of baseball celebrates it’s World Series crowning the World Championship team of the sport. Lastly, it happens to be the month that holds the birthday of your NFB Austin Chapter President. The month of the Libra, home run hits heard around the world, and a national movement to educate about the independence of persons with disabilities. The NFB of Austin chapter would like to Keep Austin Blind but not in the dark about our effort to promote the good news of the blind. We have been hard at work, educating, fundraising, mentoring, presenting, networking, developing, and supporting all things positive relative to blindness in the Austin community. Thank you October for showing up to the ball game, NFB Austin has been waiting for you to join us in celebrating “Meet the blind year!”

First, we began by supporting a Texas School for the Blind student with a scholarship to attend the Blind Driver Challenge, and the Washington Seminar. This allowed us the opportunity to introduce this student to our powerful leadership, advocacy, and follow through. The Texas representatives and their office staff know who the NFB is because of our presence on Capitol Hill early this year. In the month of March our chapter participated in The Blind Café dinner, Q&A about blindness, and concert in the pitch dark. Over 250 individuals were able to benefit from the positive philosophy, knowledge, and federation expertise provided at this event.

In the Second quarter we began by tackling the state legislature. The NFB of Austin marched the halls of the state capitol advocating for the abolishment of House Bill 3629, legislation abolishing the Department for Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. Many of our materials, contact information, and information were presented to our state legislature. This particular Bill was never presented publicly, and so, we consider that a small victory in actively impacting legislation. The chapter was able to host Dinner in the Dark a spin off of the Blind Café, and learned that we have many friends in the community. The Superintendent of the School for the Blind, Work Force Commissioner, Lion’s Club President, Capital Metro Accessibility Coordinator, a few cab drivers, and many more attendees had the chance to meet the NFB at this event. In the month of May we educated Elementary aged students involved in the Camp Fire Project-an after school program geared toward enriching the lives of at-risk-youth. We continued to demonstrate independence through Braille, alternative techniques, and mentoring by meeting with a summer music Camp for school aged children in the month of June. We capped off the second quarter of the year, by introducing 8 blind elementary students to our organization. The NFB of Austin organized, funded, and carried out the Austin Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL) Camp-a 2-week day camp for blind children emphasizing fun activities in Braille, Mentoring, and alternative techniques.

The third quarter of this year has furthered our introduction of our movement and advocacy to the Austin Community. In July, a local retired Mechanical Engineer, and inventor presented his ideas of creating innovative technologies for the blind. This inventor gathered the information necessary from the actual population he wants to serve in advance to avoid marketing a faulty piece of equipment. Future assistive technologies in the recreational field, object recognition, and GPS software may result from this forum. In August the NFB Austin participated in The Blind Café Version 2-networking, and educating the public while, securing funds for our local Youth Program initiatives. The Blind Café gained us much recognition. An NFB Austin Board Member was featured in an article in the Daily Texan-a University of Texas student News Paper. ABC News also covered the Austin Blind Café on their Internet News service spreading the local issues of the blind even further. Feel free to check this out at: http://multimedianewsroom.us/turning-a-blind-eye.htm

In the final quarter we will focus on conducting much of the same hard work of sharing the spirit of independence of blind people with our community with enthusiasm. In October, “Meet the Blind Month,” Austin will continue its “Meet the Blind Year,” campaign by participating in the annual White Cane Day celebration for the Austin area. NFB Austin will manage the Newsline table, and recruit new blind individuals to the free newspaper by phone service, and NFB members will proudly march the downtown streets with our Whozit banner quoting “Keep Austin Blind,” for this event. In addition, the nfbaustin.org web site will launch the “keep Austin Blind,” magazine-featuring a monthly educational article written by our own membership. An elementary school library has opened their doors to NFB Austin so that we can promote Braille reading, and educate a few classes about blindness. On October 15, the actual historical day deemed “White Cane Day,” the Austin Chapter of the NFB will celebrate with the BELL Camp students we had fun with this past summer. It will be great to see our little friends once again to mentor, learn, and have fun with Braille. On November 5, we will Step Out to Stop Diabetes and promote awareness of one of the leading causes of blindness. We will also be the hosting chapter to our state convention on the weekend of November 11, 2011. It is our mission to create the most hospitable and memorable gathering of Texas blind individuals. Will end the year as we have been doing the last few years’ by participating in gift wrapping during the holidays at Barnes & Noble Book Store. This will give us the opportunity to show the community that the blind love giving back just as much as everyone else in the holiday season.

To conclude, every month is meet the blind month for the NFB of Austin Chapter. The Austin Community is more than welcome to peruse our web site, seek our expertise for advocacy, and socialize with our membership. We look forward to carrying on the tradition of being the home-run hitters, and voice of the blind in this wonderful city we call home. Together, we march for security, equality, and opportunity. Together we can “Keep Austin Blind, but not in the dark!” Happy Meet the Blind Month everyone!