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Basically , this is a separate , rounded decoy spread of equal size off each corner of the blind with an open " meat hole " in the middle . You know as well as I - - those who have come together in the largest organization of the blind in the nation , the tough-minded individuals who have gathered here tonight to represent the blind from throughout the country , the members of the National Federation of the Blind . A year ago we announced the merger of Computerized Books for the Blind with RFB . Share a blind with them on a balmy October morning or a sleety November afternoon when birds are rushing out of the Dakotas . WHEREAS , Congress is considering legislation to amend and extend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ; and WHEREAS , provisions in a bill before the Committee on Education and Labor of the United States House of Representatives call for the establishment of a " Commission on Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired " ; and WHEREAS , the stated purpose for this commission is to con - duct an eighteen-month study of programs and needs in areas such as the adequacy of mobility instruction and the need for improved instructor training programs , Braille literacy , specialized ver - sus generic services , the Randolph-Sheppard program , physical accessibility , advancements in technology , specialized services for children and youth , assistance to older blind individuals , and more ; and WHEREAS , the proposition that a special commission should be appointed to examine the needs of the blind and then interpret them to the President and the Congress has the air of paternalism in that the commission if created would lead policymakers to the false belief that individuals employed to serve the blind or appointed to study the blind are the legitimate representatives of the blind ; and WHEREAS , since 1940 , with the formation of the National Federation of the Blind , blind people in the United States have had a vehicle for self-expression and a means of explaining our needs to local , state , and federal policy-makers ; and WHEREAS , the desire to have a special commission on blind - ness , which is principally supported by the trade association of blind service agency employees , is , in fact , a reaction to the effectiveness of the consumer movement ; and WHEREAS , members of Congress and officials of the Bush Ad - ministration should adopt a consumer-empowerment stance by re - jecting the commission on blindness as a ploy by blind service workers to speak for the blind through the auspices of a specially-appointed body whose members will not be accountable to anyone , including the blind , the President , or the Congress : Now , therefore , BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fourth day of July , 1992 , in the City of Charlotte , North Carolina , that this organization strongly oppose legislation to establish a " Commission on Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired " because the structure and purposes of such a commission have been designed to quash methods of effective advocacy by blind consumers ; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all members of Congress and responsible officials of the Bush Administration are urged to stand up for an independent voice for blind consumers by calling for , and if necessary by voting for , removal of the commission on blindness provisions from the Rehabilitation Act reauthorization bill . One bright spot was the growing program to provide books to the blind through the Library of Congress . Charlie Crawford , Governmental Affairs Director Melanie Brunson , and a group of blindness private agency folks , we dealt with the issue of getting proper reimbursements for professionals serving the blind from Medicare and Medicaid . My main aim is to provide the blind with a mechanism to echolocate the same way as a bat , and to enable them to see as well as a bat in the dark . In a misguided attempt to be politically correct ( the politically correct would say fair and just ) the supervisors of language appear to be attempting to eliminate the blind from literature . Such limits discourage the blind from taking jobs for fear that they will lose their Social Security benefits and then be unable to support themselves and their families .