COUNCIL
OF THE BLIND
Opportunity, Equality, Independence
Founded 1935
WCB NEWSLINE
Summer 2025 Edition
Crack That Egg!
Andy Arvidson, President
Phone: 425-218-0190 Email: arvidsonandy@gmail.com
Heather Meares, Content Editor
Phone: 720-519-9104 Email: hdmeares@gmail.com
Reginald George, Technical Editor
Phone: 816-721-3145 Email: theWCBNewsline@gmail.com
WCB Newsline is a three-time winner of the Hollis Liggett Braille Free Press Award, presented annually by American Council of the Blind to the top publication in the nation (among ACB s state and special-interest affiliates) for promoting best journalistic practices and excellence in writing.
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*** Calling All Members
We will publish the fall 2025 WCB Newsline in October, and the theme is On Being Resourceful! As always, we look forward to reading your honest feedback on the current issue and receiving your quality submissions.
All content for the Fall issue must be received by Sunday August 31.
*** Publication Guidelines
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Table of Contents
President's Message by Andy Arvidson
It s Your Newsline Just Say It! Compiled by Reginald George
Cheshire Cat Interviews #27 Three Egg Omelette by Heather Meares
Speaking Up: What Advocacy Means to Me Now by Heidi Coggins
Walk on Olympia for WTBBL by Beth Greenberg
Trail of Shells by Randy Tedrow
You Can Be Kind, Supportive, and Polite by Holly Turri
Learning from a Child s Honesty by Mistie Hale
Advocacy: The Never-Ending Project by Sarah Edick
Blindness Should Never be Weaponized by Julie Harlow
Book Chat by Alan Bentson Former Readers Advisor, Washington Talking Book and Braille Library
Back to Basics by Kyle Woodard
Cracking into Space Camp by Frank Cuta
Sporting Spotlight All About Blind Cricket by Beth Greenberg
Going Way Back: Lyrics to My Ears by Alan Bin
It's A Dog s Life Chapter 9: A New Kind of Life by Marilee Richards
Rolling Along with Amtrak by Alco Canfield
Summertime Lemon Blueberry Loaf by Heidi Coggins
Technically Speaking Astronomical Values by Frank Cuta
Some Great Tips for Public Speaking By Ardis Bazyn
How to Turn a Blanket into a China Cabinet by Frank Cuta
Advocacy: Southern Style by Sheri Richardson
Family Connections by Heidi Coggins
Washington State School for the Blind Graduation 2025 by Scott McCallum, Superintendent
Update from the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library by Danielle Miller, Executive Director
First-Time at ACB: Connections, Learning, and Inspiration by Tim Breitenfeldt
Opening WCB to More Voices by Cheryl Cumings
United Blind of Whatcom County Low Vision Information Fair by Beth Marsau
Hats Off Compiled by Linda Wilder
2025 WCB Calendar of Deadlines and Events
President's Message
by Andy
Arvidson
Hello all. It has been such a busy year since the last time I reported to Newsline. Highlights included reintroducing myself as chair of the WCB Outreach Committee, participating in the WCB Leadership Committee, taking on young blind interns for the sightless self-defense program for Department of Services for the Blind (DSB), connecting with the Blind Veterans at American Lake about working with us through a self-defense program, creating an ongoing WCB Resolutions Committee, attending the ACB conference and convention, closing of the doors to the public at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library (WTBBL), the recreation of our Outreach Committee, the starting of a new leadership seminar for the coming year, making the difficult decision to retire as your WCB president, and finally, the outpouring of thoughts and concerns about our future in this administration that has been devastating for organizations like ours. We can succeed if we keep our nose to the grindstone.
At the ACB elections this year, we had Deb Cook Lewis elected as president, David Trott as first vice president, Kenneth Simien Jr. as second vice president, Katie Fredrickson as secretary, Michael Garret as treasurer, and Cheryl Cummings as board director. What a role WCB had in the elections! I got the privilege of serving on the nominating committee again this year. I hope many of you will get the opportunity to do this in the future of this organization. The next three ACB conventions are in St. Louis, Jacksonville and Minneapolis.
WTBBL has shut its doors to visitors except by appointment. Things have been tough for Danielle Miller with the loss of funding this year. Talking with young people who are DSB clients/customers who are headed to college this year, there are lots of fears about how this may affect their college textbooks. WCB, along with National Federation of the Blind of Washington, made a march on the capitol building April 2 to try to avert this budget crisis from happening, but could not stop it.
The WCB Outreach Committee is rebuilding with some new projects that we hope to get written and mailed, some of which are letters to all public schools about who and what we are.
At the ACB convention, this is the second year in a row that we have shared space and time with the Blinded Veterans Association s convention. Even more opportunities to work together on projects important to both organizations could be forthcoming.
The Blind Veterans at American Lake have reached out to us, and we have started a communication process with them. Because I teach sightless self-defense for DSB, the instructors from American Lake who work with blind veterans have asked us to work with them, as well. There were two members from the youth track at our convention last year who have come forward to become interns in sightless self-defense. They are brothers from Tacoma and are interested in learning and someday taking over the program.
This could be an outreach opportunity for finding new members for WCB. Speaking of outreach, The WCB Outreach Committee chairperson stepped down, and there was no one left on the committee who wanted to chair. In fact, there was only one person still holding a position. Therefore, I reintroduced myself as chair and brought a couple more members onboard with me. We have started holding monthly meetings and reinvigorating the committee.
The Outreach Committee is looking at getting into local newspapers with articles that will bring attention to WCB and hopefully help spread the good news about all we do.
Julie Brannon and the Leadership Committee have already sent out announcements in regard to the next leadership seminar. They are hoping to get started in September.
Now, for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say. I am retiring as president of WCB at the end of this year, mostly because of health. Diabetes has dominated my life for 66 years as of this January, and now I have two heart diseases and a kidney disease, which is taking a toll on me. When you elected me last October, I weighed 171 pounds. Today May 26, 2025, I weigh 144 pounds. That is a 27-pound drop in weight, and I wasn t fat then. Most of you know I have a very strict diet, and it has gotten even more restrictive since I am working with the kidney doctor. Therefore, I am not going to run for a second term as your president this year.
In love and service,
Andy Arvidson
Letter From the Editors
Greetings and salutations,
As the editors of our Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) Newsline, we are so pleased to be able to call our publication the 2025 winner of the Hollis Liggett Braille Free Press Award for Excellence in Journalistic Practices and Writing. It was a great honor for us to be able to travel to Dallas, TX, to accept this award in person at the American Council of the Blind (ACB) national convention. It was a truly memorable life experience. Thank you to the WCB board for helping us to accomplish this trip, to our fantastic Newsline committee for all your dedication and hard work, and to our readers and authors without whom we would have no publication. Thank you to the ACB Board of Publications for honoring our Newsline with this award.
Our biggest mission since we began this journey has been to give everyone a voice and let those voices be heard. We have learned so much along the way and can only hope to get a little better with every issue, as we continue to evolve and meet the needs of our community.
We would also like to give tribute to Carl Jarvis, who started this publication 53 years ago, for his knowledge and forethought, and a passion for WCB and this publication. And, to Denise Colley, for having faith in our ability to take on the Newsline as brand-new editors almost eight years ago when it was needed. We had no idea what we were doing, but she knew we could do it and has mentioned several times that it was a decision she was most proud of making. We are doing our best to make you both proud, and know you are smiling down on us all today.
Yeehaw and thank y all!
Your Faithful Editors,
Heather Meares and Reginald George
It s Your Newsline Just
Say It!
Compiled by Reginald George
Here comes your opportunity to express your thoughts, voice your opinions, inspire us with your ideas, and share your feedback as we continue to evolve our publication into the Newsline you can t wait to read.
We have some great news to share. If you haven t checked out our podcast page for WCB Newsline Unleashed lately, you could be missing out on some informative, exciting entertainment. We have over 20 timeless episodes covering all types of adventures in low vision and blindness, with more wonderful content on the way. And now you can find us on YouTube, along with all the usual places. Just search for WCB Newsline Unleashed. Here is our direct link: https://www.youtube.com/@WCBNewsline
You can also listen to all episodes of the podcast through the ACB Media Network, or at https://wcb-newsline-unleashed.pinecast.co
or just ask your phone or smart speaker to play podcast WCB Newsline Unleashed.
Deadline for Newsline submissions for our October fall issue is Sunday, Aug. 31. Send all submissions, feedback, and other content to TheWCBNewsline@Gmail.com before that date.
At Newsline, we are always on the lookout for new writers on almost any topic. Your poems, stories, and essays are always welcome. We are especially interested in encouraging new youth writers to step up and show us what you ve got. Help us tell the world that we are currently running a contest. If you are under 21 and submit something for publication, you will be placed in a drawing to win one of two more $50 gift cards this year. The deadline and address are the same as above.
A Sample of Recent Reader Feedback
Heidi Campbell: In the article Vanishing Culture: Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communication by Ms. Kay Savetz, she mentions that amateur radio has lasted for well over a century and has resulted in all the communication technology we have today. She is also worried that far too many of these experimenters and hobbyists have failed to make preservation of the results of their efforts a high priority. Consequently, through DLARC, a subsidy of the Internet Archive, she has endeavored to collect and digitize as much radio and television material as she can.
Here are some solutions to the problem of what to do about radio, video, and TV programs and related items that are no longer useful or desirable:
Post any and all programs on YouTube.
Contact Ms. Savetz about donating materials to DLARC.
Donate all obsolete technology and programs to local museums.
If possible, an amateur radio hobbyist should digitize all related material themselves.
And finally, when a hobbyist plans on a last will and testament, they should stipulate that after death, all communication materials and equipment be donated to museums and digitized for posterity.
From Beth Greenberg on the election of Cheryl Cumings to the ACB board of directors: Wicked Awesome! Congrats Cheryl!
From Dorene Cornwell: Congratulations Cheryl! It was wonderful to hear during nominations speeches all the ACB work Cheryl does. Also, events put on by the Multicultural Affairs Committee are, for me, one of the highlights of the convention.
From Danette Dixon on the recent passing of Denise Colley, current ACB secretary, current president of the Braille Revival League, former WCB president, and former chair of the Newsline Committee. These are only a few of her many gifts of time and love to ACB and WCB:
Rest in peace, my friend. Denise was one of the kindest, most humble, caring persons I have ever known. She always took the time to listen. Denise touched many lives in WCB and ACB. Well done, my friend, fighting the good fight I will be sad for a little while, but I will see you again someday.
Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors, and do not reflect those of the Newsline Committee or Washington Council of the Blind.
FEATURES
Cheshire Cat Interviews #27
Three Egg Omelette
by Heather
Meares
Our world as we know it is changing at a very fast pace and on multiple levels that are affecting the lives of people with disabilities. So much information is being thrown out there, it s hard to determine what is fact or fiction, and can be overwhelming if we allow it to be. But, that s exactly what we want to avoid at all costs because that s when we shut down, feeling as if there is no hope. It is in these times of crisis that we need to be heard more than ever. The most common question I hear, regardless of the specific issue, is, What can I do? Of course, there are many answers to this question, but it all circles back to advocacy, which can be an intimidating word for some people.
That s why I decided to bring in the experts to hear what they have to say. I can t think of a more dynamic and powerful panel of women than these three Dr. Lynne Koral, Judy Brown, and Dorene Cornwell. It is with great respect and honor that I introduce this triumvirate of advocacy and government affairs, so that we may all learn more about them, and from their words of wisdom and experience.
I asked them six questions and here are their responses.
Heather: Who are you and what would you like us to know about you?
Lynne: First and foremost, I am an extrovert. I love people. I have lived in New York, Los Angeles, Juneau and Anchorage, Sarasota and now Washington for more than five years, and have made friends in almost every place. I keep in touch with friends and I keep them. I have dropped some that did not serve me. I have always tried to figure out people and their motivations. I had two brothers one a twin, and one older than me. I went to a school with sighted children. Only once did I end up in honors class for English for four semesters in high school. I learned piano and violin. Because I was blind, it was thought that there was something wrong, so I did have some counseling. When my older brother went to school in another state, we went through family therapy. When I was 25, I followed my boyfriend to Los Angeles. In 1973, we went to Europe and I got pregnant. He got a job and we moved to Los Angeles. I got my first dog guide when I was pregnant, at San Rafael.
Judy: I am a full-time case management nurse who happens to be blind. I lost my vision suddenly, about 8 years ago, due to a genetic defect in my optic nerves. I am originally from Maine. My son and grandsons still live there. My daughter lives with me here in Washington state. Before losing my vision, I was a critical care trauma nurse. I then became a para-anesthesia nurse, which is a fancy term for a nurse who works in the pre-op and recovery room part of the hospital.
Dorene: I was born in Billings, Montana, with congenital cataracts. I have worn glasses since age two and became legally blind in my early 40s when the detached retina part of DNA lotto kicked in. I made it through college and grad school reading regular print out of one eye and started learning Braille as an adult. I read slowly. I love the pattern aspects of Braille, and it would have been SO convenient instead of holding my paper a few inches from my nose for 7th grade speech class.
Heather: How did you get started in advocacy-related work or government affairs issues and why?
Judy: My first exposure to the political world was when I volunteered to work for the gubernatorial campaign of Jim Longley, who became the first independent governor of Maine. During my nursing career, I worked on patient safety legislation, nurse patient ratio legislation, and laws that would limit mandatory overtime for nurses. I was a union president for over 12 years. I worked alongside activists from the Teamsters, AFL-CIO, and was a voting member of the founding convention for National Nurses United. After I lost my vision, I realized how many issues the blind and low-vision community faced. I decided to take my experience and training and apply those talents as part of the Washington Council of the Blind Advocacy and Government Affairs committees. I am now chair of Government Affairs.
Dorene: I got started in college in the early 1980s, concerned about the threat of nuclear war and the wars in Central America. I helped several groups invite speakers to campus who had different perspectives than the speakers invited by academic departments and other programs. I did a little bit of canvassing work and other support for a lobby group in Washington and studied Russian and international affairs in grad school. Two things happened as a result of dealing with my blindness. I was thinking about transportation and the environment and what kind of living options I wanted. I needed to regroup because doing the programming and IT work I had done previously with a screen reader did not seem feasible. To stay engaged mentally, I started going to public meetings, and one thing led to another. Because of this, I got to meet a lot of other committed people with disabilities who also strongly shared many of my concerns and were already working together. The other point was that I needed specific tasks to focus on while learning the JAWS screen-reading software. So, I agreed to be secretary for a statewide, faith-based lobby group that works on several issues important to me. I liked the feeling of being able to contribute and of feeding a really good team.
Lynne: In high school, we blind children started to form a group we called The Blind Power Movement. An article was written about us in The Village Voice, and one can still find it, because it was reprinted by the National Federation of the Blind. We demonstrated in front of the Lighthouse with signs, such as Jobs not judgment and Bread not breadcrumbs. We had meetings, but when we all went to college, we disbanded. We saw that parents were not being educated, and we wanted to change that. I had been told that I would never get a job when I attended junior high school.
Heather: What is the most important issue to you personally?
Dorene: Honoring the different gifts and passions that individuals from across the political spectrum bring to problems and getting people engaged in creating a future that addresses real problems. Also, good sidewalks are life-savers.
Judy: I think it is most important to help people in the blind community to find their own voices. I do what I can to encourage others to tell their stories. Every person has a story. You are the expert about you. By speaking up, you help educate others, including those in decision-making roles. Maybe the issue is something that you think others would consider trivial, but it is important to you. This is your cue to speak up. I encourage everyone to look inwards and find your voice.
Lynne: I don't know if I can pick only one issue that interests me. Alaska Independent Blind passed the first voting access bill in the country. I really love working with legislators and legislation. In Alaska, I got to know most of the legislators because, in terms of population, Alaska is small. I am also very interested in trauma and disability. I was one of the people who went to train on trauma and disability in 2004. I was also in a leadership program in 2003-2004, in Anchorage.
Heather: What do you hope to see in the future of people with disabilities?
Lynne: Access to information is very important. It was not as true growing up, but now most of us have access to information. But not everyone does. We need to teach as many people as we can about the benefits of technology. I received a Braille 'n Speak notetaker in early 1990. I have always loved technology.
Judy: My hope is that society starts to really understand that people with disabilities are people. The ideal is that decisions are made with inclusive design built in. We all deserve equal access that is not special treatment, that is basic humanity.
Dorene: I hope technology and social understanding of how to meet everyone's individual needs keeps getting better and better, and that we have a clean environment and honest politics to sustain the power of freedom.
Heather: What advice would you give to new advocates?
Judy: Find an issue that you are passionate about. Start small. Write an email or make a phone call. Volunteer to be part of the change you want to see happen. You can be the catalyst for the change that needs to happen.
Dorene: Jump into something you are passionate about, even if everything does not go perfectly. Keep at it. Build up expertise and a portfolio of experiences to draw on.
Lynne: We must help people find their voice and listen to what their passions are. Everyone has something they are passionate about. Everyone has something to share.
Heather: If you could say one thing to the world, what would it be?
Dorene: Courage. Connection. Voting matters, but voting is not enough.
Judy: Empathy is not a weakness it s a strength.
Lynne: Lead with love. Everyone is equal. There should be no hierarchies, since that makes people feel that they cannot lead or make decisions. I was once told, Please, make mistakes. I have always been a perfectionist. We have to be nicer to ourselves and each other. It is up to us to model the behavior we want in others. I have had many experiences, and I love facilitating groups on Zoom. I have had three relationships in my life, and I am a widow now. I believe judging others (even ourselves) is not the best thing to do. We should be kind to others and ourselves. It is impossible to explain my 73 years in a short essay, and I have had a lot of academic education. I believe the most important thing is communication and equality.
Well, this three-egg omelet is full of some eggsellent advice, a whole lot of eggsperience, and most importantly, voices full of passion. Perhaps these words will help each of us find a path to start cracking those eggs that are important to us, to find our own voices, and to be part of the change.
Speaking
Up: What Advocacy Means to Me Now
by Heidi
Coggins
Since losing my vision in 2021, I ve heard the phrase self-advocacy quite a bit. Before that, the idea meant something different to me. Back then, I was advocating for myself as a medical patient and organ transplant recipient. And even earlier, I was speaking up just to be heard as a woman, a working mom in corporate America, trying to keep up with colleagues who had more time, more education, and fewer responsibilities.
I also had to push back against the idea that I didn t belong in the tech world just because I was a woman who liked technology. Let s just say, I ve had practice using my voice.
But, becoming blind brought a whole new layer to advocacy. Now, I m not only standing up for myself as a blind person, but I often find myself speaking out for others who don t have a loud voice. (Side note: I ve always been a loud one, and it definitely helps when singing!)
It can be exhausting constantly educating people, whether it s how to interact with someone who has no vision or just navigating public spaces with dignity. Every trip out of the house feels like a chance to teach but, whew, it wears you down.
This past February, I had the amazing opportunity to attend Guide Dogs for the Blind in Boring, OR. I came home with the most precious partner: my guide dog, Pink. She s a 45-pound white Lab with the sweetest pink nose and the best manners, thanks to her incredible puppy raisers.
Pink is smart, gentle, and absolutely adorable and, yes, she knows she s cute. She loves people, which makes it tricky when we re out and about, because everyone wants to pet and cuddle her. I knew this would happen, and I tried to prepare for it. But it turns out that now I m also advocating for her.
Whether we re in a restaurant, at the doctor s office, riding the bus, or just walking down the street, I m speaking up, not just for me, but for both of us. Her safety and ability to work come first, and sometimes that means gently (or firmly) telling people to admire her from a distance.
Over the years, advocacy has worn many faces in my life. I ve spoken up in hospitals, in boardrooms, in training sessions, and now, at bus stops and grocery store lines. I ve had to fight to be seen, to be respected, and to be treated fairly.
But here s what I know for sure: I am not less because I can t see. And neither are the people I ve met along the way who are blind or visually impaired.
We live in a society that calls itself advanced, but it shouldn t take so much effort just to belong. No matter your race, religion, disability, or who you love, no one has the right to make you feel like you don t deserve to be here. You do deserve respect, kindness, and equal treatment. Always.
Walk on Olympia for WTBBL
by Beth
Greenberg
On April 2, members from the National Federation of the Blind of Washington (NFBW) and Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) came to Olympia to speak to our state Legislature about saving our Washington Talking Book and Braille Library (WTBBL).
In our van from Vancouver, WA, we had 10 people. Some were members of NFBW, some were from WCB, and some were from the Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow LIFTT program (a program housed at the Washington State School for the Blind for youth that have graduated from high school but need to learn to transition to being on their own).
We met at the Capitol building with others from around the state. We got the flyers to hand out to our senators and representatives that had contact information for both organizations and talking points about WTBBL. We had an appointment that was arranged ahead of time to meet with Vancouver s Rep. Sharon Wyle. We sat in a conference room with her and introduced that we were with both organizations and wanted to talk to her about the funding for the library. She listened and was very helpful and said she would go talk to Democratic Rep. Monica Stonier on the Ways and Means Committee. Rep. Wyle even said she wanted to know what events we are having in Vancouver, and she would see if she could attend or get the word out for us.
We then went to Annette Clevland s office and spoke with her staff person in a conference room. He gave the standard line that he would pass on the information to the senator but couldn t promise anything. He was a nice guy and is from Vancouver, just down the street from the school.
We had lunch as a group in the cafeteria at the capital.
Then we went and met with Rep. Monica Stonier in the viewing area of the House of Representatives caucus chamber. She seemed very receptive to our issue and said she would see what she could do. She even mentioned that Rep. Wylie did come running over to her in a meeting a few hours earlier talking about WTBBL.
As we know, the libraries were not a priority for the Washington Legislature. It is not just blind people that WTBBL serves; it serves people who are print disabled, such as those with dyslexia, or other learning disabilities. It serves those who are not able to hold or conveniently read books. WTBBL has a reading room in the corner of the building where they hold story time with the toddlers. It has a conference room that was used by NFBW for the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics program (STEM2U) the last couple of years.
It was great that both consumer organizations were able to work together for a common cause. We have held other rallies in the recent past to support voting rights and accessible prescriptions in Washington. I am sure we will continue to work together as more issues come up so we can protect other services that blind people need.
Trail of Shells
by Randy
Tedrow
Ah yes, collecting eggs, a daily chore of mine on the small, suburban farm I grew up on. The best thing about raising chickens was the fried chicken dinners mom used to make. Yummy!
I can t recall now if we had a dozen or a couple dozen hens, and that single blasted rooster that crowed at dawn, 10 o clock, 4 in the afternoon, or whenever he felt like it. Going to the nest rack and exploring, sometimes under the hens, to find the eggs and hopefully finding some oh gross, that one was sitting on her poop!
Taking the still-warm eggs in a literal basket and candling them and getting rid of the eggs that were bad. To candle, an old coffee can with a small hole in the bottom was placed over a light that would show through the eggs so the yolk could be seen, and the decision would be made whether to keep, or compost. It was always exciting to find a double-yolked egg, and I think once there was a triple yolk. We never seemed to run out of eggs.
Years, decades, even later, I became legally blind, and I began cracking more eggs. However, it wasn t like the old days when I d crack 30 dozen eggs double-handed to prepare breakfast for 300-plus people. No, in the late 90s I became the cracked egg. It was me, stumbling around without a cane. I told myself, I wasn t blind, I just couldn t see as well as I used to. I thought those white canes were great for those poor blind people.
I may have hit bottom on one particular day when I stumbled from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services office in Kent, WA, after realizing the office wasn t where I needed to be.
Earlier in the day, the taxi driver whom I had used to get there and had a passing friendship with, asked if I was okay in a concerned voice. I said to myself again I wasn t blind, I just couldn t see as well as I used to. He did give me his card so I could call him. The blasted print was too small. Still not blind, just couldn t see as well as I used to.
I weaved my way across the parking lot. I knew I didn t want to cross the narrow roadway across the train tracks. Then, I found the gully that ran by the tracks. Then I found myself at the bottom of the gully, only slightly scraped and bruised. By then, I think my blood sugar was dropping, Ow darn diabetes.
I finally found my way to the tracks. Not sure how long I waited at the bottom of the gully just listening. Once I got to the tracks, I made my way across and promptly found the bottom of the gully on the other side. I brushed off my clothes, not sure if I got the weeds out of my hair or not. I did pause to wonder if the glasses I d stopped wearing might have helped.
I knew there was an AM/PM store close by. I finally found my way inside and asked for help and told them I had only a couple dollars, but I needed something to eat and could they help? As I couldn t see very well. I didn t bother them with not being blind. I recognized the shaky legs, difficulty talking, and I d say that I had trouble seeing, but that s been covered.
They asked if I needed the paramedics, and I said, Of course not! So, they walked me over to the seating area and fed me and refused my couple dollars. Slowly, the world began to stabilize and make sense once more. I profusely thanked them and casually walked in as straight a line as any drunk man in history. I may have caused a bit of a traffic jam as I crossed Kent/Des Moines Road. How was I supposed to know when the lights were in my favor? I mean, 167 was to my left, there were turn lanes that seemed to always be in motion, and the traffic was going back and forth.
I made my doctor s appointment on time, and I called a good friend to come and pick me up. No eggs were harmed in the breaking of that story.
Turn the century forward. Finding out about the Department of Services for the Blind (DSB), (great for those who needed it), and through the Orientation and Training Center, about the Washington Council of the Blind (WCB).
In the between time, I applied for jobs, and though I was recommended by bosses and others, because I was blind, (I even had the white cane to prove it), I was told that unless I could guarantee my ability to make it on time every day, they couldn t hire me. I was somewhat working with two wonderful ladies from DSB who got rather vexed that I hadn t called the cavalry in sooner.
About that time, I learned about WCB and that I had rights, even though I was blind. I somehow got the idea that I wasn t a throw-away person, and that I didn t need to sit on the corner with a tin cup after all. All the good corners were taken by then anyway.
I learned new words too, like advocacy. I realized it was much more than a word. It happened when the then WCB President Cindy Hollis and the WCB board rented a bus, and we went to Olympia for the first time. We stood on the steps of the Capitol. The Secretary of State even addressed the combined National Federation of the Blind and WCB crowd from an upper window.
Sad that I can t recall what that event was for. I do recall the senator I spoke with as very kind condescending, but kind.
Regardless, the issue ended in our, the blind and disabled community s favor.
That was the first trip and not the last time I ve spoken up for the rights of those of us who are blind.
You
Can Be Kind, Supportive, and Polite
by
Holly Turri
In the description of this issue s topic, it said don t walk on eggshells. We are supposed to advocate. That s great, but as my grandma said, Flies are drawn to honey more quickly than to vinegar. Things like demand our access, and make people change just make this old lady very tired. Plus, stepping on eggshells makes them break, and then oh boy howdy, what a mess to clean up.
Yes, the world needs to change in many ways. Doing the right thing because it s what should be done is far more valuable than forcing someone to do something because they must. Advocacy is a good thing, but respect is even better.
When I was a child who had finished fifth grade, I wanted to go to a girl scout day camp. My mother went to talk to them and found out they didn t want me. She asked them why, and they said, What happens if she gets hurt? What happens if she wants her mom?
My mother said, I ll make a deal with you. You allow her to attend, and I ll be a scout leader in another unit, which does not have my daughter as a member.
As I learned later, this was not that big a deal for mom. When she was a kid, it was during the Depression, and her folks couldn t afford scouting. She really wanted to join. So, dreams can be filled when we least expect.
The powers that be talked about it and wisely said that it sounded like a great idea. So, for one year, mom was a camp counselor. The next year, they didn t invite her back. Of course, I was happy to attend.
Now, there are many ways this could have been handled:
1. My parents could have said, The heck with it, and I would have to do something else for summer.
2. My mom could have thrown a huge, nasty fit and threatened to sue.
3. My mom could have gotten all the parents of blind kids in my county and age group to protest with their moms in front of the camp.
What I learned from this is that how the outcome is resolved is as important as the solution. When I want something, I have a hierarchy of responses. Some are listed:
1. Pray. God can show me the best way to deal with things.
2. Try to make everyone happy. Compromising and imagination work well.
3. Ask them what ideas they might have to solve the problem.
4. Try to find a result that reassures those in charge.
5. If all else fails, take the dreaded assertive action.
Another thing to keep in mind is that everybody has a supervisor. If I am not getting the result I want, a request for a boss s name usually works wonderfully.
Finally, the media is my friend. Even if I don t contact them, the threat that I might makes those who are in charge feel very nervous. Oh yes, and agreeable, too.
Learning from a Child s Honesty
by Mistie
Hale
(Note: This is Mistie s third article for Newsline, so it s time to know a little more about her.)
Mistie says, I m blind. I m a woman of color. I ve battled cancer multiple times and was recently diagnosed with heart failure.
I hold multiple college degrees and have had a wealth of life experiences, including homeschooling my son.
I m 44 years old and live in Eastern Tennessee. I lost my vision due to neuroblastoma when I was about four years old, but that hasn t stopped me from living a full and adventurous life. I attended public school until third grade, then transferred to a state school for the blind from fourth through eleventh grade, before returning to public school to graduate my senior year. After my junior year, I moved out on my own, and by 21, I had purchased my first home. Recently, I moved into my second home, where I currently live with my beloved dogs.
I m a proud mom to a wonderful son who recently moved out and now lives with a friend and his family. I homeschooled him all the way through school, helping him navigate autism and dyslexia with therapies, workshops, and love. Through that journey, I developed a deep understanding of special education needs, which led me to earn a bachelor s degree in elementary education and a master s in special education and reading literacy.
Professionally, I ve had a variety of roles. I currently work at Olive Garden, where I ve been rolling silverware and washing dishes for three years, and I also private tutor kids, especially in reading.
In the past, I ve worked as a substitute teacher, foster parent, and home daycare provider. While I ve always struggled to find steady employment due to discrimination as a blind person, I find joy and purpose in the work I do. I m also a Rover sitter and earned my canine specialist certificate from Stratford Career Institute in 2022, further deepening my passion for dog care.
I read Braille, enjoy romantic comedies and cozy mysteries, and have a deep love for music and singing.
My faith in Jesus is central to my life, and I love being part of a church community that supports and uplifts me.
You may reach Mistie through her Facebook page at Vision through the mist, a woman s journey, or write to her at mistiehale28@yahoo.com
Article Begins:
Last night, something happened that got me thinking, not just about children and their honesty, but about the world we live in and how we respond to truth, especially when it comes from the mouths of babes.
Let me start at the beginning. About a year and a half ago, I met a new friend. She s the kind of person who lifts you up just by being around. She s kind, encouraging, and not once have I felt less-than in her presence never pitied, never dismissed, never treated as if my blindness made me other. We spent a lot of time together, and her daughter, now around eight years old, often joined us. That little girl and I always had good conversations. She s the type who tells it like it is, and if you ve ever worked with kids, you know that s just how they operate. They say what they see, what they think, what makes sense to them in the moment.
Yesterday at Vacation Bible School, I was serving in a different capacity than usual helping serve food to the volunteers. That meant pushing a cart loaded with lemonade, tea pitchers, and crockpots. Now, I ll be honest, this is not my favorite thing. I ve done it before, years ago, and I ve developed my own method: I pull the cart behind me rather than pushing it in front. It lets me better sense what s in front of me since I can t see it. I was a little nervous, not because I doubted myself, but because I hadn t done it in a while. And with a hallway full of kids (who are supposed to walk but often forget), it required extra attention.
My friend was standing in the hallway and called out, Watch out, she s coming through! Her daughter, standing beside a new friend, calmly added, Yeah, watch out, she s blind.
That was it. A simple, matter-of-fact statement. Her mom looked shocked and corrected her, just a bit flustered. Today, the mom and I talked, and I reassured her I wasn t offended. Not in the least. Her daughter wasn t being mean. She wasn t being dismissive. She was being honest.
What she meant was, this person can t watch out for you, so you might want to watch out for her. That s not offensive, that s common sense. It s awareness, something a lot of adults could use more of. Her daughter didn t say I was incapable, or unsafe, or less-than. She simply pointed out that I was blind and pushing a cart and, yes, while I was doing my part to be careful, it d be nice if everyone else did, too.
It reminded me of a job I had years ago at a restaurant that was, in a word, toxic. One of my tasks was pushing a cart of glasses on a flat, unstable slab of metal with no sides. The very first time I tried, the cart hit a dip in the floor, the stacks toppled, and every single glass shattered. After that, I carried one stack at a time because it was the only safe way to do it.
But people would dart in front of me, stop suddenly, cut me off, and I was constantly trying not to crash into them. Finally, out of pure frustration, I started yelling, Blind girl coming through with glasses! It wasn t polished. It wasn t elegant. But I was tired of people not being mindful. Of course, it caused a stir. People said, She can t say that! And I responded, Why not? It s true.
Now, at the restaurant where I work today, I d never need to shout anything like that. The people there are kind. They re mindful. We have a better cart with sides, and when I move through with stacks of glasses, I simply say, Coming through with glasses, just like everyone else. That s our safety word. If someone forgets theirs and we bump, they apologize. People look out. And you know what? That makes the biggest difference. It s not about announcing your disability. It s about creating a culture where everyone is aware and considerate, where everyone looks out for each other.
That little girl yesterday may have sounded blunt to some, but to me she was wise beyond her years. She said what many people tiptoe around. She spoke truth in love. And that truth wasn t harmful, it was helpful. She knew I couldn t see them, so she asked them to see me. If more people thought that way, the world would be a far less hazardous place for all of us.
Advocacy:
The Never-Ending Project
by
Sarah Edick
This is for you. You know who you are. You gave me a home when nothing was available. You gave me shelter when I was refused shelter due to my disabilities, including my lack of sight. God bless you.
The party, yes. It was a party, lasted a long time. Laws were past, and it was over? Not by a longshot. The advocacy continued.
Two years later, a pandemic hit us like one major ton of bricks. Where would the homeless live? God only knew. Shelters were full, and nobody was feeling safe enough to let someone in. Homeless people were in danger of losing their apartments. Fortunately, laws were passed to keep the almost homeless in their apartments. And still our friends died of COVID. Our hearts broke over the losses that we faced.
After the pandemic was over, we had new problems. The homeless camps were disbanded. The blind are also looking for homes. People in wheelchairs are freezing to death. People with disabilities are frightened, trying to find help.
So, what do we do? We continue to advocate. I said in the title that advocacy is a never-ending project, and it s true. We keep locations open to help the homeless find their belongings. We work in inclement weather. We advocate for those too terrified to speak up.
An eight-year-old girl was discriminated against. You re blind, and so you have to sit in the front seat. I don t want you getting hurt. This child cried. She was bullied because that driver singled her out. She cried to her mom: Mom! It s just not fair! Mom called the school district. They said that the driver was in the right.
You re discriminating against my daughter. Would a lawsuit change your mind?
After three years, the child got to sit where she wanted. However, it was too late. Teachers used her. Children hit her. During a recess one day, a bully-boy took her white cane, and hit her in the jaw. Accidently, she hit him, literally where he parked in his school chair.
The child was blamed for defending herself. So, she decided at 11 years old that death was the answer. The child wrote a note, explained that she didn t have a reason to live, and that she had a plan to end her own life. The principal came to her home. Did you know that your child is suicidal? You need to get her help.
Why do you want to die, her parents asked?
Because! I m sick and tired of being a target at school. I can t do anything without being picked on. I never have a good day. I don t know what fun is anymore. I m blamed for defending myself. You see this mark on my cheek? Some stupid kid put it there.
That, friends, was the start of my advocacy. I was 11 years old and I didn t have relief. I was bullied. When they weren t bullying me, they sang, Sara, Sara, Storm-clouds are brewing in your eyes by Starship. I hate that song to this day. I was hit, slapped, had my collapsible cane stolen, I had no rest. I was finally pulled from school and held back due to the bullying. In home school, I read. I worked hard. I read like a freaking maniac. I felt free. That s how it started. I moved from the world of the bullies to a student-lead movement called See You at the Pole, to advocating for myself at the Washington Department of Services for the Blind Orientation and Training Center.
Then harassment at Center Park and discrimination at Right Park House. I d never heard of reverse discrimination, but I sure got a taste of it. It was one nightmare after another, except with family. I felt safe with my family. Then the illegal eviction. Two months later, the call came: Sarah, we have an apartment, and it s ready for you.
Seven years later, and I m in love with the walk-in shower, accessible kitchen, nice bedroom, and a living room that is the bees knees! I love it here, but it s never over. There are two men in my building who are legally blind. There s a young woman who is blind and hospitalized. She died of sepsis, and an aneurysm. She was my friend. I was broken up.
Someone named John is living in his car, legally blind, and requires medical attention. I m heartbroken that there s always one more hopeless person who needs a break, whether from abuse, bullying, discrimination. And let s not forget the disabled people who live on the street. I remember hearing a devastating news broadcast about a man who froze to death in his wheelchair. Why you ask, are the blind, deaf, and physically disabled still not accepted in shelters?
Here's what happens: homeless person, I m homeless, and I need a place to stay.
Shelter, No. You re blind. We can t help you.
Person who is blind, is rejected. But what s worse than that? Shelter says: Client refused shelter. This is so wrong.
So, we keep fighting the system. I advocate for them. I ll never give up. I want these people to have a home like I do with my cat, Joy-Joy, with my wheelchair, with food in my cupboards, with a shower, toilet, friends, and most of all, family that cares. Family that stepped in when a female in her forties had nowhere to go. Wherever you are, people with disabilities are sleeping on your streets. They don t want to be there. They want a home, not a cardboard box. They want to buy their food, not beg from a shelter. Let s speak up. If we don t, nobody else will.
Blindness Should Never be Weaponized
by Julie
Harlow
In late 2024, during the Washington Council of the Blind convention, I met a lovely young lady named Melodie. We immediately found commonality, with both our eye conditions, and going through court. Melodie s ex-husband was trying to gain custody of their young child. He was using her postpartum emotions and her blindness as tools and weapons to gain sole custody.
As Melodie and I shared our stories, I was reminded of my own trial after an accident, and how the opposing lawyer weaponized my vision to explain blindness as a character flaw. He articulately stated I needed to use it for my own financial gain, as I could not be successful any other way. During my court proceedings, I was not aware that the descriptions they were using were false. Because I did not have any audio describers during the court proceedings, I could not inform my attorney that these key facts were incorrect. These facts gave credibility. I lost the favor of the jury and reflected on what could have been improved. Has our legal system gotten better in the 11 years since my trial? Sadly, no, we still have some work to do here as a blind community. The system, the lawyers, and the judges all could use knowledge in this arena.
During Melodie s and my conversation, my first thought was to ensure that she had some visually-impaired representatives in the audience. The jury would see she had community. We are not hiding in back alleys, stuck away somewhere. So, in March of 2025, my friend, Cathy, and I, driven by our longtime friend, Laura, took off to the Des Moines Municipal Court. We spent two days listening to a prosecutor weaponizing Melodie s disability, using blindness as a bomb that would explode her baby boy s life. Because she was visually impaired, she could never take care of her child the way a sighted mother, or the boy s sighted father could. This is our community, and what do you all think? How many of us are parents and are visually impaired? Listening to this was very insulting. Was this all the prosecutors did? Oh, of course not, it got worse.
Laura kept looking at the faces in the jury box, telling us how they kept looking at Cathy and me. We struggled many times not to shout at the prosecutor or jump up and tell them to learn about blindness and how capable we are as human beings. Two ladies behind us, who were sighted but had blind friends and family members, were just as upset as we three were. At one point, the prosecutor made a statement, which was so viscerally insulting, Cathy almost fell out of her chair as she landed on me. I was so appalled, my hands flew up, and had something been in them, it would have been over the whole courtroom. Laura put her hand over her mouth, trying to keep quiet, but gasped. The two ladies behind us gasped so loudly that the whole courtroom turned to the five of us. Cathy and I were visibly upset, as we mumbled, I can t believe he said that.
Sadly, after all the insults, none of us five could remember the exact statement the lawyer made during that moment. We will have to check the court transcripts later. Our section of the courtroom was singled out by the judge at the end of the day. We were ordered not to show any responses audibly or visually during court proceedings. The judge warned us not to prejudice the jury. Should we show such a response again, she would remove us from court.
What about the prejudices to us as a blind community? How often have we seen Court TV, and audible gasps have happened? Remember the leather glove in the O.J. Simpson trial? Not just the court gasped, but the entire world did. However, to ensure our presence in that courtroom, we tried to comply with the judge s order. So, the next day, we tried in vain to maintain our composure as the insults flung towards our community. This, my friends, took Cathy and me quite a bit of restraint.
The next day, during the prosecutor s cross-examination of Melodie, I could not restrain my facial expressions. I kept quiet, but I could not maintain a non-affected face. Melodie believes her font size request was received; however, this may be incorrect. Melodie s lawyer had asked about her accessible needs. It is not clear where the colossal mishap happened. It was very apparent to me, as I was sitting in the audience, listening to the prosecutor asking her to read from her initial statement. There were, I believe, at least 20 pages in this document. The prosecutor was asking her to read line four on page 18 of her statement, then quickly asked her to read line 16 on page three, then again, a line on another page towards the end. He did not let her finish reading her line, when he so quickly was taking her through another place in this document. I continually shook my head, biting my tongue, as he was visually trying to show the jury how she struggled to read this 12-font document as he was instructing her to do.
Melodie was the champion in this situation, as she prepared, brought her magnifier, and said with eloquence to please give her some moments to locate the area he was instructing her to find. She was happy to comply. She just needed some extra time. She stood up to this, well, let s just say, this man, and stated her needs calmly, quietly, with such resolve that all of us blind people around the world could shout.
I was taken aback as he questioned her about leaving her home. She could do it without her baby. He drew attention to the car seat, which her ex-husband said was his. Why was a car seat a point of interest to the prosecutor? If we think about it, as blind individuals, we cannot get our children out as quickly and safely as if we did have a car, with a safe seat for the child. My grandchildren had multiple car seats in multiple cars. The other grandparents all had car seats. However, since I did not drive, I did not have one. So, I could not have done it either. Does that make us ill-equipped to care for young ones?
Many of us believe our presence in that courtroom was greatly beneficial to help the jury see blindness a little differently. Melodie did prevail in this situation, and all we did was show up. We still have a long way to go for equality in the courtroom, and we can take small steps. When you know a blind person is going to court, just show up. The more, the better. Our legal system needs to be more educated and more knowledgeable about disabilities. Simply understanding our needs can make a huge difference in equality. Most importantly, our disability is not to be their weapon of choice.
LIFESTYLE
Book
Chat
by
Alan Bentson
Former Readers Advisor,
Washington Talking Book and Braille Library
Summertime and the reading is easy!
So, what are you reading this summer? Reviewers like to talk about summer reading, relaxing books to take to the beach or on vacation that don t demand too much concentration. Literary fiction or demanding nonfiction seem to belong to the winter months. Below are three recommendations which I feel fit the category, though the third book stretches the bounds a bit.
Db#43536: Light Penny Candle, by Maeve Binchy. Summer reading books tend to be long, and I guess the theory is that you don t want to haul a lot of books with you in your adventures outdoors. This is a fat, 628 pages, first novel by an author who has become quite famous. I had never read any of her books, so I figured this was the logical place to start. It s an easy read full of dialogue, exciting action and well-drawn characters about two women, one English and one Irish, and their friendship from 1940 to 1960. The author doesn t do much with the historical background, although the English girl is sent to Ireland because of the World War II evacuation of children. The book is a bit soap opera-ish all the men are horrible cads, all the women are brave and long suffering, all the marriages end in disaster etc. I enjoyed the fast pace and the rapidly changing scenes so, as has often been said, if this is the kind of thing you like, this novel is the kind of thing you ll like. One small quibble: Roy Avers, who I like as a narrator, would not have been my choice for the book. Yes, this is a story full of melodrama, and Avers is a very dramatic narrator, but both main characters and most of the minor characters are women. Luckily, he doesn t put on too much of an Irish or British accent, which gives the listen a lot more flow, but even in 1983 when this book was recorded, the National Library Service (NLS) could have found a woman with a light Irish accent to do the recording. So, those wishing to try this book might want to get it in Braille, and it s probably available from many sources.
Db#82071: Tess Monaghan, books 1-4, by Laura Lippman. If you like women s detective stories a la Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, or Marcia Muller, this author is for you. I didn t know if I d enjoy reading a bunch of books in a series all at once, but in this case the box set approach worked very well. These are not cozy mysteries but, rather, the women s variation on the traditional hardboiled mystery. The protagonists are independent, tough and resourceful and generally take a lot of punishment as the story unfolds. Unlike the determined loners in Hammett or Chandler, these women, like their cozier cousins, definitely prefer to have friends and allies to work with. Even in book No. 4 which leaves Tess native Baltimore and takes her to San Antonio, she immediately starts to recruit helpers. This set ran 1,466 pages total, but I never lost interest as Tess starts out doing a casual surveillance as a favor for a friend and goes on to become an experienced private investigator. Each story features an epilogue where Lippman tells how she came to write the books (these are her first four novels) and who helped her career and the particular problems each book posed. Instead of the traditional first-person style employed by hardboiled detectives, Tess is the point-of-view narrator in the third person. She can crack wise and use as much strong language as Sam Spade or Kinsey Millhone on their good days. Kristin Allison s cool detached manner fit this kind of narration perfectly.
Db#30692: Spartina, by John D. Casey. At 386 pages, this
one is not as hefty as the others and is a little more demanding of the reader s attention. However, I think this book makes a good summer read. For one thing, it is set outdoors, off the coast of Rhode Island where our point-of-view character is trying to make a living as a fisherman and trying to build his own boat. The book can be read as a straight adventure story as commercial fishing is the second most dangerous occupation in the country, right up there with coal mining and firefighting. Our hero does finish building his boat but right away finds himself alone at sea in a hurricane. After that, there s a lot of dialogue as our protagonist works to resolve his midlife crisis, but the characters are so vivid, and the New England setting is so well realized that even this part of the book is a pretty easy summer read. Narrator Chuck Benson is well suited to reading adventure fiction. I was not familiar with this author either, but I will definitely look for other titles.
So have a great summer, keep reading and keep trying those new authors.
Back to Basics
by Kyle Woodard
I m making an effort to once and for all get a handle on my physical health. Last fall, I got the opportunity to participate in the Livestrong program, a 12-week program at the YMCA in partnership with the Livestrong Foundation. The Livestrong program strives to help cancer survivors, whether currently in treatment or having been in remission for years, regain and maintain strength and overall physical health, as well as providing a support-group atmosphere.
For the 12 weeks of the program, we met twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Our time was divided between meeting together and exploring various topics, as well as sharing our stories and working out and exercising on the gym floor. I got a lot out of the program beyond just getting healthier. It gave me new insights into my own journey and helped me to better understand myself.
My biggest motivation, beyond finally tending to my health, was the fact that I knew I would be going to get another Seeing Eye Dog. I wanted to not only be physically ready for the rigorous demands of class, but also to be in a better position to get the most out of my new dog going forward in our working partnership.
Having made the final decision, it was time for my previous guide, Epcot, to retire. I was filling out my replacement application for The Seeing Eye just prior to Labor Day and right before my Livestrong program started. I was anticipating that I would probably get a call from the school to go to class in April or May of the following year. As it turned out, things happened much faster than I had anticipated. It worked out that Epcot s official retirement date was Nov. 25, the same day as my graduation from the Livestrong program. Epcot s last act of service was our graduation ceremony that evening. Then, one week after Epcot had gone to his new retirement home, with my sister and her family on Dec. 2, I flew to New Jersey to meet my new guide.
The class session I attended between Thanksgiving and Christmas was a unique and slightly smaller and shorter class for only re-trains. Amidst the frustrations and heartache that can be involved in the process of getting used to a new guide and saying goodbye to your previous guide, it is always a pleasure and a treat to be back at The Seeing Eye, although this time there was something extra special, it seemed, with the school decorated for Christmas. All 18 of us knew that we were getting the biggest, best, and coolest Christmas gift of all.
Two days later, on Dec. 4, I eagerly waited in my room for my trainer, Sean, to come knock on my door. I could only guess at what and who he would bring me. I didn t know much. I knew that my trainer mentioned they were looking at a bigger dog than I had previously had, and that I had mentioned I was hoping to get an affectionate dog, to which my trainer replied, Oh no, you have nothing to worry about in that regard. The dog I have in mind for you practically wants to be inside you!
All sorts of thoughts and ponderings floated through my mind as I waited, then came the knock, and into my life pranced a big black Labrador Retriever named Maguire. After I sat down on the floor with him, he introduced himself by giving me a facial and thoroughly cleaning my ears admittedly, a bit gross, but fun and delightful at the same time before plopping into my lap and cuddling for a while.
I wasn t quite sure what to think at first, being slightly leery of a black Lab because my previous black Lab hadn t worked out. But just as you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, you shouldn t judge a dog by the color of its hair either. Maguire soon wiggled his way into my heart, showing me how gentle and chill he is when not working. But, also, how much force and pull he can bring to the table when it s time to work.
We continued getting to know each other and how we worked together, as we worked through the South Street and Elm Street routes, then moved on to country travel and freelance travel, before conquering the Big Apple, taking the subway, and walking through Times Square. New York is a fun place to visit, but not somewhere I think I would enjoy living for long.
Thanks to the work I did at the Livestrong Program, I was healthier while attending class than I had ever been and, for the first time, I didn t require any modified routes. I was quite proud of this and the work I had put in and felt like I was in the best place I had ever been in before while starting life with a new guide.
The class was amazing. I met a lot of great people in the class and am proud to call many of them friends and keep in contact with them.
While at the school, we were treated to a wonderful and unique Christmas concert performed by Linda Russell and Companie, where we heard songs that were sung at Christmas hundreds of years ago, accompanied by music played on instruments of the same era, such as two types of dulcimers and other instruments. The concert was truly a treat. This same concert has been performed for the December retrain-only class at The Seeing Eye for about 20 years or so.
It was not long after this delightful concert that all too soon it was once again time for us to say goodbye to our Seeing Eye friends, new and old, and head back home with our new pups.
Maguire was an absolute champ for the entire trip home. Flying out of Newark, we flew on a 777 to San Francisco. It was the biggest airplane I had ever flown on, and the first airplane I had been on that had two aisleways and three sections of seats. We were sitting in the middle section with an aisle on either side of us. Once in San Francisco, our flight back to Spokane was delayed about four hours because of fog. But we finally took off and got back to Spokane late at night. Maguire did phenomenally well and did not have one single accident, despite 18 hours of travel time from leaving The Seeing Eye to getting to my house. I gave him the opportunity to go at the dog-relieving area at the San Francisco airport, but he just wasn t having any of that.
Now, after a somewhat extended winter break where it was just too cold to go outside much, the weather is nicer. We are walking and exploring our neighborhood. I m back going to the gym again twice a week and dealing with all the normal frustrations of adjusting to a young, new guide and loving every minute of it. I did well in class until the end, but I still find I will occasionally call Maguire Epcot. I will sometimes get momentarily confused when I expect him to take me somewhere or behave a certain way on autopilot, and then I must remind myself, New dog, he s still learning the ropes.
Maguire is quite a curious puppy, always aware of sounds and his surroundings. That has taken some adjustment to, especially the fact that when at home he is protective of his turf and will bark on occasion, although he s doing much better about that now. My trainer, Sean, was certainly right. I have nothing to worry about when it comes to Maguire being affectionate. If we re at home relaxing, it s a rare thing if Maguire isn t sprawled across my legs on my footstool (he s declared the footstool as his territory), but I remind him we must share. That s Meatball for you. Meatball is a nickname my trainer gave him while in training, because of his big, boxy head.
Every time I go to The Seeing Eye, I am left with such a sense of gratitude for the organization and for everyone who works to keep The Seeing Eye operating. From the administration to the kennel staff, from the trainers to the household and dietary staff, and everyone else in between, thank you for doing what you do, because doing what you do allows me and hundreds, if not thousands, of other guide dog users to enjoy the independence and freedom to do what we do. Thank you!
Cracking
into Space Camp
by
Frank Cuta
Twenty-five years ago this fall, I became the first blind person to attend Space Camp. At the time, I was about 40 years old, and the Space Camp adventure was mainly for kids. However, at a science fiction fan convention that I had just attended, I had heard a presentation from one of the first adults to attend the space adventure in Huntsville, AL, who told us all about a new program being set up for adults. This three-day experience would follow the week-long kids camp in September. I was immediately hooked and started planning my pilgrimage to Huntsville.
When I mailed in my application, I anticipated attitudinal issues, and so I had attached a separate letter in which I explained that I was very independent and would require no special equipment other than what I carried with me. And they would not need any special training.
The result was pretty sad, but also a little funny. The person who received the application wrote me an immediate letter of acceptance. This was followed in a day or so by a letter of retraction, written by some pompous administrator who had finally taken the time to read my attachment. This letter did not show much imagination; they just took each thing that I said that I could do independently and declared that this was not possible. It was a typical case of scared do-gooders with baseless misconceptions about our special needs and their inability to deal with them.
Well, in 1989 I had been a part of the blind consumer movement for about 20 years. I was very familiar with the white cane law and had been attending Washington Council of the Blind seminars on self-advocacy for a couple of decades. It turns out that the student training equipment used by Space Camp is actually cast-off NASA trainers that were previously used by the original astronauts and were, therefore, still loosely connected to the federal government. So, I contacted my senator, Brock Adams, and he contacted a senator in Alabama. I never heard exactly how much actual pressure it took to turn things around, but in fairly short order I was on my way to Huntsville for the experience of a lifetime.
I took with me my Braille 'n Speak, a white cane, and a Braille labeling slate and stylus. That is all the special equipment I needed. I was still a lot more wild and woolly in 1989, and I left my mark on Space Camp. I did a lot of yelling and whooping and charging around. My sighted teammates seemed to me to be pretty serious and mundane, comparatively speaking, but I'll bet they still remember the crazy blind space camper who shared a weekend with them.
Of course, I never knowingly met or got an apology from the uptight individual who was convinced that they needed special training to accommodate me.
Within a year or two of my experience, people got on the ball and developed a special week-long experience just for blind and visually impaired kids. It is, of course, neat for them to just be able to compete with each other, rather than being at the bottom of the pecking order. Currently, there is also a special weekend program for blind and visually impaired adults. I think that this has advantages and disadvantages. Certainly, for most of the sighted world, this just reinforces the common negative stereotypes that blind people need special treatment.
At the American Council of the Blind (ACB) national convention, I hear presentations from some of the ACB next geners who have attended the camp many times over the years. Some of the new mission simulations are absolutely incredible, and they are even doing underwater training to simulate weightlessness. I drool over the new, cool-looking space X uniforms. They make my old NASA flight suit look like what it is: a relic from the past. But I can still wear it on Halloween.
Sporting
Spotlight
All About Blind Cricket
by Beth Greenberg
Blind cricket, what is that? It s pretty complicated, So, first we d better start with what is original cricket?
Let s find out together. Cricket is a bat and ball game, but it is not like baseball. Cricket was developed in England in the 1600s and spread throughout the British Empire. Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world after futball (soccer).
The pitch is at the heart of the cricket field; the field is oval shaped, the pitch is a rectangular area 22 yards in length and 10 feet in width. It is where the bowler delivers the ball to the batsman. At each end of the pitch are three vertical stumps topped by two bails, collectively known as the wicket. The bowler aims to hit the stumps to get the batsman out.
A circle with a 30-yard radius from the center of each wicket divides the field into an inner and outer area, influencing field placement and restrictions in limited-overs cricket. The outer edge of the playing area is usually marked by a rope or fence. The boundary varies in size depending on the ground, but is typically between 65 and 90 yards from the pitch.
The field consists of 11 players who play the outfield and try to catch a ball that a batter has hit into play. There are two batters on the pitch, one with a bat and the other is a runner. When the ball is hit into play, the batters run back and forth on the pitch to each side where the wickets are to score a run. Each time they run back and forth is another run. If the ball is hit to the outer limit of the playing field it is considered four runs; if it goes outside the bounds of the field, it is considered six runs. The bowler bowls six balls, (or an over), to the runner, and then can pitch on the opposite side of the pitch to the other batter. If the ball is in play but one of the 11 outfieldsmen catches the ball without it hitting the ground, the batsman is out. If the bowler hits the wickets, or the batter hits the wickets, it is considered an out. Once there are 10 batters out, the teams switch. So, the outfield team is batting, and the batting team is the outfieldmen. The team with the most runs wins the game.
There are three types of timings of games. In 20/20 cricket, each team is given 20 overs for each inning, and one game lasts about three hours. In one-day cricket, each team gets 40 or 50 overs and the game lasts the day. In test cricket, there are no overs, and the game ends when all batsmen are out (which can last up to five days).
A cricket ball is made of cork and covered with leather. It is 2.8-2.86 inches in diameter, 8.81-9 inches in circumference, and weighs 5.5-5.75 ounces. The bat is made of white willow wood and protected with linseed oil. Cricket bats have a length of 33.5-34.375 inches and a max length of 38 inches, a width of 4.25 inches, and a depth of 2.64 inches. The weight of a cricket bat is 2.63 3 lb.
Some of the changes when playing blind cricket are: The stumps or wickets are metal (to generate more noise). The ball is made of hard plastic, and it rattles or rings when it is moving. All bowling is underarm, and deliveries must bounce at least twice before reaching the batter. Of the 11 outfield players, four need to be totally blind, three are partially blind, and four are partially sighted (I am not sure what the difference is here).
There was a young lady named Abey at the National Federation of the Blind of Washington convention exhibit hall with a group that is starting blind cricket in the U.S. Abey is moving to Washington this summer. You can go to https://gomwaba.org/ to contact Abey or to learn more about blind cricket in the U.S.
I watched a few clips about cricket on YouTube, which were interesting in themselves. It would be exciting to watch a game, and even more fun to try to learn to play this unique game.
Going
Way Back: Lyrics to My Ears
by Alan Bin
I really like music. Who doesn't? Unfortunately, I can't sing or play a musical instrument.
I sang in a school chorus as a kid, with others thankfully drowning me out. And I took turns trying to play the bass fiddle, clarinet, piano, and ukulele, but was never good with any of them.
People encouraged me to try the ukulele, saying it was easy, but nope. Not for me.
I had this college roommate who sang and played classic country, and I made such fun of his twangy voice and choice of music. Shame on me! Sorry, Bill.
How time has changed my so-called taste. Now that I'm older, I can't get enough of Willie, Hank Jr., Patsy, and Loretta. Just like Ichiro and Cher if you're very good at something I guess you only need one name.
What I really love about music are fun lyrics, titles, and songwriting of mostly the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. I'd like to fill this column with a bunch of links to some of my favorite tunes so you could hear them.
Maybe you'll give me a pass if I forego the links and use lyrics to help you remember some old tunes.
For example, "Today's music ain't got the same soul." From "Old Time Rock and Roll," sung by Bob Seger.
Even better, "Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky/It had one long horn and one big eye." Do you remember "The Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley?
Or, "Well, you can knock me down/Step on my face/Slander my name/All over the place." I'll bet you know that one. Back in the day in high school, nearly every cool dude wore the blue-suede shoes that Elvis sang about.
So, I'm going to trip back down my personal memory lane to jog your memory with a few oldie classics like "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini."
No sing-along hootenanny around a beach fire was ever complete without a rousing rendition of "Almost heaven, West Virginia" from John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads." Or my choice for our new national anthem, "This Land Is Your Land."
Some other lyrics that have stuck with me, and maybe you, too: "Splish splash, I was takin' a bath" (Bobby Darin) and "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" (Waylon and Willie).
How about, "I told her that I was a flop with chicks/I've been this way since 1956/She looked at my palm and she made a magic sign/She said what you need is Love Potion Number 9. The Coasters sang it, as did other groups.
They also achieved some fame for "You're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion," the antidote in their version of "Poison Ivy."
There's way more, of course.
"Well, you can rock it you can roll it/You can stop and you can stroll it at the hop." ("At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors.) "When the moon hits your eye/Like a big pizza pie, that s amore." ("That's Amore" by Dean Martin.) I just now learned that That's Amore is also the name of a restaurant in Seattle.
Other memorable lyrics, for me anyway, include "You ain't nothing but a hound dog;" "Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learnin' how;" "Jeremiah was a bullfrog," "Fe-fe, fi-fi, fo-fo, fum/I smell smoke in the auditorium," and that way, way back ditty from my childhood, "Born on a mountain top in Tennessee" from Ballad of Davy Crockett.
And I haven't even mentioned Taylor Swift.
It's A Dog s Life
Chapter 9: A New Kind of Life
by Marilee
Richards
Pitter, patter, pitter, patter, I hear an echo in the room. One set of large paws and one set of tiny paws move along the floor as they walk and play all day. Taryn now spends her time with Wally, George's rat terrier. She loves her freedom. She is still the friendly golden lab at our apartment, loved by all our neighbors.
George and I met because of our dogs and our love of music. We first met at karaoke on Friday nights. Then, I got Taryn and we became friends.
During the Christmas holidays, I tagged Taryn with the nickname Prancer, because she prances around everywhere. To Wally, I gave the nickname Dasher, as he dashes around everywhere. What a dynamic duo to take out several times a day. Wally loves to bark at anyone he does not know. Taryn just loves giving kisses to everyone.
She has been busy since returning as an ordinary dog. She spends her days smelling the world she walks past. We are working on getting her to run a bit. She loves playing all day with Wally at George's apartment. They eat, sleep, and play together like kids.
When I put a service dog collar on her now, she remembers her guide dog training and keeps me safe. I have learned to control her better, also. She helps me up the stairs at church and lays down quietly, as when she had her harness on in the past. She loves several of the teens at church and runs to them when they come to visit where I sit. She also grabs her leash in her mouth, inviting them to take her for a walk.
I wish I had some previous experience with handling a dog before I brought her home. It was way too much to take in at one time. I handle her so much better after some practice.
She loves going to the dog park on nice days. She is still a loner when we are there but is opening up more each time we take her and Wally.
She is truly enjoying a new kind of life. On Saturday, George and I took the dogs to Howerth Park, which is a leash-free park. When we got down to the water, I took Taryn's leash off and let her explore on her own. Taryn, who does not get in water of any kind, (rain, snow, puddles, hoses), had a ball at the beach.
She went into the bay water, got a stick in the water, jumped logs, rolled in the sand after getting soaked in the water, and much more. Both of us forgot our phones, so we have no pictures of such joy. We will go back on another nice day with phones at the ready.
I hope you are enjoying the tales of Taryn. We will connect again soon. Until next time, enjoy each day you are given, and try to make someone else s day good, too.
Rolling Along with Amtrak
by Alco
Canfield
I recently traveled from Spokane, WA, to Vancouver, WA, to visit my brother and his wife.
Unfortunately, the Spokane train always leaves in the middle of the night, this time at 3:49 a.m. The time depends on the number of freight trains passing, which can slow down the journey considerably.
The station master was superb. He walked me to the train, and I chose to sit upstairs just because it surprises people and because I'm still a little ornery.
To my delight, each seat has an area above it with Braille numbers. Not even the airlines do that. Everything is labeled, although it takes a bit of effort to read while the train is bumping and jumping.
It's a challenge to navigate through several cars to get to the caf car. The stairs going down, before hunting for the car, are winding and steep.
I got two cupcake-like omelettes, which were quite large, and a cup of coffee. The server walked them up to my seat, for which I was extremely grateful. Her attitude was magnificent. It said in effect, "No big deal."
Finding that seven hours sitting in a narrow seat proved too much for my old body, I upgraded the price of which was more than the ticket.
By the time I was ready to return home, I really needed to be prone. Having been up for 38 hours two days before, I wanted comfort.
I was not disappointed with the upgrade. I sat in what can only be described as a closet with two parallel benches. There was a call light behind, and I needed to push and hold it to get noticed. I tried to reach Aira for more description, but I was unable to do so, and the other buttons were not as important.
The roomette had my number in Braille by the door. It was also fortunate that my room was the last room in the row.
I love the stimulation of trying to figure things out, like the very compact restroom, and removing and returning the tray. I prayed that I wouldn't spill anything. The space was narrow, and I won't even comment about the plastic silverware.
If I had continued east, I would have been able to have a sit-down meal in the dining car. This is not an option for the trip I am describing.
The concierge put the two benches together and, voila, a bed! As we rolled and bumped along, I was grateful to have had this experience. I was very impressed by the courtesy and unpatronizing assistance I received.
Flying is faster, but I didn't miss the "wait for assistance" and the mandate by airlines for very small quantities of liquid.
I find Amtrak's website difficult to use, but maybe it's easier on the computer than the iPhone. That's what Aira is for! (smile)
If you decide to use Amtrak, happy travels! It is a very leisurely, relaxing way to get somewhere.
Summertime
Lemon Blueberry Loaf
by Heidi
Coggins
I recently had a friend with a birthday, and she wanted something with lemon. It just so happened I still had some frozen blueberries in the freezer that I had hand-picked last summer, and I produced this recipe. I adapted my banana bread recipe my family loves into this lemon blueberry loaf, and it was a huge hit. Not only is it a very easy recipe, once cooled, it travels nicely in a Ziploc bag.
Make sure to preheat your oven to 350 degrees. To prepare the 9-inch loaf pan, you can either grease and flour or use parchment paper. I am a fan of parchment, as it is easier to clean up and allows you to just pop it right out of the pan safely.
Dry ingredients:
1 cups of flour. You can use unbleached white, wheat, or variations such as Bob s red Mill 1:1 ratio gluten free.
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt or less if you prefer
Wet Ingredients:
cup butter, softened. You can use unsalted or salted, depending upon the amount of salt you want.
Eggs, room temperature
Heaping cup frozen blueberries (one Tbsp. of flour set aside)
tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. vanilla
2 lemons, zested and juiced. If they are small, add a third lemon
cup sour cream.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the very softened butter. If you need to melt it a bit more, place in the microwave for 15 seconds or so. Add sugar and blend well, then add eggs, lemon extract, and vanilla. Add lemon zest and all lemon juice. Mix well.
In the same bowl, add baking soda and salt (if you choose). Mix well. Add the sour cream.
In a separate bowl, place the frozen blueberries and sprinkle about 1 Tbsp. of flour and mix to coat the berries. This will prevent the berries from sinking to the bottom of the loaf while it is baking.
In your main bowl, add the flour, cup at a time and stir. Do not over-mix, as it will cause your loaf to be dense. You only need to stir until it feels mixed. Once the flour is in, then gently fold in the frozen flour-coated berries with a few gentle stirs.
Spatula your mix into your prepared loaf pan. Try to get batter as evenly distributed as you can. The old baker s trick is to fill your pan, spread as best as you can, then take the pan in both hands and bring it down on your countertop forcefully to make sure no bubbles are trapped in the batter.
Place in the center rack of your preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center. You may also use a butter knife to check that no batter comes out when piercing the center of the loaf. Let cool for 30 minutes or so.
You can sweeten your loaf by making a quick glaze to coat if you wish. Simply take cup of powdered sugar and a tablespoon or so of lemon juice and mix until the consistency is runny. You can add water to the mix, if needed. Pour this over the loaf while it is still warm.
Enjoy your fresh lemon blueberry loaf with friends and family. What a zingy and delicious addition to any picnic.
What s
on Your Plate
Cucumber Avocado Lox A
Light,
Nourishing Twist on a Classic
by Nataliya
Shcherbatyuk, Health and Wellness Coach
You know those days when you want something fresh, light, and energizing but still satisfying? This recipe is it. Cucumber avocado lox is one of my favorite no-cook meals when I m craving something quick, nourishing, and elegant. It feels like a treat, but it s incredibly simple to make.
What I love most is how it checks all the boxes: healthy fats, quality protein, crunch, creaminess, and even a little tang. Whether it s breakfast, lunch, or a mindful snack, this dish reminds you that eating well can be joyful and effortless.
Health Tips:
Smoked salmon: A great source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, which help reduce inflammation and support heart and brain health.
Avocado love: Packed with fiber, potassium, and healthy fats that support hormone balance and glowing skin.
Cucumber base: Naturally hydrating and low in calories, cucumbers help keep you full and refreshed. This is food that loves you back every bite.
Ingredients
1 medium cucumber
4 oz. smoked salmon
1 tbsp. chopped red onion
avocado
1 tbsp. capers
tbsp. lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds to create a boat. In a small bowl, mash the avocado with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Fill each cucumber half with the avocado spread. Top with smoked salmon, red onion, and capers. Serve chilled and enjoy!
BRAIN FOOD
Technically
Speaking Astronomical Values
by Frank Cuta
When you hear a really, really big number, does it ever give you pause? Let us stretch our imaginations a bit and see how well what we can mentally grasp holds up against the extreme limits of outer space.
A typical sighted person gazing up at the stars on a perfectly dark night can see only a few thousand stars. Without a lot of assistive technology, it is not possible for one to see the billions and billions of stars alluded to by Carl Sagan in his 1980 Cosmos documentary for PBS television. Yes, regardless of their amount of vision, scientists need assistive technology to explore the limits of what is very small or what is very far away. Our newest space-born telescopes can probe deeper and deeper into outer space, but much of the time they need to operate in parts of the spectrum that no normal human eye can see. (By the way, it is now clear that Carl's numbers were a little conservative. There are not just billions and billions, there are actually trillions and trillions of stars out there.)
I find just the existence of these enormous quantities kind of daunting. However, in addition to the staggering numbers of stars out there, we must also deal with the unbelievable distances between them. I have heard it said that the human mind cannot really grasp the quantity one million. Well, a million is just a thousand times a thousand. Now, you might expect from the sounds of the terms that a billion is just a million times 2, and a trillion is a million times 3. Unfortunately, a billion is a million times a thousand, and a trillion is actually a million times a million. That is, a 1 followed by 12 zeros. Do not try and think about that too much; it could make you feel a little dizzy.
Still, in astronomical terms, a trillion miles is really not that impressive. When you have traveled a million times a million miles, you are just a short distance out of our solar system. That is why scientists needed to invent a bigger yardstick when describing the vast distances between the stars, and so they invented the light-year.
Most of us can conceive of how big a mile is. Well, the Earth is 93 million miles from the sun. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. A couple of simple divisions yields the fact that it takes a full 8 minutes for a light beam to get from the sun to the earth. A light-year is just the distance that this same light beam travels in a year.
The star Alpha Centauri, our nearest companion in space, is 4.37 light-years away. So, since light travels about 5.88 trillion miles in a year, this puts Alpha Centauri about 25.7 trillion miles from Earth. And astronomically speaking, our nearest companion star is relatively close to us.
Our solar system is a part of the Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is so large that only 100 years ago it was believed to be the entire universe. It is composed of 300 billion stars and looks like a spiral disk about 100,000 light-years across and 2,000 light-years thick. But we are not alone. Our nearest companion galaxy in the local galactic cluster is Andromeda, and it is about three times larger than the Milky Way. You may be able to get some feeling for how huge it is when you consider that it is 2.5 million light-years away and it can still be seen with the naked eye. By the way, this friendly little cluster of a trillion stars is actually zooming toward us on a collision course at 68 miles per second. But I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. At its present velocity, it is expected to bump into us in about 5 billion years.
Well, here we are talking about enormous values and unfathomable distances, and we have only reached our closest companion galaxy. Beyond Andromeda and our local galactic cluster is the rest of the universe. It is not likely that any person will ever comprehend its unreal vastness. It is currently estimated that there are about a trillion galaxies in the observable universe, and each one contains hundreds of billions or trillions of stars. The total is a 1 followed by 24 zeros. So, I am going to leave you here out among the stars. You may doubt these numbers. You may find them a little daunting. But I hope that you find the size of our universe somewhat compelling and even inspirational.
To the Accessibility Warriors Who Changed Everything (And
Maybe Don't Know It Yet)
by Charlotte
Joanne
Hey forward-thinkers. I need to tell you something important: You won.
I know that sounds strange. You're probably thinking "What do you mean, I won? I'm still fighting the same battles that I was fighting five years ago."
But here's the thing while you were busy fighting those battles, something unexpected happened. AI learned from your teaching: Every blog post you wrote about semantic HTML, every conference talk about alt text, every GitHub issue where you patiently explained why keyboard navigation matters, every code example you shared showing proper ARIA implementation.
All of that became training data.
And now? AI tools are generating accessible code by default. They're writing alt text without being asked. They're including skip links, proper heading structures, keyboard support all the things you've been advocating for decades.
The machines learned from YOU.
Think about that for a second. ChatGPT doesn't roll its eyes when you mention screen readers. Claude doesn't say, "We'll add accessibility later." GitHub Copilot suggests semantic markup because that's what it learned was correct.
For the first time in your advocacy career, you have an ally that doesn't get tired, doesn't need convincing, and just does the right thing. Because you taught it what the right thing was.
I know this feels surreal. You're so used to swimming upstream that you might not notice the current has changed direction. You're so conditioned to expect resistance that you might be suspicious of this assistance.
But here's what I want you to understand: All those times you felt ignored? You weren't. The impact was just delayed, not denied.
Every time you wrote "use proper heading structure" in a tutorial, you were teaching the future. Every time you shared a code snippet with proper ARIA labels, you were training tomorrow's development tools. Every time you explained why alt text matters, you were programming empathy into systems that would one day serve millions.
Your persistence didn't just move mountains. It taught the machines to move them, too.
Does this mean the work is done? Hell no. There are still gaps, still challenges, still battles to fight. AI isn't perfect at this stuff yet, and human designers and developers still need to understand accessibility deeply.
But for the first time, you're not fighting alone. For the first time, the default is moving in your direction. So, take a moment. Breathe. Look around at what you've built not just the accessible web, but the accessible future.
You were heard. You were teaching tomorrow, even when today wasn't listening. The 12,000 most forward-thinking blind people on the planet are here, and we know: The future learned from you, and it's listening.
What do you think? Are you seeing this shift? Where is AI helping your daily experience, and where does it still need our guidance?
Because if the machines are listening let's make sure they keep learning the right lessons.
Access Hound creates Audio Description for
Washington
by Brett
Oppegaard, Ph.D., Co-Founder of Access Hound, www.accesshound.com
More than 50 years after the passage of the Rehabilitation Act, which includes Section 508, everyday levels of media accessibility for people who cannot see or cannot see well seems to be going backward.
Every single day, for example, Facebook users upload 350 million images; Instagram users post nearly 100 million photos and videos, and YouTube users add 500,000 hours of video.
Yet, as listeners here know all too well, almost all of that new media is inaccessible to people who are blind or who have low vision.
While social media like it or not drives and shapes important societal conversations, it also determines who gets included and who gets excluded in those community conversations based on its accessibility protocols, standards, and ethics.
Visual information proliferates today in such online contexts through the quick and easy creation and sharing of images (still, moving, and screenshot), illustrations, maps, tables, charts, etc. Most of this visual media provided has no audible counterpart, such as Audio Description (AD), to provide the same core encoded information to people who want or need to hear it, rather than see it.
Audio Description is not just missing from these images by some widespread negligence of the content creator. That exists, but it s hard to blame them when the platforms typically don t have a preferred place for it anyway.
With YouTube, for example, options for captions are available, but there is no requirement or clear secondary channel for Audio Description (AD).
The platform also could have a highly constrained, voluntary, and mostly unusable option, like image description on Instagram, or alt-text on Facebook, which are both difficult to find and use for creators as well as people with screen readers. These deeply buried tools come with no training, either.
In addition, the platform could just require that the content creator use an ad-hoc accommodation method, off the cuff, like a text block somewhere within another text block, which is challenging to locate, even if a person with a screen reader knows it might be there.
Whether the ultimate blame really belongs with the platform designers or the content creators or the lack of government enforcement of Section 508, an argument for another day, the larger effect is a world getting bigger and richer informationally for people based primarily on visual acuity, not on a person s curiosities, interests, motivations, engagements, or levels of intelligence.
That s a major problem. So, what can be done about all of this?
Plaintiffs and lawyers need to address the legal issues, which then could trigger better legal compliance, based on the force of penalties. That is a core mechanism left for the stick method of influencing more-accessible design. The Department of Justice made a final ruling on this issue last year, and that April 24 ruling made web and mobile accessibility mandatory for all jurisdictions by April 2027. If that ruling holds, then there will be a bonanza of accessibility improvements over the next two years. If not, and at this point, who knows, how far down the road will this can be kicked?
The carrot part of the equation, therefore, might be a more realistic and reliable source of motivation. In terms of support and praise, I highly recommend vigorously voting with your clicks. Patronize and openly share your enthusiasm for the AD content you like that is highly or fully accessible.
I also suggest becoming an engaged consumer of Audio Description and other media-design approaches, including integration of tactile objects, use of Braille, adoption of universal design principles, etc., which all lead to better and more inclusive media for everyone.
In short, anyone who wants accessible media needs to seek it out and support it, as a way to encourage more of it.
For my part, as a media-accessibility researcher and practitioner, I ve decided to build and share the online tools and Audio Description production and dissemination software that I have always wanted to have available to use as a university professor and also as a description writer.
Many of you might know me (or my work) from my collaborations with the American Council of the Blind and more than 200 U.S. National Park Service sites as the principal investigator of The UniDescription Project (www.unidescription.org).
That initiative has included the creation of thousands of in-depth descriptions about iconic American landmarks, co-created with people who are blind or with low vision, at such prominent public places as Yellowstone National Park, The Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, the Lincoln Memorial, and the White House.
Yet, you might not know that federal grants supported a lot of that research and development, which means that The UniDescription software was created to be open-access (free to use) and open-source (free to build upon). That means anyone anywhere in the world can create descriptions now with the tools of a pro because of what we all built together.
When you want to listen to these descriptions, the mobile app where you can hear them also is free to download and free to use as much as you like (just search for UniDescription on your app store). To support AD, please at least give them a listen. If you like what you hear, give the app a 5-star rating. These descriptions are examples of great government partnerships at work.
Recently, though, the federal government has chosen to support other societal priorities, besides accessibility and inclusion. Our response has not been to give up our good fight but to, instead, shift our focus toward new types of software development to support description writers, using GenAI.
We have designed new types of activities that support Audio Description in general. Those efforts include offering tailored trainings, hackathon-like workshops, and other types of educational services that businesses and organizations of all types can use to help themselves to become more accessible for their online or in-place audiences.
In response, a novel set of services will be offered by our new small business based in Washington state called Access Hound, www.accesshound.com.
Access Hound specializes in Audio Description-related projects of all kinds. Those services include producing individual sets of descriptions, via a tailored co-creation process that brings together subject matter experts, audio describers, and audience members who are blind or who have low vision. Those services include the organization and management of large-scale Descriptathon workshops, which are hackathon-like events involving educational activities and friendly competitions designed to train participants on AD but also to make it available for public places.
In addition, Access Hound staff members have expertise in website and mobile-app remediation, as a way to help people in the state meet WCAG AA standards.
Access Hound has developed a GenAI writing support tool as well, called the Access Hound Guidedogs, which provide online and automated GenAI-fueled writing coaching 24-7.
Our expertise in these areas is unparalleled. Access Hound staff members have provided in-person and online trainings and workshops for hundreds of national parks, as well as at other public attractions, including aquariums, libraries, museums, performing arts centers, public art collections, and zoos.
We want to build our small business in the state of Washington, helping to make it the most-accessible state in the country. But we also need your help.
If you like what we are doing, please vigorously support our work with your patronage of our clients. Tell people about what we are doing. Share with friends. Build the AD community in this state stronger and better than anywhere else, making a model for others about what can be done.
That means when we help places and people create new AD, please give it a listen. Give it a chance. Let us know what you think about the descriptions in terms of content, usability, quality, whatever factors you want to emphasize.
Please support us in this endeavor by sharing our name, Access Hound, and our website, www.accesshound.com, whenever you think a public place should be more accessible by having more AD. Lawsuits are one way to do it. But we advocate for spreading goodwill, rather than forcing it.
If you think Access Hound might be able to help you, or a public place you are associated with, also please do not hesitate to reach out via email (brett@accesshound.com) or phone (+1 971-258-1089). We want to collaborate. We want to make our communities more inclusive through the advancement of Audio Description. How can we help you? Just let us know.
Some
Great Tips for Public Speaking
By Ardis
Bazyn
(Reprinted by permission of the author.)
Do you feel nervous about making a presentation for a strange audience? How do you feel speaking with a senator, congressman, or local representative? How do you handle interviews? Some people tell me they even find simple networking intimidating. I wrote the following tips to make your next interview, presentation, or networking event easier.
1. Practice speaking slowly. Most people talk faster when they are nervous.
2. When you know you will have to speak, plan ahead. Write a script or just make some notes. You will be less nervous and unlikely to make mistakes or forget important information.
3. Practice as often as time permits. Just running the key points through your mind while dressing or showering helps.
4. Read through your talk before bedtime. Your subconscious will absorb the information.
5. Record yourself making your presentation. It may help you notice undesirable habits uhs and ands. Listen for mistakes.
6. Listen to yourself as you talk to friends, clients, and family. Get into the habit of noticing when you make statements that are unclear. Most of us can improve our communication to others.
7. When planning what to say, think about the points you wish to make as well as a personal story. Stories help create an emotional response.
8. Visualize yourself doing well. Imagine yourself easily presenting just the right information.
9. Eat a light meal ahead of time. An empty stomach or having too much to eat before a presentation can be a distraction.
10. Have a glass or bottle of water near you. A dry mouth is common when you re nervous. You can also take a drink to calm yourself while speaking.
11. Take a few deep breaths before you start speaking to help you relax.
12. Smile at the audience before you start. They will smile back and help you feel more comfortable.
13. Make good eye contact with the audience. It helps them relate to you. If a larger audience, look back and forth to include the full audience when you can.
14. Focus on what you want the audience to learn rather than on what they think of you. Remember, you want them to know what information you have, so concentrate on the presentation tips.
If you have trouble writing your speech, think of the following presentation structure tips:
Openings are key humor always works well. What is the purpose for your speech? List your key points. What do you want the audience to learn?
Give the reasons why the key topic is important.
Give examples or tell stories to illustrate the importance of your ideas.
If time permits, give the audience a chance to interact. Ask questions, break into small groups, or provide an exercise or questionnaire.
Repeat the key points. Audiences need to hear them again to remember them. Using another story or example helps. Ask the audience to take action in some way.
(Ardis Bazyn is an inspirational speaker, business coach, and author. www.bazyncommunications.com
Copyright May 2007 Bazyn Communications; all rights reserved.)
HISTORY
How to
Turn a Blanket into a China Cabinet
by Frank
Cuta
(Excerpted and condensed from a recording of a convention presentation by Sue Ammeter, former president of Washington Council of the Blind and lifelong advocate in the organized blind movement.)
Sue Ammeter joined the organized blind movement in the 1970s and devoted her professional life, plus a great deal of her spare time, to achieving our goals of improving and enforcing the regulations that protect our civil rights as blind people. She battled breast cancer for many years and lost that fight in 2018. She was an accomplished Braille user, and even in her last difficult years worked effectively with the National Braille Press and the American Cancer Society to ensure that more information about this modern scourge would be available to Braille readers.
But this short article is not about cancer. It's about a small, but not insignificant victory. And from this point on, I will let Sue tell the story, in her own words.
This is the story of how I got Alaska Airlines to buy me a beautiful china cabinet. Unfortunately, it is also about how even the best-trained of us can be stunned into inaction. (At least for a few minutes).
In 1985, I was a young professional woman on my way to a business appointment in Spokane. I booked an Alaska flight, just like I had done hundreds of times. So, carrying my briefcase and radiating my normal easy confidence, I walked down the aisle of the plane and took my seat. As I was fastening my seat belt, a nearby flight attendant addressed me clearly, saying, and I quote, By the way, I don't want you to think that the blanket is there because we think you're gonna wet your pants!
Well, I am not sure that I had even noticed the stupid blanket on my seat. It was 7 a.m. Monday morning, not my best hour. But these words rendered me utterly speechless. Even though I regularly conduct trainings in what to do in such a situation, all of my training just flew right out the window. In fact, I was so thunder-struck that I took no action of any kind before I disembarked in Spokane. Did I get the stewardess' name? No. Did I ask to see her supervisor? No. There was a passenger sitting next to me who had overheard the remark and showed concern. Did I get his name and contact information? No.
Well, I eventually came to my senses, and when it came time to fly home, I was really worked up and ready for action. I was just waiting for the blanket to appear. I was going to refuse to sit on it. I was going to raise a huge fuss and make them carry me off of the plane screaming and shouting. I was going to be on the TV news and in the newspaper. But, of course, there was no blanket on this seat, and I sat down next to a nice nun in the adjoining seat. Much to my disappointment, we had an uneventful flight home.
When my husband, John, met me at Sea-Tac, we immediately went to the Alaska administration to complain about this mistreatment. The woman I talked to basically told me that I was a liar and that it had never happened.
I said, It did happen.
She then said, I don't believe you.
So, all you fearless fighters for human rights, this should be a clear warning to you. Be aware that when discrimination comes, it may be so blatant, so outrageous, that it hits you where you live and you are utterly flabbergasted. Hopefully, hearing my story will encourage you to take stock quickly and dig in your heels if it happens to you.
And, well, there is actually a happy ending to this story. I did eventually file a formal complaint. Although, of course, Alaska never admitted any wrongdoing, they did pay up, and I received damages. When my mother heard about it, she insisted that I should use the money to purchase something very special for myself.
I had been collecting fine cut-glass figurines for years but never could justify the cost of a nice way to display them. For the next 40 years, my living room was graced by a beautiful lighted glass china display case, the purchase price of which was generously covered by this settlement.
And by the way, the nun who sat next to me on the return flight happened to have been standing close by and overheard me making my initial complaint to Alaska. Her departing comment to me was I heard your story, and I hope that you give 'em hell!
ADVOCACY AND LEGISLATION
Adventures
of RantWoman:
A Heartwarming Tale of
Successful Complaining
by Dorene
Cornwell (RantWoman)
RantWoman is only too happy to celebrate success. Recently, she has noted, with humble gratitude, a chain of events leading to a series of increasingly wonderful enhancements to the pedestrian environment around the building housing the offices of one of her medical providers.
RantWoman, over time, has visited this provider at varying intervals, but in general often enough that RantWoman would ask for frequent flyer miles if she thought she had any prayer of landing on sandy beaches, surrounded by beautiful music, skilled massage practitioners, and other worthies. RantWoman is pretty sure that, in this case, all her frequent flyer miles will get her more visits to this provider.
RantWoman visits this provider on the bus and has several travel routes to choose from. The building is set back quite a ways from the street. There is a circular driveway, and there used to be a giant expanse of lawn at the street in front of the office. There used to be a nice concrete pad and bus shelter next to a crosswalk.
Alas, the bus could not actually stop there because of bad line-of-sight issues related to a traffic light. Instead, the bus would stop about 30 feet back, and all the passengers would have to get on and off the bus from a big mud pit. RantWoman was complaining about the mud pit one day to a driver, and he told her about the line-of-sight issue. RantWoman complained; RantWoman thinks the driver must have complained, too.
Time marched along. Time was marching by without RantWoman having to accumulate as many frequent flyer hours as sometimes.
RantWoman went back a few months later. There was a new concrete pad where the mud pit had been. The bus shelter had been moved near the pad. Hallelujah, right? Not quite. The waves and waves of bus-riding masses had no way to get from the bus stop to the front door. Well, they could either walk across a vast expanse of lawn or walk in the fire lane and dodge delivery trucks and such.
About this time, someone in the provider's office handed RantWoman a survey. Can you say invitation? It happened that recent experience had included a couple of annoying events, and there was some other open-ended question like "anything else?"
Why, yes! RantWoman grabbed some more available white space on the form. RantWoman managed some kinder, gentler version of "it is effing stoooopid that here I am moving and walking and being healthful, trying to walk to your front door, and I have to risk life and limb in your fire lane ..."
Lo and behold, more months went by, and recently there was first construction, and then soon after, a wonderful, broad sidewalk from the bus stop, across the vast lawn, to a painted crosswalk in the front driveway.
Perhaps, it is megalomania to claim RantWoman is responsible but, in the meantime, RantWoman is really, really enjoying the sidewalk and the new bus stop, and RantWoman thinks a lot of other people are, too!
Advocacy: Southern Style
by Sheri
Richardson
When I think of advocacy, I always conjure up mom. In recent times, my mother might have been fairly described as a tiger mom, but she definitely had her own uniquely Southern style of advocating for the rights of her blind child.
I heard the story many times about how she persuaded the city school board to accept me in their program for educating blind students, even though we lived outside the city limits and the school system was not required to accept me. I was only six years old, so I only know that I was accepted and got a first-rate elementary education from a public school system. However, she told me that she contacted the school board several times on my behalf and was denied several times. According to her story, she finally went to the school board office in person and told them she would not leave until they agreed I could attend. Knowing her, she actually just charmed them with her stories, and maybe talked their ears off until they finally gave in.
I was much older the next time she stepped in on my behalf regarding educational opportunity. This time, I had applied to the music program at a college that I badly wanted to attend. Even though she wasn t overly excited with my choice, she advocated for me when the school tried to deny my application. And, again, she won the day. With her charm and logic, she asked the music department head if they judged every sighted student on the basis of their worst sighted students. When he admitted that, of course they didn t, she pointed out the inconsistency they would be demonstrating if they refused to accept me based on the failure of a previous blind student. So, I was able to attend the college and program of my choosing and graduated cum laude.
I think the greatest lesson I learned from being raised by parents who consistently advocated on my behalf is that I always have the right to ask for whatever I might need to fully experience life as a blind person living in a mostly sighted world from really important aspects, like education, to seemingly less important things, like touching items of artistic or historical value that most people can only see. Mom always said, The worst that can happen is they might say no, and they might actually say yes, but you won t know until you ask.
I am so glad to be a part of Washington Council of the Blind for many reasons, but the most important function we have, in my opinion, is advocating for our right to live full and meaningful lives. I think many blind and low-vision people are taught that we must simply adapt to deal with every aspect of life, and some of us may not be taught that advocating for the tools and conditions we need and want is also necessary. Advocacy skills can and should be part of our adaptive strategies from childhood throughout our lives. Advocacy may take many forms, from contacting our governmental leaders to inform them what we expect, to providing support and resources to an individual with a specific need. Advocacy may require different approaches and personal styles, as well. Sometimes the situation calls for a group response to support a desired action or to protest an undesirable one. And sometimes advocacy works best when we simply ask for what we need with sincerity and a logical explanation. Occasionally, just maybe a little Southern charm.
A Decrease in Services from the Washington Talking Book and
Braille Library is a Tragedy
Compiled by Judy Brown and the Government Affairs Committee of WCB
What does losing services from Washington Talking Book and Braile Library (WTBBL) mean to these Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) members?
Sheri Richardson: I have used the WA Talking Book and Braille Library since I moved here in 1993, and I feel both sad and angry that this one-of-a-kind resource is now facing draconian funding cuts. I began using a similar National Library Service (NLS) service in Atlanta around 1963 when my parents were able to check out twin vision books so they could teach me to read Braille. These books provide text in both Braille and print, which works very well for sighted parents with a blind child, as was my experience. I also remember how excited I felt every time I visited our Braille and talking book library when I was young. It was the only library where I could walk around and choose my own books to browse or check out, something most sighted people take for granted.
My very first job was working in yet another Braille and talking book library, this one in Rome, GA. This was a summer job I took when in college, and I was thrilled to be able to be a part of the only kind of library that was truly accessible to me and other blind people.
Books and other reding material are easily available and accessible to most Americans, but WTBBL is uniquely qualified to provide full access to literature of all varieties to people who are blind, low vision, or have other kinds of print disabilities. It is essential for this unique resource to be fully funded so that all of us have access to the amazing world of books.
Lynne Koral: When I was a little girl, living in New York, I did not pick out my books. Maybe my parents did, but I think the library staff did. They chose from the Newbery books. I loved some of the talking book narrators such as Burt Blackwell and Terry Hayes Sales and Mary Jane Higby. Norman Rose and Alexander Scourby were also excellent readers.
Now that I live in Washington, I enjoy audio books. I also use the NLS audio player. It would be a great shame if books were not readily available to blind patrons. A very small number of books are available in alternative formats. We must have more books produced that blind people can read through our Braille and talking book library. We learn so much about other cultures and about our own country by reading.
Cheryl Cummings: I have always been a very avid reader. I lost my vision at the beginning of high school and thought I had to give up books. I just didn t know how I would be able to access books. My local library was very, very important to me as a child. I was so relieved when I learned about the talking book library. Over the years through the library, I ve learned so much about myself, about history, about other people, other cultures. I just can t imagine life without a library. The talking book library is a hugely significant part of my life, and it is very sad to think that it may no longer be available.
Carrie from United Blind of Seattle: They (WTBBL staff) are a good group of people. Very respectful.
RJ: By the tail end of 2023, I had never used Braille and had not read or listened to a book in over a decade. I always thought that would be my reality as my vision continued to worsen into nothing. Just before that year ended, I was introduced to Braille and WTBBL through the Washington Department of Services for the Blind Orientation and Training Center s program. I had a lot of issues in the first month of instruction because my hands go in and out of feeling due to another disability I have, but the idea of reading pushed me to keep at it.
I contacted WTBBL and told them that while I have an adult reading level (I was just starting to learn Braille), they curated random books for me to practice with weekly, starting with baby books, and progressively gave me harder reading material as my skills developed. Because of their support, I learned both Grade 1 and Grade 2 Braille in a little less than four months. I could not have done that without their support.
I, a previously uneducated blind person who had only basic knowledge about computers until losing my sight, am now enrolled in college classes and utilizing Braille to learn to code. With Braille and my refreshable Braille display I can keep up with other sighted students during class group sessions and even help them solve issues. I am also at a point where I am creating simple, personal applications from scratch to help me navigate blind-inaccessibility issues that would normally exclude me. This would not be possible without WTBBL s help.
WTBBL changed my life and continues to enrich it through their services. I would not be moving forward today without them.
Adventures
of RantWoman
Advocacy: Sometimes it Works.
Sometimes it Doesn t
by Dorene
Cornwell (RantWoman)
This is a story about McDonald s. Yes indeed, my life is full of all kinds of advocacy to write about, and I am writing about McDonald s.
Growing up, there was no McDonald's in the small college town where my family lived. There was a drive-in that featured A&W root beer, but no McDonald's. My family's most poignant encounters with McDonald s happened on family summer trips to Montana, while my dad worked on a doctorate in music.
The plan, my parents hoped, was to leave early in the day, get over a serious mountain pass, get past Denver before rush hour, and aim to visit the Rev. Grandfather in Wyoming for a day or two before heading out the rest of the way to Montana.
What actually happened: It always took longer to pack than anticipated. Most of the time we would get on the road shortly after lunch and get to the Denver area just in time for rush hour. My dad was not into driving in the city, let alone at rush hour. Even worse, by that time, we three kids were guaranteed to be hungry. There was a McDonald s at almost every highway exit, and sometimes, the enticing aroma of hot French fries made it all the way out to the highway.
Imagine the clamor: Can we stop? Please! Sorry, we just missed the exit.
Next exit: Can we stop? Please. We're hungry.
After about the third round of this, mom would insist that we find a grocery store. This was long before electronic wayfinding. RantWoman has no idea how the grocery stores were located. Mom would go inside. No piping hot burgers, and certainly no French fries. White bread. Some kind of lunch meat. Maybe mustard. Carrots, apples or grapes.
So much for backseat advocacy. Hungry kids got fed, though not particularly the junk food we craved.
Fast forward a few decades and mix in lots of advocacy by lots of different people, about both technology and marketing. There is a McDonald s right down the street. I can order from my phone on an accessible app. Now, I can order inside, find the Braille table number, and have my food brought to my table. One day, I looked up chocolate milk under beverages.
Even more glorious: In an age where mustard has disappeared as a condiment in many fast-food burger places, I can request mustard for my egg McMuffin. McDonald s is, of course, the kind of nutritional zone one should not overdo. Still, every time I go there now, I think of both of those long-ago road trips, and of all the efforts that got the company to where it is today.
Standing in the Gap
by Marilee Richards
Breaking eggs can be messy. Speaking up for people s rights and their responsibility for others can be time consuming and arduous. Over the past couple of months, I have been involved in such an action.
I have a dear friend who has put my thoughts into such perfect statements that I asked her permission to share them in my article. Her 90-year-old parents, my good friend George, and I have spent many days out on the streets making our issues clear for all to see. There is much horn honking and cheers all the time to keep us coming back and changing our signs often. My next sign will be to protect our libraries. If you are interested in becoming a part of this action, check the internet for upcoming dates. This will continue for a long time.
My friend s words are not threatening, but they make our point of view very clear to everyone:
Dozens of people met today to protect every person, regardless of their place of birth, race, religion, language, political view, education, income, background, health status, abilities or disabilities, criminal record, citizenship, gender identity, the person they love, or any other data.
We advocate for equality for all, and for the protection of the agencies and programs we all depend upon to live a reasonable life each day.
The atmosphere is upbeat, loving, hopeful, and inspiring.
It is fantastic to be part of something bigger than ourselves, working towards positive change that will benefit many hundreds of thousands of people.
Almost every single car that drove past us honked and waved their support. Even an ambulance, a city bus driver, and an Amazon semi-truck driver joined the action.
This happy event happens every Friday in my city on Broadway, in front of the Social Security office and lines up for several blocks, on both sides of the street. We start at 5 p.m. and stay until 6:30. Come and be a part.
If you are interested in stepping up and want to stand in the gap for those who need their voices heard, come join us, or find a location near you. We are also involved in the 50/50/1 protests, which is 50 protests / 50 states / one movement. I was involved in the first one of these, and there were over 3,000 present in Everett, WA, over 1,500 in Seattle, and are present every day all over the country. Let your voices be heard.
A Summary of Disability-Related Legislation
Signed Into Law
by Judy
Brown, WCB Government Affairs Committee Chair
Note: WCB Newsline wishes to thank Judy and the Government Affairs Committee for doing the hard work of advocating for our goals year-round on the state and federal level and tracking this information to keep us all informed on how we can actively participate in the democratic process in Washington state. Because if we don t, as Bob Dylan said, It s a hard rain gonna fall.
Article Begins:
Here is a summary of disability-related legislation passed in Washington in the 2025 legislative session signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson.
HB 1491: This bill will make it easier to build multi-family and mixed-use facilities near transit stations. This has the potential to greatly benefit the disability community by allowing affordable housing near transportation. We need to keep a close eye on this new law as housing developments are being approved.
SB 5025: This bill makes modifications to guidelines for educational interpreters. The Professional Education Standards Board is directed to adopt separate standards for deaf and deaf-blind educational interpreters. This will create a two-tiered certification standard.
SB 5253: This bill requires that special education be provided to students with disabilities to the end of the school year in which a student turns 22 or to high school graduation, whichever comes first.
HB 1351: This bill adjusts the age when children can access early childhood education and assistance programs. Children who turn 3 after Aug. 31 of the school year will be able to enroll, provided they meet the eligibility standards. Check with your school district for further details.
HB 1130: This bill directs DSHS Developmental Disabilities Administration to prioritize who will get access to services. Waiver services under this bill are designed to promote activities, support services, caregiving equipment, supplies and specialized support services funded at the same level that would have been received if living in an institutional setting. This will allow clients to live in community-based settings.
SB 5632: This bill strengthens the shield law that protects gender affirming care and reproductive health care.
HB 1460: This bill seeks to keep survivors of domestic and sexual violence safe. Updates the Hope Card law which directs court clerks, upon request, to provide a card with important information about protections laws.
HB 1296: This bill makes changes to the Parental Rights law that was signed in 2024. This includes a parent s right to have prior notification when medical services are being offered to their child at school. This bill adds ethnicity, homelessness, immigration, or citizenship status and neurodivergence as protected classes of students in public schools. It also clarifies protections for sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity.
SB 5101: This bill expands access to leave from work, and safety accommodations to include workers who are victims of hate crimes or bias incidents.
SB 5217: This bill requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to breastfeeding employees and bans employers from retaliation. You will be able to have time to express milk as well as your break and lunch periods. Your employer cannot bill you for time taken for this activity.
SB 5263: This bill makes changes to special education funding.
HB 1837: This bill sets target goals for roundtrips per day, reliability, and reduced emissions for the Amtrak Cascade service to Portland and Vancouver, B.C.
SB 5680: This bill will require wheelchair manufacturers to provide wheelchair owners and independent wheelchair repair providers access to documentation, parts, embedded software and firmware and tools to repair the wheelchair.
HB 1217: This bill, also known as the Housing Stability Act, tries to stabilize housing by limiting rent increases. This caps a rent increase to 7% plus the Consumer Price Index or 10%, whichever is lower.
HB 1418: This bill allows disabled people to be on transit boards as voting members. There will be two slots: one for a transit-reliant person and one from an organization that services transit-reliant persons.
Sources of information for this article: King5.com, The Olympian, the Governor s Office website (governor.wa.gov) and the Washington State Legislative website (leg.wa.gov). You are highly encouraged to enter a bill number on the Legislative website for the full bill text. RCW numbers (Revised Code of Washington) are assigned and entered into the existing Washington state code of law within 45 days of signing.
I encourage everyone reading this article to utilize the leg.wa.gov website to look up any legislation you have been following that was not included in this list.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
Family Connections
by Heidi Coggins
Wowza, is it just us or has this year absolutely zoomed by? The Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) Families Committee has been fluttering around like busy bees and, oh, what a delightful buzz we ve made.
One of our favorite springtime accomplishments was bringing accessible audible egg hunts to five communities across Washington. Thanks to our fabulous partners the Lions and the ever-dedicated Telephone Pioneers kids in Vancouver, Anacortes, Kent, Spanaway, and Edmonds got to join in the egg-cellent fun. The groups were small, but every joyful beep leading a child to an egg was a big step toward inclusion, and that's a win in our book.
We ve also been sprinkling some serious outreach magic. Through last year s expanding connections with Teachers of Blind and Low-Vision Learners (TBLVL) and our enthusiastic participation in Washington State School for the Blind (WSSB) outreach sessions, we laid the groundwork. Then came March, and bam! we made a splash at the Pacific Northwest Association for Education and rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired conference, chatting up a storm with TBLVLs and educators from across the state. Our networking muscles got quite the workout.
Then May bloomed, and with it came the wonderful Stronger Together event, hosted by Washington State Department of Services for the Blind (DSB). Our own WCB Families superhero, Bob Cavanaugh, teamed up with Next Generation s dynamic president, Tim Brightenfeld, to give WCB a fabulous presence. High-fives all around for bringing the warm fuzzies and valuable info to families and students from WSSB.
But wait, there s more! Grandpa s White Cane Outreach has been marching on with lion-hearted spirit, and our visit to Moorlands Elementary in Kenmore was nothing short of spectacular. We had Lions from Renton, WCB members, and Snohomish County Council of the Blind supporters all showing third-graders what white canes are all about. Renton s crew loved it so much they re planning to expand the program in their own backyard. Go team!
As the sun peeks out and families head out for some summer sizzle, we d love to help spread the word about any fabulous family events you ve got cooking. Planning a picnic? A pool day? A campfire singalong? Let us know. Just email the Heidi Coggins at Hididly@gmail.com so we can help bring more families into the fun.
We re also giving a warm welcome to two new committee members Jessamin Landby and Courtney Mosca. Sadly, one of our folks is taking a little break (we ll miss you!), but the door is always open. If you ve got a heart for family fun and a sprinkle of enthusiasm, we d love to have you on our merry crew. Reach out to me and say hello.
Until next time, friends, keep adventuring, laughing, and happy trails from your WCB Families team.
AGENCY UPDATES
Washington State School for the Blind Graduation 2025
by Scott
McCallum, Superintendent
One of the most joyous days of the year took place at Washington State School for the Blind (WSSB) during the morning of Friday, June 6. On this day, 10 students from across Washington participated in the 2025 graduation ceremony and received their high school diplomas. This momentous day is filled with tradition and emotions such as joy, trepidation, relief, inspiration, and excitement. It was certainly a celebratory environment for all.
WSSB s graduation ceremony is rooted in many of the traditions common to all graduation ceremonies in the United States. The graduating seniors enter a room filled with their parents, caregivers, family members, teachers, and other supportive individuals, marching into the auditorium and timing their steps to the slow beat of Pomp and Circumstance. One of our graduates led the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a land acknowledgment to recognize the original Indigenous peoples who were the first stewards of the land on which WSSB currently exists.
As most of you know, one of the many conditions that makes WSSB the special place that it is, is the relatively personal and supportive environment we create. With less than 70 students on our campus at most times of the year, WSSB provides an incredible and fortunate opportunity to form real and lasting relationships where everyone has an opportunity to share and contribute. This is where our graduation ceremony takes a bit of a turn from those at most local high schools. One of our traditions is to offer every graduating senior the opportunity to address the crowd. While not every senior takes advantage of the opportunity, this year, most of them did. Graduating seniors gave speeches, some more formal than others, to recognize and thank their teachers, their families, their coaches and, of course, to thank the many friends they have acquired while attending WSSB. It s always heartwarming to hear directly from the seniors about the significant and positive impact that WSSB has made on who these young people are and who they want to become. Several graduating seniors highlighted that WSSB has instilled in them the confidence to be themselves, to have pride in their ability to use a white cane and all it represents, to embrace their use of Braille, to use access technology, and faith in their ability to succeed in life. To boil it down, WSSB students are empowered to lead the lives they want to live.
Back to the more traditional graduation style, WSSB graduation featured a thoughtful, inspiring and optimistic speech from this year s commencement speaker, Dr. Hoby Wedler. Dr. Wedler earned his doctorate from the University of California, Davis, in organic chemistry. Dr. Wedler is blind. He is an entrepreneur and motivational speaker. He gave an impassioned speech, highlighting the importance of believing in yourself, being optimistic, developing meaningful relationships, not being afraid to fail, knowing that you are not alone, knowing that you are enough, and the value of mentors in your life. We are incredibly grateful to Dr. Wedler for serving as our commencement speaker and for providing a tremendous day of chemistry with our science classes at WSSB. We look forward to more collaborative opportunities with Dr. Wedler in the future.
As the graduation ceremony draws closer to the end, again we depart from the common traditions to another tradition of our own. Each year, we celebrate each of our graduates with an audio-described slideshow of pictures spanning the lifespan of each of our graduates narrated by each graduating senior. This heartwarming tradition is a crowd favorite and extracts the oohs and aahs and sometimes laughter and squeals from the audience taking it all in.
We return to tradition as each of our graduating seniors listens for their name and proudly marches across the stage to receive their diploma, complete with pictures and congratulatory handshakes from our special guests onstage. Once each of the seniors has received their diploma and has returned to their seat in the front of the auditorium, the tradition continues with the symbolic movement of the yellow tassel hanging from their green graduation cap, from one side to the other to represent their transition from high school student to high school graduate.
Our beautiful and celebratory graduation ceremony concludes with another tradition of our own. Each graduating senior, along with the entire crowd, transitions to the courtyard in the Irwin Education Building. At the center of the courtyard is WSSB s old school bell mounted on a small structure, placing the bell within arm s reach. Each graduating senior takes their turn to pull the rope to ring the bell for each year the student attended the Washington State School for the Blind. This practice is followed by a handshake reception line complete with cookies and punch. For our graduating seniors, it has been a journey to reach this milestone, an accomplishment that is just the beginning of many for years to come. Congratulations to the WSSB class of 2025. We are so proud of you. Be empowered. We believe in you!
The following is a link to the WSSB graduation ceremony on our YouTube channel: https://tinyurl.com/2bs8es2k
WCB congratulates
the members of the WSSB graduating class of 2025:
Eric Alaniz, Sunnyside, WA
Jake Cahill, Olympia, WA
Tori Eastman, Vancouver, WA
Delanna Feigenbaum, Baring, WA
Charles Johnson, Vancouver, WA
Gabe Maduro, Tacoma, WA
Lizbeth Meza, Federal Way, WA
Vivienne Monsegue, Bothell, WA
Sadie Stephens, Battle Ground, WA
Phillip Zelenkov, Vancouver, WA
Update
from the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library
by
Danielle Miller, Executive Director
The Washington Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL) is a program of the Washington State Library. Our budget comes through an allocation from the State Library from the total budget funds either received through the state Legislature, or through federal funding. Our state funds come to us through a revenue account that collects fees on real estate transactions, and as interest rates have been high, that revenue has been down. This left us, and the State Library, in a position where the revenue in our state-funded budget was far below our projected expenditures. To fix that deficit, we asked the Legislature for $6.7 million in stabilization funding. Unfortunately, we did not receive any of this funding.
I know many of you advocated for WTBBL, and I thank you. This outcome was not expected and does result in cutbacks at both the State Library and WTBBL. At WTBBL, we have had to lay off two of our staff: the receptionist and the patron services specialist. The result of these layoffs is that the library building will be closed to the public beginning July 1, and people will need to make appointments with staff if they want to come in and get assistance in person. The main phone line will go to voicemail only, and staff will return calls as soon as possible. The processing of new borrower applications may see a minor slowdown. It is also possible that due to the impact of layoffs at the State Library, we may see a disruption in our technical support at WTBBL. General library services, BARD, and audio and Braille book production will not have any interruptions.
We will be engaging in fundraising efforts to bridge the gap until we receive the state funds we need to reinstate the positions we have lost and open the building back up. You can donate to WTBBL on our website or by mailing a check to the library. We are very hopeful that we will receive the much-needed state funding in the next legislative session.
Thank you again for all your support of WTBBL and for being such an important part of our community.
WCB HAPPENINGS
First-Time at ACB: Connections, Learning, and Inspiration
by Tim
Breitenfeldt
Attending the 2025 ACB National Convention, held July 4-11 in Dallas, TX, as a first-timer scholarship recipient was an incredible experience. As a WCB board member, Vancouver chapter vice president, and president of WCB Next Gen, I was excited to connect with ACB leadership, Next Gen members, and advocates from across the country.
I learned a lot about ACB s voting, elections, and legislative process, and saw how closely WCB s structure mirrors our parent affiliate. Sessions on tech, accessibility, and advocacy sparked new ideas I m eager to bring back to WCB, especially to grow Next Gen.
Outside of sessions, I loved the community hospitality time where I played guitar and relaxed with new friends. The chocolate factory and Circle R Ranch tours were fun highlights that helped build deeper connections.
I m truly grateful to ACB for this opportunity, and I look forward to applying what I learned in Washington.
Opening WCB to More Voices
by Cheryl
Cumings
Five years ago, everyone witnessed a policeman kneeling on George Floyd s neck for nine minutes, resulting in the death of Mr. Floyd. That event led to a general belief that the way we interact with each other needed to change. Individuals, companies, and governments committed to making change.
Not everyone agreed with the changes. Over the past five years, this general belief has eroded.
But the reality is that we are still living in a country with a great diversity of people and cultures. We still need to work to truly live out the belief in full respect and acknowledgement of all people.
Blindness is a condition that affects people from all backgrounds, ethnicities, classes, sexual orientations, and races. Whether we agree with some of the changes or not, I learned that there is value in understanding who people are, their history, and how they want to contribute. I also learned that there is personal and, as a result, organizational bias. There were lots of tools, resources, and ideas, which were shared during those five years.
An organization looking towards its future success and sustainability needs to take advantage of those tools, resources, and ideas. In Washington Council of the Blind (WCB), we have a Diversity Committee that is seeking members. If you are a WCB member and would like to join the Diversity Committee, please reach out to its co-chairs, Dr. Lynne Koral and Cheryl Cumings.
United
Blind of Whatcom County Low Vision Fair
by Beth
Marsau
Wow, today's event was amazing. Thank you to Bellingham Central Lions for the use of their meeting space, and for the volunteers from Bellingham Central and Ferndale-Harborview Lions, and United Blind of Whatcom County, and Washington State Department of Services for the Blind (DSB), and Washington Talking Book and Braille Library (WTBBL), and Ershig Assistive Technology Center.
We had approximately 75 people attend, about 45 of whom were low vision or blind. At least 22 of the people were volunteers, including six from Ferndale-Harborview Lions, at least two, possibly three, from Bellingham-Central, and 10 members from United Blind of Whatcom County (I overlap some of these groups).
Special thanks to Sue Watjen and Ann Chaikin and others who
helped collect names of everyone so that we have these figures and can also go back to request feedback from the participants.
Danielle Miller, executive director of WTBBL came up early from Seattle and was one of the last to leave (thank you again, Danielle). She completed eight to ten applications for new patrons of WTBBL. Representing DSB were Abbie Reesor, John Reynolds, Zachary Abernathy, and myself (Beth Marsau), who each brought some equipment to share. Natalie Newman came with devices from the Ershig Assistive Technology Center, which is a lending library for the community at Western Washington University. Nerie Garcia, a member of UBWC and student volunteer also had some devices. Nancy Knapp and Sue Watjen provided information about the KidsSight program
A busload (seven to nine people from the Willows attended) and many more came through the entire event. Thanks to 3rd Ave. Subway in Ferndale for the free tray of minisubs, the extra tray I purchased, and the water that Nancy brought. We also had some nourishment throughout the day. Thanks to Darby O'Neil for delivering the food. Thank you to the Lions and other volunteers who helped in the parking lot and in the room, and for the WTA drivers who shuttled the visitors in and out.
There are photos, which I and others will share later. And might I add that I took a 2-hour nap as soon as I returned home! Evaluation forms were distributed, which will be followed up later with phone calls. Overall, the participants had very positive feedback, with the request that next year, let's get a bigger room. It was a bit noisy and confusing for some because of the large number of attendees. But thumbs up to everyone who came and participated.
Hats Off
Compiled
by Linda Wilder
We extend congratulations to, and celebrate with, the following WCB members on their accomplishments:
The Washington Council of the Blind Newsline for once again winning the Hollis Liggett Braille Free Press Award for 2025. Heather Meares and Reg George accepted the award on behalf of WCB at the ACB convention in Dallas, TX, July 9.
Mark Wilder of Pierce County Association of the Blind on his 75th birthday May 8.
Mary Ketchersid of United Blind of Tri-Cities on her 99th birthday May 10.
Maria Kuntz of South Kitsap Council of the Blind on her 75th birthday May 18.
Heather Meares of United Blind of Walla Walla on obtaining certification as an Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator.
Kim Moberg of Kitsap Council of the Blind on her appointment to the board of the Washington State School for the Blind to represent the 6th congressional district.
If you or someone you know has something for inclusion in Hats Off, email TheWCBNewsline@gmail.com with "Hats Off" in the subject line. Those items that may not meet the criteria listed below may still be very appropriate in your local chapter's "Around the State" article.
The following are reasons for inclusion in this column:
Birth of a child, grandchild, or great-grandchild
Birthdays every 10 years, then 75 years and older in 5-year increments (yearly after age 90)
Marriage or wedding anniversary 25 years and more in 5-year increments
Graduation from high school, college, or vocational program
New job, career promotion, or retirement
Partnering with a guide dog
Appointment to a city, county, statewide, or national board or commission
Exceptional recognition or award
AROUND THE STATE
Clark County Chapter Update
by Bob
Cavanaugh
The move that has been taking up a great deal of mental space for me for at least the past year is finally here. By the time you read this, I will have been in my own apartment for several weeks. Right now, though, my main focus is packing and trying to kick a cold I've had for a week.
As for chapter things, we held a beeping egg hunt for blind children the Sunday before Easter and had two families show up. We also started meeting in person again at a local Dutch Bros. As always, Zoom is still an option.
As usual, we will be taking July and August off from our regular meetings, then we will be moving to my place in the fall. We will be at the Vancouver Farmers Market again this year, for three days in July. That's about it from this corner of the state.
Guide Dog Users of Washington State
by Vivian
Conger
We will be having an exhibit table at the Washington Council of the Blind convention, as well as a breakout session, and our annual business luncheon. We will have some products to sell, take dues, and hold a 50/50 raffle. We are also scheduled out with our Kibble and Conversation focus calls.
Our June 19 meeting featured Deb Cook Lewis presenting on aggressive chewers and dental hygiene. In July, Tina Leighton will be presenting on dog food of all kinds. Our August call will be presented by Doug Payne and will focus on retirement of a guide and grieving. These events take place on the third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the WCB convention in October.
Pierce
County Association of the Blind (PCAB)
By Linda
Wilder
PCAB has had a busy spring and plans for a great summer. At our April 19 meeting, members brought three suggestions on their favorite tips and tricks.
On May 17, PCAB invited several new people who are blind or have low vision to a first time Friend Day. We successfully signed up five new members. Reach out to Julie Brannon or Linda Wilder for how we did it.
In June, we invited Matt Santelli back from Aging and Disability Resource Center to talk to us about memory loss and tips to help improve memory. Our annual picnic at Spanaway Park happened in July. We are taking August off for the end of summer. We will be returning to TACID after a long break due to COVID for our meetings on the third Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. to noon. Feel free to join us any time. Have a safe and wonderful summer.
Snohomish
County Council of the Blind
by Heidi Coggins
Wow, what a whirlwind of fun we've had at the Snohomish County Council of the Blind (SCCB) this past quarter! Our guide dog family just got a little bigger. SweetPea Moubray, our fabulous president, welcomed Denny, a handsome yellow lab, into her life, and I (Heidi) brought home Pink, another adorable yellow lab who s already stealing hearts. That brings our guide dog count to four and we're not stopping there.
April was buzzing with activity. We teamed up with the WCB Families Committee and the Edmonds Lions Club to host a hoppin Spring Egg Hunt on April 5 at Maplewood Presbyterian Church. Kids and adults alike enjoyed pizza, games, and an egg hunt with a twist those eggs made noise. We even busted some serious moves on the dance floor with the Bunny, learning the Cha Cha Slide and laughing the whole way.
Our April meeting was extra special, thanks to a visit from Alice Klein of the Department of Services for the Blind s Independent Living Program. She gave us the scoop on all the amazing resources available and brought along some cool adaptive tools for us to try. Then, for a fun and practical twist, we took a field trip to the Lynnwood light rail station. With Alice doubling as our orientation and mobility instructor, we practiced navigating the station safely from the DART drop-off to the buses and beyond.
May brought even more reasons to celebrate, starting with our beloved Nancy Lind s 83rd birthday bash on May 3. Friends and family gathered at a local Edmonds church to shower Nancy with love, laughter, and cherished memories. Later in the month, a small group of us made our way to Seattle for the lively Folk Life Festival on May 26. The music, food, and vibrant multicultural art never disappoint.
We ve also been rolling, literally, with our monthly bowling meetups at Evergreen Lanes in Everett. We gather on the second Thursday each month, starting with a tasty breakfast at 9:30 a.m. before hitting the lanes. If you haven t joined us yet, what are you waiting for? The food s fantastic, but the company is even better.
And we re not slowing down. We re already counting down the days to the Everett AquaSox game on July 20 at Funko Field, where our very own WCB member Mira will be singing the national anthem.
That s the latest scoop from your energetic SCCB crew here in Snohomish County. Stay tuned, summer shenanigans are on the way, and we can t wait to tell you all about them in the fall.
South Kitsap Council of the Blind
by
Jessamyn
Landby
Here is what our chapter has been up to since our last update. Several of our members have celebrated birthdays. We had Kim Moberg in March, Kevin Jones and Gayle Pasi in April, and Chris Brame and Maria Kuntz in May. Also, Chris and Carol Brame celebrated their anniversary in May.
In April, to celebrate Easter since our meeting was the Saturday after Easter, we had everyone bring in their favorite breakfast food to share with the chapter. In May, to celebrate Mother s Day and our May birthdays, the chapter went out to eat at a restaurant called El Sombrero, a Mexican restaurant in South Kitsap. About 16 of our members showed up to have lunch. It was a nice change from where the chapter usually goes for lunch.
We had two new members join our chapter that day: Mckenna Pearcy and Tamara Brandon.
We will have our annual picnic in August.
United Blind of Tri-Cities
by Janice
Squires
Here come the lazy crazy days of summer, and United Blind of Tri-Cities (UBTC) is moving right along! We have two new UBTC programs that are just becoming quite amazing! Sherry Dubbin has started our newly formed Support Group for Blind and Low vision members. We have just finished our fifth meeting, and we are so overwhelmed with the success of this new adventure. Our newly blind and visually impaired people are definitely opening up to their struggles and sadness with their vision loss. Sherry wants them to know we are there for them and are so happy to help them through their coping and grieving process.
We are also working diligently on our new Outreach endeavor. We have given presentations to Senior Living staff and participated in our local Senior Expo, talking to over 50 people on losing vision. We have made up new brochures and business cards to pass out to anyone that we may meet.
We have had some sadness and some happiness in our UBTC family. On may 10, we celebrated our long-time member Mary Ketchersid s 99th birthday with a big party given by her loving family.
We lost one of our most precious members, Ruth Shook, who left this world for her eternal home on March 8.
The UBTC is such a fun and happy group of people! We enjoy our monthly lunches, our raucous card playing day, and now our Dice game fun! We also truly enjoy meeting for our book group at a local Assistive care facility that includes a $10.00 lunch.
If you are ever in our area, please come and join in with us and all of this lively enjoyment!
United
Blind of Walla Walla
by
Heather Meares
It has been hot, hot, hot here in Walla Walla these days. What better way to take a break from the heat than a nice, indoor picnic? We met at the Lions Club building, situated on the grounds of Lions Park in College Place, WA, which is just outside of Walla Walla. What a treat it was.
We all brought delicious food, including fruit, some salads, homemade bean dip and chips, burgers and hotdogs with all the works, and last but certainly not least, the most amazing brownies and cookies. I m pretty sure we all waddled out of there after all that food, except maybe Zach, who arrived on his really cool tricycle. We enjoyed getting to know each other a little better in an air-conditioned environment. It was great to see our group working as a team, everyone contributing in their own way. And even though we stayed inside, there are some features outside that I must tell you about.
Bryce and I arrived early to get set up, as he was generously doing the cooking of the burgers and dogs, so we explored the accessible playground because I was very curious what this would be like. I was excited about what I found. The enclosed area was all level, rubber mat flooring, which creates an easy-to-navigate experience for wheelchair users. The playground itself featured unique swings and merry-go-round seats that were larger and easy to get in and out of, and many other interesting, fun things to try. Of course, I tested them all out and laughed out loud with enjoyment as I experienced each one.
Then there was the music garden, full of a variety of different sizes of chimes and mallets to create beautiful sounds with.
But my favorite part was the splash pad. I was unable to convince anyone from the picnic to join in this refreshing adventure, and believe me, I tried my best. It included a large bucket that dumps copious amounts of water over you, and an array of other rotating fountains of delight.
It was so encouraging to find such an accessible and well-thought-out design right here in our own community. And even though I had to wait until everyone had gone home, Bryce and I sure as heck did get in that splash pad on this lovely 95-degree day before we departed for home.
United
Blind of Whatcom County
by
Yvonne Miller
United Blind of Whatcom County has been busy this spring quarter. In March, Jim Turri introduced Doug Paine to our chapter meeting. They are participating in the Washington Council of the Blind Leadership Seminar. Jim has been mentoring Doug. Doug's assignment was to facilitate our business meeting. Doug moved from Ohio to Seattle and recently retired from Microsoft after 25 years.
Our monthly luncheon was held at Panda Palace on March 28. Chinese food was enjoyed by all who attended. Our book club selected "On High Steel," by Michael Cherry. The other book was "The Book of Joy," by the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop of Africa.
In April, we welcomed Jim Palomarez, president of the Yakima Valley Council of the Blind and Lions Club member. He lost his vision due to rapid glaucoma. He took action and researched for resources for the blind. As a result, he put together a list of resources.
The April luncheon was held at Bellwood Acres Restaurant on April 25. Bellwood has a gift shop and an apple orchard. In the fall, you can select and pick your own pumpkins. The restaurant has a great variety on their menu. Everyone enjoyed themselves.
In May, we welcomed Natalie Newman, director of the Ershig Assistive Technology Resource Center from Western Washington University. The resource center has a library of information resources and features assistive devices for students and the community. It can loan out equipment for many diverse needs and accommodations. Natalie attended the Low Vision Info Fair, which you can read about in detail separately in this issue.
Our Low Vision Info Fair was held at the Lions Club building on Benett Drive on Saturday, May 10. Many vendors provided information and resources and demonstrated assistive devices. Natalie Newman, Danielle Miller and DSB were all in attendance. UBWC members demonstrated their own personal devices. Our sign-up sheet listed 75 people who visited and talked to the vendors. It was a huge success.
The May luncheon was held at Mia Mexico Restaurant on Friday, May 23. We had a good turnout of members who enjoyed good, tasty food and company. UBWC members and the waiters sang happy birthday to Holly Turri.
Yakima
Valley Council of the Blind
by Jim
Palomarez
Summer is now upon us here in the Yakima Valley, and things have certainly heated up! Our group has focused on fundraising and outreach efforts since the beginning of the year and has been active in the community.
Our members can be seen in their Blind Bowling shirts at all sorts of community functions, such as: the Downtown Association Yakima monthly breakfast at 2nd Street Grill, our weekly Friday bowling sessions, our local live music scene, the Sunday farmers market, and various other venues around town. This was an effort to promote YVCB in general, with a primary purpose of getting the word out about our fundraising event.
The new Facebook page is up and running. It is proving to be a valuable tool and is gaining notice. It was even used on a local news story promoting our open house and fundraiser. Our first annual Blind Bowling Experience was exciting and fun! We had quite a bit of local media interest and coverage including one station joining our Friday bowling group to interview a few members. The story ran on regional news, and now we are celebrities.
The photo above shows twenty-one YVCB members, event volunteers, and supportive family members who came together to make the first YVCB Blind Bowling Experience open house and fundraiser a resounding success, all wearing our Blind Bowling t-shirts.
The event was well attended. Over 100 guests came out in support of our community. While waiting for lanes to open, they had the opportunity to participate in several games while wearing sleep masks, giving them the chance to feel what it s like to be blind in a fun, safe environment. Everyone had a great time.
2025 WCB Calendar of Deadlines and Events
For more details on events listed,
please subscribe to the wcb-l list on groups.io or call 800-255-1147.
Join WCB Coffee and Conversation Zoom call Saturdays at 10 a.m.
List of Abbreviations:
BLV Blind and Low Vision
DSB Department of Services for the Blind
SRC-B State Rehabilitation Council
WASILC Washington State Independent Living Council
WCB Washington Council of the Blind
WSSB Washington State School for the Blind
WTBBL Washington Talking Book & Braille Library
AUGUST
2 BLV Technology Meetup at 11:30 a.m.
2 WCB Board Meeting from 1 to 3 p.m.
4 Treasurers call at 7 p.m.
11 WCB Diabetics call at 7 p.m.
17 WCB Tech Chat with Reg and Frank at 7 p.m.
31 Deadline for WCB First Timer applications
31 Last day to donate scholarship funds to be distributed to this year s recipients
SEPTEMBER
1 WCB Convention registration opens
6 BLV Technology Meetup at 11:30 a.m.
8 WCB Diabetics call at 7 p.m.
9 WCB Committee Leaders call at 7 p.m.
12 SRC-B Zoom meeting from 9 a.m. to noon
21 WCB Tech Chat with Reg and Frank at 7 p.m.
22 Presidents call at 7 p.m.
25 WSSB Board of Trustees meeting
28 Proposed 2026 Operations Budget Forum Call at 3 p.m. (Zoom)
28 WCB Candidates Forum Call at 4 p.m. (Zoom)
OCTOBER
2 Record Date for WCB members voting eligibility
3 WCB convention online pre-registration ends at midnight
3 Last day for WCB members to request a convention loan
3 Last day for eligible WCB members to request a travel stipend
3 Last day for guaranteed $120 rate on DoubleTree hotel reservations
4 BLV Technology Meetup at 11:30 a.m.
5 Proposed Constitutional Amendments Forum Call at 3 p.m. (Zoom)
6 Treasurers call at 7 p.m.
13 Last day to send donation details for WCB Fundraising Auction items
13 WCB Diabetics call at 7 p.m.
15 White Cane Safety Day
18 WTBBL Patron Advisory Council meeting at 9 a.m. (Zoom)
19 WCB Tech Chat with Reg and Frank at 7 p.m.
23 WASILC meeting 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Zoom)
24 WASILC meeting 9 a.m. to noon (Zoom)
** WCB Annual Convention at DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport**
30 WCB pre-convention Board meeting
31 WCB sessions, breakouts, Exhibit Hall, and Showcase of Talent
NOVEMBER
1 WCB sessions including agency reports and job panel, WCB annual business meeting, and WCB banquet
10 WCB Diabetics call at 7 p.m.
13 WSSB Board of Trustees meeting
16 WCB Tech Chat with Reg and Frank at 7 p.m.
23 Presidents call at 7 p.m.
30 Submission deadline for WCB Newsline Winter 2025 issue
Washington Council of the Blind
is pleased to acknowledge donors who have generously supported our programs
in the second quarter of 2025
Thank You!
Anonymous (2), Colette Arvidson,
Terry Atwater, Todd Beckett,
Zandra Brown, Bob Cavanaugh,
Young Choi, Tim Cumings,
Frank Cuta, Michelle Denzer,
Lisa & Reg George,
Jefferson County Council of the Blind,
Lynne Koral, George Mues,
Dakota Orlando, Marilee Richards,
Sheri Richardson, Bhupinder Singh,
Kathleen Tracy,
and Ashley Trenkenschuh