By Jennifer Dunnam, President

As I write this it has been a little over a week since you elected me as your new president and since Joyce Scanlan handed me that fine wooden gavel with the NFB of Minnesota logo engraved upon the handle.  Joyce has led us long and well, and has done more than anybody else has to improve life for blind people in Minnesota, not to mention her important work throughout our country.  It is my great fortune to have her experience to call upon, as well as an affiliate full of capable and committed people with whom to work.

I have been active in the Federation since I was a teenager in 1985, and Joyce Scanlan was the national representative at my first state convention in Louisiana.  Up to then, my parents, teachers, and others had worked hard to see that blindness did not prevent me from growing up a normal child, but there were some things they did not know about being blind.  As adulthood came into view, I had started to become a little afraid about what life would be like for me as a grown-up. For one thing, I had very little in the way of skill in getting around independently, which was beginning to have a negative and limiting effect on my experience of school (I attended public school from kindergarten through high school).  Certainly, I had dreams of what I wanted to be as an adult, but the day I read a book on summer jobs for teenagers and could not find even one there that I thought I would be able to do, the dreams seemed on very shaky ground. 

At that first state convention, I met blind role models full of good ideas and enthusiasm, who inspired me and challenged me by the confident way they presented themselves and the grace and ease with which they traveled wherever they wanted to go.  They kept after me to stay involved with the NFB, and a few years later I began attending Washington seminars and national conventions, reading speeches and articles, and in general assimilating the philosophy of the Federation into daily life, because it made sense to me.  I attended a training center much like our Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), and that training, along with the many Federationists who included me in their activities, helped me get the skills and confidence I needed to travel wherever I wanted to go and to achieve things I could never have imagined before my first NFB convention.

After a college experience that included three summers of study abroad, I moved here to Minnesota and worked at BLIND Incorporated as a braille and cane travel instructor for several years.  After that, for nine years I worked at the University of Minnesota, overseeing the production of braille and other alternative formats for course materials, supervising a staff first of twenty-five part-time student workers and then of five full-time employees, and overseeing a testing center that administered about 1,300 exams every semester.  I now manage the National Federation of the Blind’s Braille Certification Training Program under contract with the Library of Congress.

All that I have seen and learned so far in life tells me that if blind people are to have a future of opportunity in this world, there is no choice but for this organization, the National Federation of the Blind, to make itself known even more, as the resource and as the force that it is.  Blind children need to know, without a doubt,  that they can travel around freely and safely with a white cane, that they can read and write braille just as fast as their classmates use print, that they can play and have adventures and explore the world around them because it is theirs just as much as anyone else’s.  Blind students need to know, without a doubt, that they can meet the same standards as their peers, and that they can and must manage their own accommodations to succeed in school and to be ready for work and life after school.  Blind senior citizens need to know, without a doubt, that they can still live an interesting and productive life.  Family, friends, co-workers, potential employers, classmates—every blind and sighted person in Minnesota and in society at large—needs to know, without a doubt,  that the amount of sight one has does not determine one’s capacity, and that blind people of all ages are normal and can be expected to pull their weight in the world. 

There is no one else who can make these things known, as can we in the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota.  This organization is a treasure trove—with our chapters and divisions around the state full of knowledgeable people willing to teach what they know and to help solve problems; with our internationally-recognized training center, BLIND, Incorporated, providing students with an environment where they can gain skills and confidence to live full and productive lives as blind people; and with our collective voice and our strong will to make life better.  Teachers and rehabilitation agencies can have a positive impact, but to do so they need to know us, the organized blind of all ages and all walks of life, so they can know enough of the truth about blindness to really believe in blind people and set their standards and expectations high.

Are there challenges?  Of course there are, and it is up to us, with our collective experience, to find our way through them and act to conquer them—be they attitudinal, technological, or any other kind large or small.  We must work together to see that the things that blind people need are done—either by doing them ourselves or working with others to see them done.  We must work together to see that things we do not need are not put in place to add to the misunderstandings that surround blindness. 

I promise to do my very best for this organization; although there is no way that I could ever pay back what it has given to me, I will try with all my might.  Our history is illustrious, and our future is bright. Remember, though, that there is no organization without each one of its members.  You are the eyes and ears, the hands and feet, the minds and hearts of our organization.  You know what it’s like to live as blind people today, what is working and what is not working.  Our organization requires all of us to do our part—to bring our ideas, our wisdom, and our energy to the task of changing what it means to be blind in today's changing world.  I look forward to working with all of you as we build upon our past and dream and plan for our future.