Throughout history individual blind persons have stepped forth to lead armies, pioneer and adventure, and produce some of the world's best art. Many high school and college students are only vaguely aware—if indeed they know at all—that such famous persons as John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, and Homer, best known of the ancient Greek poets, were blind. The careful student of history will find that blindness did not prevent individuals from becoming generals, monarchs, inventors, and explorers. Although many blind persons have found themselves objects of pity and scorn or victims of poverty, as far back as there is recorded history, some blind individuals have been among the most successful of the age.1
And blind persons have known the value of organized effort for centuries. During the middle ages in Europe, blind persons formed guilds in order to market the handwork they produced. The recent best-seller Shogun depicts a blind man as the very best massage artist of the Japanese courts in keeping with Japanese tradition. But only in recent decades have the blind organized for political action nationally.
With the exception of a small professional organization, the first national organization (limited though it was) either for or of the blind wa established in 1896. It had an imposing title, The American Blind People's Higher Education and General Improvement Association. Perhaps that title points out the real weakness of the organization. That is to say, the organization failed to recognize that the problems of the blind are common to all blind people, that it is impossible to solve the problem or problems of one segment of the blind only—to put it simply, the problems of the blind are common to all.
But the American Blind People's Higher Education and General Improvement Association did serve a purpose—a very important purpose. It was formed because some blind people had been denied the right to got to college, and they got angry about it. Therefore, they organized (as they should have done) to change the situation—to get the opportunity to enter college.
The beginning came about in 1905 when this organization made two changes: first, it broke ranks to let in sighted members; second, it changed its name and became the American Association of Workers for the Blind.
Very soon, the AAWB consisted almost entirely of staff members of agencies in work with the blind. That is, the members consisted of employees of such state agencies and private, charitable and welfare agencies for the blind as existed at the time. The AAWB became the voice of the organized workers of agencies for the blind in this country. If one wishes to translate this into business and labor terms, the AAWB became in work for the blind the National Association of Manufacturers.
The formation of the American Association of Workers for the Blind was, indeed, progress, for before that time nobody had organized on the national level to try to solve the problems of the blind. With the beginning of the AAWB, there was a pooling of thinking, a discussion of common problems. There was now a nationwide group of persons sincerely interested in work for the blind and joining together and trying to do something about the problems of blindness. This was not the end, but it was a step forward. It was a good thing.
The next milestone to be noted in work with the blind came at the end of World War I. The nation was concerned for soldiers who had been blinded in the war. Public and private agencies (although many were small and weak) were expressing a need through the AAQB for assistance and support at the national level. The next logical step came in 1920 with passage by Congress of the Smith-Fess Act, the fist national legislation to provide rehabilitation services for the blind, although on a very limited basis. Soon after, in 1921, the American Foundation for the bLind was established. The American Foundation for the Blind is not a general membership organization in the sense that there are membership organizations today. Rather, it is made up of a Board of Directors—a self-perpetuation Board—and a paid staff of something over 100 persons. It is a national agency in the sense that it attempts to deal with national problems that have to do with blindness and that it has regional offices in various parts of the country.
The American Foundation for the Blind very rapidly became a dominant force in the field of work with the blind in the 1920's and 30's. It became a central rallying point for public and private agencies for the blind, and it became the principal power in the American Association of Workers for the Blind. To continue the analogy with management and labor, if the AAWB is compared to the National Association of Manufacturers in work with the blind, the American Foundation for the Blind would correspond to a combination of IBM, AT&T, and Standard Oil, undisturbed by anti-trust actions.
By the 1920's there was a fairly well developed nucleus, a system of public and private agencies in work with the blind, and their pattern for the future was established. At this point let us examine a question: In what areas of endeavor did these agencies function? For in the 1920's these agencies within and outside of the AAWB constituted the entire field of work with the blind. In general they worked in four areas.
1. The first area was research. This field was particularly entered into by the American Foundation for the Blind. Developing the talking-book machine, learning how to make Braille watches for blind people, developing aids and appliances for the blind, doing studies of services provided, looking into the programs of schools for blind children—these and more were accomplished. Research was carried out, attempting to find the answers to all sorts of problems connected with blindness. This, insofar as the research was objective and scientifically conducted, was certainly a good thing.
2. The second area almost follows naturally from the first; that is, these agencies served as resource agencies. Obviously it does no good to do research unless its accomplishments are made available. People wanting to know about specific problems for the blind, the best techniques for dealing with blindness, or tools for aiding blind persons would contact the agencies, who, in turn, would answer questions and provide important aids, appliances, and information. This, too, was a step forward and needed.
3. Providing direct services was the third area. These services were administered more by local and state agencies than by the American Foundation for the Blind, or the AAWB in its national character. Some of the services provided were special charitable projects, dog guide training, the beginning of welfare programs, some limited rehabilitation, etcetera. Certainly no one could deny that this was progress in the 1920's. This was the beginning of work with the blind as we know it today.
4. There was, also, a fourth area. The American Association of Workers for the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind on a national level and the agencies for the blind in their local areas began to do something else. They began, quite naturally, to speak for the blind and to interpret the needs of the blind to the local community and to the nation. The Foundation placed a legislative analyst (referred to by some as a lobbyist) in Washington, D.C., to talk before congressional committees and to interpret the needs of the blind. This, too, was progress and a step forward. It was the first time that anyone had tried to bring the needs of the blind to the attention of Congress and the entire nation. It resulted in the passage of important national legislation in the 1930's. It also provided the blind of the nation with the motivation to speak for themselves. The agencies providing research, information, and services could not speak for the blind. The agencies could speak for agencies. The blind must speak for themselves. The blind began to understand this in the 1920's and more in the 1930's.
Just as in 1896 a few blind persons had organized into the American Blind People's Higher Education and General Improvement Association in order to get a higher education, so other small groups of blind persons ha organized in the first two decades of the 20th century. There were alumni organizations of schools for the blind. There were local associations of blind persons working for better conditions locally. By the 1920's some of these local organizations had joined together and become state organizations of blind persons. By the end of the decade of the 1920's some of these state organizations of blind persons were seen in state capitals before legislatures and other government officials. In the 1930's some of the leaders of these state organizations of blind persons watched and listened as the American Association of Workers for the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind spoke before Congress. Some of the state organizations of blind persons began to add their voices to those of the agencies that were speaking to Congress. The 1930's brought the passage of national legislation that would create three important programs for the blind of this country.
In 1931 the Library of Congress was authorized to circulate Braille books to blind persons. Later in the decade the Library of Congress was authorized to circulate recorded books and machines on which to play them. This was the beginning of real library service for the blind. Before the 1930's only a small number of Braille books were located in schools for the blind or in libraries scattered throughout the country. Beginning in the 1930's real coordination could be developed. Now, more that six decades later, blind persons have access to books and magazines in Braille and in recorded form. Libraries for the blind still have a long way to go to provide the blind and visually impaired with all reading material they need, but the laws of the 1930's made the beginning possible.
The passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 was also an important national beginning. Until that time blind persons had been assumed by society to be unable to work. Since blind persons were and are a part of society, most of them accepted this assumption with very little question. Local and state organizations of the blind succeeded in causing the creation of a special kind of factory of "sheltered workshop" for the blind in many communities. In these workshops blind persons came to do limited kinds of work and they were paid but a pittance. Therefore, until recently, poverty has been the greatest problem faced by the blind. With the passage of the Social Security Act and the involvement of the federal government in providing income to those who could not work or were not permitted to earn their own way (even though that income was extremely limited) came the prospect of relief from the crushing burden of poverty. Some blind persons did not know of the passage of the Social Security Act and its effect on them. Some were unable to take advantage of it. But there were those who did know, and who understood that the blind themselves must combine their efforts and help to fashion the administration of this new legislation which held the possibility of so much for the blind.
The third piece of national legislation which had an impact on the blind during the 1930's was the Randolph-Sheppard Act, passed in 1936. This law provided that blind persons should be assisted to set up news and candy stands in federal buildings. These blind persons would operate these stands in order to earn a living. Here was another important beginning—an opportunity for blind persons throughout the country to go into business for themselves to earn a living to support themselves and their families. Leaders of state organizations of the blind throughout the country understood the importance of this act. They understood that it was only the beginning of something that could be the means of a livelihood for hundreds or thousands of blind Americans. They understood that this kind of employment could help to set the stage for other employment for blind persons. Most of all, these few leaders of state organizations of the blind understood that the blind must find a way to have a voice in the development of this program and the others.
During the first four decades of this century, work with the blind changed from scattered fragments of services available in very spotty fashion to only a few blind persons to something far more substantial and comprehensive. The Rehabilitation (Barden-LaFollette) Act was not to be passed until 1943, but all the other legislation that created the beginnings of services that are extremely important to work with the blind today had been passed by 1940. Some private agencies were offering some services as well. Many (perhaps more than half) of the blind persons in the country who needed assistance did not know what was available. Informing the public of services and how to take advantage of them is bound to take time. But the beginnings were made. The first forty years of this century was an awakening and a beginning for blind persons, more than any to her period before or since. 1940 was a turning point: the end of one era; the beginning of another.
By 1940 the stage was set for the formation of a national organization of the blind. It could have been predicted that a few state organizations of blind persons would find it desirable to coordinate their efforts. It could have been predicted that a young professor of speech at the University of Chicago would gather other leaders of state organizations of the blind together to form a national organization of the blind. The National Federation of the Bind was formed in 1940 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with Dr. Jacobus tenBroek as its founder and first president. This was indeed another important beginning—the biggest step forward that had ever occurred in work with the blind. Only a few blind individuals realized the magnitude of the step that had been taken, but the formation of the National Federation of the Blind began a new era—an era which is only now, more than 60 years later, reaching maturity. Only with the formation of a national organization of blind people themselves to speak for themselves with a united voice could a real change in the status of the blind in this country begin to occur. Therefore, with the creation of the National Federation of the Blind came new hope that time, growing membership, increased knowledge and influence, and coordinated action would bring the minority of the blind into the mainstream of American society.
The young founder of the National Federation of the Blind, Professor Jacobus tenBroek, understood this from the beginning. Twenty-five years later he said: "The decade of the 40's was a time of building, and build we did. From a scattering of seven state affiliates at our first convention to more than four times that in 1950. In the decade of the 40's we proved our organizational capacity, established our representative character, initiated legislative programs on the state and national levels, and spoke with the authority and voice of the blind speaking for themselves."2
In 1943, as has been noted, Congress passed the Barden-LaFollette Act, which was the beginning of vocational rehabilitation in this country as we know it today. But the new and still very small National Federation of the Blind helped see to it that the blind were included to be served under this legislation. Furthermore, the Barden-LaFollette Act provided that states could give services to the blind through special agencies, or they could include services to the blind in general agencies which included all other rehabilitation services. This was an important provision in the law because some states had already established separate agencies to serve the blind, and the services of these agencies would have been interrupted or weakened if they had not been allowed to continue as they were. And services to the blind can be more effective if they are not mixed in with all other rehabilitation services. This was an important accomplishment and demonstrated (sooner than might have been expected) the importance of the voice of blind persons themselves expressed by a national organization of the blind.
Thirty years later in 1973 the Rehabilitation Act was rewritten. It was at that time that rehabilitation began to be available to blind seniors. Even today very little funding is designated for services to the senior blind, but there is an increasing awareness that there is a desperate need. Advocacy groups are working to improve programs for blind seniors, because more than half of all the blind are now past 65.
At the end of World War II the plight of disabled veterans was again of concern to all in America. But this was a new era, and progress had occurred since WWI. In 1945 blinded veterans formed an organization of their own in order to work for better opportunities and benefits. The Blinded Veterans Association was the second national organization of blind persons in this country, and it coordinated its efforts with the work of the National Federation of the Blind which was growing in membership, political know-how, and influence.
In the 1920's the first guide dogs were used by the blind in this country, but they were few and far between. The white cane with the standard curved top was used asa symbol to identify blind individuals, but it provided little information to the user. In 1947 Dr. Richard Hoover (working with blind veterans) found that a longer straight cane could be used as a tool for the blind person to obtain information about walkways immediately in front of him or her and would still serve as a symbol of identification that the user was blind. As teachers and students gained experience with the ling white cane during the next few decades, they continued to ask for longer and lighter-weight canes. Today white canes can be made of metal, fiberglass, or carbon fiber. They range in length from 50 to 65 inches, and tens of thousands of blind individuals use these long white canes to travel independently in their communities and around the world.
During the 1950's agencies (both public and private) which had been established to serve the blind began to hear from organizations of blind consumers they served. When the services were good, the agencies were told. When the services were weak or inadequate, the agencies were told. When the attitudes of agency personnel were disrespectful, paternalistic, or condescending, the National Federation of the Blind and the Blinded Veterans Association were not afraid to say so. Organizations of the blind were able (during the 1950's) to bring about a change in the hiring practices in the Federal Civil Service. Before 1950 virtually no blind persons were employed by the federal government. By 1960 scores of blind persons had been hired, and today thousands of blind individuals are working for the federal government. The National Federation of the Blind and the Blinded Veterans Association said to the agencies serving the blind: "Blind people must have the opportunity to get education in colleges, universities, and trade schools." And the agencies had to respond. States and the federal government gradually allocated more money, and more and more blind students were able to obtain a higher education. During the 1950's the National Federation of the Blind began to publish a monthly magazine called the Braille Monitor, which is still being published and is available in print, in Braille, on cassette, and on the Internet. Prior to 1956, the New Outlook for the Blind, (now called the Journal on Visual Impairment) published by the American Foundation for the Blind, had been the voice of work with the blind. The Braille Monitor brought a new perspective, that of blind persons themselves. Today the Braille Monitor is circulated to more than 30,000 readers and is the publication with the most influence in the field of work with the blind. The National Federation of the Blind found the means of raising the funds it needed to increase its effectiveness. It had affiliates in 47 states by 1957. Progress of the organized blind movement in the 1950's made the world a better place for the blind to live.
But the progress of the 1950's was not viewed with pleasure by some of the agencies working with the blind. They did not understand that agencies and organizations of the blind could work together—that agencies can be more effective if they work with organizations of the blind. The progress of the organizations of the blind seemed to them a threat (and indeed it was), a threat to their domination over work with the blind. But agencies were needed, are needed, and will continue to be needed—agencies that make use of recommendations from the blind they serve.
It developed that during the second half of the decade of the 1950's some of the agencies in work with the blind became very critical and hostile toward the National Federation of the Blind. Members and leaders were attacked in oral statements and in writing. Blind vendors were threatened by agencies that served them. Some staff members of some agencies tried to persuade members of the National Federation of the Blind not to support some of the projects and policies of the organization.
Senator John F. Kennedy and Congressman Walter Baring introduced into Congress a bill commonly known to the blind of the nation as the "Right to Organize" bill. It might be asked: How is it that such a bill could have been thought necessary by any group in the 1950's? Surely, no group in this country was denied the right to organize in the middle of the twentieth century. It is true that the National Federation of the Blind was growing in strength and the Blinded Veterans Association was active. It is also true that some agencies in work with the blind did all they could to discredit the voice of the blind including contacts with post office officials to try to discredit fundraising projects of the NFB; threats and attacks upon national and state leaders of the NFB; statements to members of Congress that the NFB was unreasonable, unrepresentative, and should not be consulted. "The Right to Organize" bill was never passed by Congress, but its introduction in Congress established beyond the shadow of a doubt the right of the blind to organize, to speak for themselves, and to be consulted by public and private agencies in work with the blind and by elected officials.
In 1961 a third national organization of blind persons was formed, the American Council of the Blind. From that time to the present there have been three organizations working to improve the rights and opportunities of the blind in America. The larges and by far the most influential is the National Federation of the Blind, with more than 60,000 members in the 21st century. These three organizations have not always agreed about the best methods and vehicles to gain integration of the blind into society. This is not surprising. The blind are a minority, working for a change of their status in society. Other minorities have found it necessary to organize in order to bring about change. Organizations of African Americans use different methods and take different positions on key issues affecting them. Organizations of women have thought it desirable to take different positions in matters affecting women. Organizations of the blind have also taken different approaches and used different methods to solve the problems they face. Like African Americans and women and other minorities, blind persons are changing their status in society. The organizations are necessary and have made progress which benefits, and will continue to benefit, all blind Americans.
Each of the three national organizations of the blind holds annual conventions to set policies and practices. The National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind have affiliated local and state chapters which hold monthly meetings and annual conventions. There is an affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind in every state and in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and local chapters in almost every medium-sized and large city throughout the country. The American Council of the Blind has affiliates in most states and some territories and local chapters in many cities. The Blinded Veterans Association has about 30 regional groups. Recent annual conventions of the National Federation of the Blind have been the largest gatherings of blind persons ever to be held in the world. Even though, as has been noted, there are three organizations of blind people in the country, it still remains true that the National Federation of the Blind is, by far, the largest and most widely representative. The blind are on the move.
The long-range purpose of the organized blind movement is to integrate blind persons into American society so they are accepted as normal, participating citizens—people you would want to know, to hire, to work with, associate with in clubs and recreation.
The goals of the NFB are described in a brochure entitled "What is the National Federation of the Blind?" as follows"
We must show the public that we are just normal people who cannot see—not helpless and dependent, and not blessed with special powers and gifts. We must teach those who become blind that blindness is not the end of life. We must show blind children there can be a full life waiting for them. With proper training and skills, they can take a normal part in society—education, a job, a home, a family, normal recreations (camping, bowling, water skiing), and participation in community affairs.
We must help blind persons find jobs. Blind people today work as lawyers, psychologists, machinists, farmers, hairdressers; but our best estimates indicate that 70% of those who are able to work still do not have jobs, or work only a few days a month in sheltered workshops. Many thoroughly capable blind persons have never had a job.
We must change the outmoded laws, regulations, and practices which keep us shut out. Blind people have experienced problems in buying insurance, adopting children, living in high rises, serving on juries, teaching, and traveling freely on airplanes.
We are reaching these goals, but there is still a long way to go.
Members of the NFB know that "the newly blinded individual faces a difficult adjustment. The person who becomes blind does not immediately become knowledgeable or expert on the subject. Instead, all of the prejudice and mistaken images of a lifetime still remain, plus the fact that the person is terribly frightened. One of his or her best medicines is to meet other blind people and learn of their jobs and the techniques they use to do things without sight. Membership in the NFB provides this common meeting ground and, even more important, a sense of participation and restoration of confidence. Members of the NFB contact newly blinded persons to help them with problems of adjustment," to answer questions about blindness and to help them find the services they need.
Why is the National Federation of the Blind a Special Organization for Blind Persons?
"The Federation" is "to blind people" as "labor unions" are "to workers; the Chamber of Commerce to business people; the American Bar Association to lawyers; the NAACP to African Americans; the American Medical Association to doctors; and the Farm Bureau to farmers. It is a vehicle for joint action by the blind. The National Federation of the Blind is the voice of the nation's blind. It is the blind speaking for themselves. The problem is too big for one person, or even local groups to handle. It requires the joint effort on the part of the blind and their sighted friends throughout the nation—in other words, the National Federation of the Blind."
The president of the National Federation of the Blind is Dr. Marc Maurer who has become the outstanding spokesman in the field of work with the blind in the United States now in the first decade of the 21st century. There are numerous governmental agencies and private charitable organizations and foundations providing services to blind people. Many of them do excellent work; but only the blind themselves (acting through their own organization) are able to speak for the blind. This is a basic concept of democracy.
During the last quarter of the 20th century public awareness of the capabilities of the blind was increasing steadily. Employment opportunities and community acceptance are better today than ever before; however, much work remains to be done. In 1990 the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act marked the recognition of this trend. Although it made no significant changes for the blind, it showed that the American public is becoming aware of the needs and abilities of the disabled, including the blind.
As increasing numbers of blind individuals are employed and are active in their communities, more and more sighted people respect them and accept them as equals. The quality of training in independent travel, Braille, use of computers with speech and Braille output, and the level of confidence for those individuals to be integrated into their communities in a way not often achieved until recently. Still today, the number of blind people who have received this kind of training is a small minority. Nevertheless, the future is bright with promise that these opportunities will be available to more people every year.
Since seniors who become blind have a lifetime of experience and knowledge to share, the American Action Fund works to assist them to adjust to sight loss in a way that enables them to continue the kinds of activities they have looked forward to during retirement years. This means that individuals should seek assistance in a variety of different ways, often from several different places. More and more information is being made available on the Internet. Often the best referrals are from leaders of organizations of the blind. Live contact with successful blind individuals can be stimulating, informative, and exciting. We urge blind seniors to take advantage of the contacts that can be found in the phone book and on the World Wide Web.
2. "The Federation at Twenty-Five: Postview & Preview." An address delivered by Professor Jacobus tenBroek, July 8, 1965; published in the Braille Monitor, August, 1965, pages 86-93.