WHEREAS, the State of Maryland has several academic institutions which offer special education courses; and
WHEREAS, students enrolled in these programs receive instruction in specific aspects of a varied range of disabilities; and
WHEREAS, materials are distributed concerning the blind and visually handicapped; and
WHEREAS, HUMAN EXCEPTIONAL ITY by Michael L. Hardman, C,lifford J. Drew, and M. Winston Egan, published by Allyn and Eacon, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1987, devotes an entire chapter
to visual disorders; and
WHEREAS, these authors allege that Braille readers are two to three times slower than print readers, averaging 90 words per minute in the upper elementary grades; Writing with a slate and stylus is tedious and slow; Braille material is extremely bulky with each character one-quarter inch causing a Braille book to be four times larger and costing ten times more than a print book; and the tactile nature of Braille makes it impossible for diabetics and older persons to learn it; and
WHEREAS, the optacon is promoted as the most popular tactile device not using the Braille system; and
WHEREAS, the facts are that competent blind persons have achieved rapid Braille reading speeds equal to their sighted peers; and
WHEREAS, technology has increased the availability of Braille and lowered the cost of Braille materials; and
WHEREAS, equipment now exists for blind persons which is far more versatile than the optacon; and
WHEREAS, competent and positive blind role models continue to prove that blindness is not the inferior, gloom-and-doom complex portrayed in HUMAN EXCEPTIONALITY; Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled this 11th day of September, 1988, in the City of Towson, Maryland, that this organization condemns and deplores the archaic and negative attitudes about blindness expressed in HUMAN EXCEPTIONALITY; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization brings to the attention of special education department chairpersons the inaccuracies in such literature, urging that the facts about blindness be provided; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization work with major publishers to stop the distribution of these destructive materials; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization place educational and informational materials in the campus libraries used by special education students; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we urge special education departments to work with the National Federation of the Blind when dealing with matters of blindness and visual handicaps.