The Blind Californian, Summer 2020

Volume 64, No. 3
Published in Email (bc-subscribe@ccbnet.org), NFB Newsline, and Online in readable and downloadable text and audio media.

Judy Wilkinson, President
1550 Bancroft Avenue #113, San Leandro, CA 94577-5264
Cell: 510-388-5079
president@ccbnet.org

Executive Office
California Council of the Blind
2143 Hurley Way Suite 250, Sacramento, CA 95825
916-441-2100 voice; 916-441-2188 fax
Email: ccotb@ccbnet.org
Website: www.ccbnet.org

Jeff Thom, Director Governmental Affairs Committee
800-221-6359 toll free; 916-995-3967 cell
governmentalaffairs@ccbnet.org

Webmaster
webmaster@ccbnet.org

Mike Keithley, Editor
191 East El Camino Real #150
Mountain View, CA 94040
650-386-6286
editor@ccbnet.org

Susan Glass, Associate Editor
408-257-1034
editor@ccbnet.org

Deb Runyan, proofing and large print production

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In accepting material for THE BLIND CALIFORNIAN, priority will be given to articles concerning the activities and policies of the California Council of the Blind and to the experiences and concerns of blind persons. Recommended length is 1800 words.

The deadline to submit material for the fall, 2020 issue of THE BLIND CALIFORNIAN is noon, August 15, 2020.

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Table of Contents

• The Editor’s Wag
• The More Things Change, the More They stay the Same, Judy Wilkinson
• Here Comes The CAAVLry!: Introducing The California Alliance On Aging And Vision Loss, Frank welte
• Before, During and After, Jeff Thom
• Pranks, Noel Runyan
• Feather Blossoms: Cultivating Your Bird Garden, Susan Glass
• Wise Words from A Wit, Olivia Ostegaard
• Mindfulness Techniques Can Help With Diabetes, Stacy Lu
• It’s Now Or Never, NEI Research
• California Council of the Blind Officers and Directors
• Donations

The Editor’s Wag

Editor’s Wag
Mike Keithley

Welcome to the summer BC. Beware! Wear your mask, sanitize hands; wash your speaker, Jaws, and email program.

It seems to me that this Covid-19 period through whice we’re living marks a cusp between losing taken-for-granted living and greeting new adventures. Take all those nice people who emerge from the woodwork that I only knew peripherally asking how I am and if they can do anything for me. It shows that caring people are not far away. And when you can do something for them, very cool!

But take the need to wear masks in public. I hate those things! I like fresh air on my face, and the first time I wore a mask, I was so impressed with my hot breath I thought, “hey I’m a fire-breathing dragon, outa find Puff!”

Why just this morning when Star and I were in a bagel shop, a man asked how I could see with my mask covering my eyes, which don’t feel right under a mask. I thought my eyes were uncovered, maybe he saw me through a strange angle. Anyway, it was an interesting conversation starter when the man learned I was blind and didn’t need to be concerned about covered eyes. Hope I made his day!

Take eating out. Nowadays we bring take out home, eat in the park or the car. I think the days when we can peacefully enjoy a restaurant won’t return for some time, and we still have to wear those stupid masks. Have you figured out how you’ll eat with that thing covering your mouth? But I can look forward to being outside in the summertime.

And then there’s social distancing. It’ll likely be going on for a long time and might become a folk habit. That’ll be too bad since I’ve noticed that being aware of someone 6 feet away from me is often difficult with my hearing impairment. The days of being lonely in a “crowd” are here.

This evening I listened to a virtual graduation ceremony where my grandson got his diploma. Everyone was in their house or back yard posing this way and that, and though it was probably a gas for Star, who was looking for Andrew, all I noticed was how many Latino were in that 2020 class. But it did remind me of how my first dog Kola graduated from the University of Santa Clara with my diploma.

We rehearsed how we’d walk to the podium to take our degrees and return to our chairs. When my turn came up in the ceremony, Kola guided me to get my diploma and got a standing ovation. So when we got back to my chair, I gave it to her. Don’t know what she did with it. I think she worked harder than I did!

And here’s another really nice event to relate. A bird built a nest inside the drawer (which had a 2-inch hole in front) of our patio table. I imagine she somehow squeezed in and out. I don’t know the species, but Star says she was around 3 inches long.

She laid five eggs in there, and 3 hatched. For around 2 weeks we kept track of those nestlings, very carefully opening the drawer. The mother perched on the light over the patio door, and sometimes flew at Star with a message: “dumb human, get outa here!” I stayed away from that scene. It’s bad enough when governor Newsom tells me what to do, but a bird?

And then the babies were gone, done without us knowing, haha, sometime early in the morning. So we took the 2 unhatched eggs out of the empty nest, which is still there waiting for next season.

And now to the BC. You’ll find this issue rather small. President Wilkinson recaps her presidency, Jeff Thom describes post Covid challenging days and Noel Runyan introduces us to the spirit of unhurtful pranks. And look forward to Susan Glass’ article about birds. And those getting the email issue, enjoy attached bird songs.

Hopefully you’ll get your BC before the virtual CCB conference and convention June 19/20. It’s not an in-person event, it’s over the telephone so you’ll be at home to abide by the Covid-19 regulations.

You’ll need to register by June 13, and that costs $10. The form is on the website at: ccbnet.org/drupal72/node/14

You can also call the office at 800-221-6359. You will be contacted with the Zoom calling information for the convention.

The general convention outline is:

First general session: Friday 9 AM to 12.

Second General Session: 1 PM to 4. Elections will be held.

Third general session: Saturday, 9 AM to 12.

Forth session: Saturday 1 PM to 4.

You should contact either the office or your chapter/affiliate president for information regarding programs.

Also note that affiliate and committee meetings will be held on Zoom on dates before the convention.

The More Things Change, the More They stay the Same, Judy Wilkinson

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
Judy Wilkinson

In preparing for my final address as president at our upcoming virtual conference/convention, I am reviewing my daily calendar, email history, board agendas and minutes, and of course, past issues of The Blind Californian. By coincidence, this my final official article as CCB president, occurs 10 years from the summer issue in 2010 when I assumed the BC editorship. As a condition of becoming editor, I made it clear that my column would be a soapbox, leaving me free to say pretty much whatever I wanted. So other than the single issue in summer 2011 where space constraints made my column expendable, and the spring 2015 issue where Susan Glass stepped in while Steve and I visited New Zealand, I’ve been talking with you for 10 years now. Some fifty-plus articles bear my name as editor (six years) and president these last four.

Over this decade, a number of themes recur. In summer 2011, I discussed the importance of institutional memory, from good record keeping to remembering those upon whose shoulders we stand. We have lost so very many beloved members since my first issue when Ken Metz eulogized Connie Schoeman, and Connie Bateman remembered Barbara Caslava-Messinger, a mentor to many, especially as a DOR counsellor. So many more! A partial list includes Mitch Pomerantz for Frances Mannino, Ken Metz again for Obbie Schoeman, Susan Glass for Teddie-Joy Remhild, Frank Welte for Winifred Downing, my remarks for Ken Metz and Al Gil, and of course our upcoming memorial issue of the BC for Cathie Skivers.

Certainly our ongoing financial struggles have occupied many BC pages. We fondly remember more flush times: Bob Acosta reminds me that when he left the presidency, we had 2 million dollars; and Cathie never tired of reminding me that when she left office, we had well over a million. But for nearly 20 years now, over a succession of presidencies, we have run a budget deficit. Many of our initiatives have not turned out: the struggle to make The Mutt Strutt successful, the hopes for Dining in the Dark and Canes Across California, the disappointment of the failed Major Gifts Ramp-up, and several time-consuming and extremely labor-intensive grant and contract applications. Despite these failures, time and again our members have shown their faith in the organization and demonstrated its importance to their lives, by stepping up with generous donations from our appeal letters to convention sponsorships to other gifts. As of this writing, I know of one member who has remembered us in her estate plans, and of course we are hoping the Mel Kahn trust will ameliorate our financial situation. Despite these disappointments, I remain optimistic about the trust, our EUC grant and our business venture with OntheMuv.

Another recurring theme is the need for the organization to adapt and evolve. From my winter 2017 article The Road Taken:

“However much we revere the organizational model which has brought us so far, real danger exists that without significant modernization, this road can lead us no further.”

Our modernizing efforts began during Donna Pomerantz’s presidency when we developed and began implementing our Strategic Plan, printed in the Fall 2014 and Winter 2015 BCs. Despite our feelings about our former CEO Paul Shane, he was instrumental in pointing the way for the CCB to move into the 21st century. Our original Case for Support and its modified version created for our Major Gifts campaign, point the way for informing people why our work is important and deserving of their support. Other modernizations include codifying a number of policies including one for gift acceptance; we have an employee handbook as well as a resource document for those answering phone queries. We have revised our bylaws to such a far-sighted extent that we are the only ACB affiliate currently able to conduct business, including holding elections, through virtual meetings.

The most important and enduring theme is our work, crystalized early in my presidency when the board adopted a streamlined mission statement: “To increase the independence and equality for all Californians who are blind or low vision.” That mission is challenged today in ways reminiscent of 10 years ago when in fall 2010 I wrote:

“The budget crisis affecting California has resulted in savage cuts to many programs–cuts which have already and will continue to result in serious harm to real people… We can never be complacent.” That stark realization as much as anything, explains why CCB’s work is as important today as it has ever been. “None of our rights or opportunities are secure or invulnerable.”

I continued, “New and broader coalitions and new forms of advocacy are going to be necessary for our agenda and legitimate concerns to have a place at the table.”

Note our work with Disability Rights California and Jeff Thom’s place on the governor’s taskforce for Seniors. In this regard, my summer 2019 article “The Other Faces of Advocacy” emphasizes that our advocacy efforts extend far beyond our legislative efforts.

Of all the threads that can be drawn from the tapestry of our experience, the most inspiring is our continuing commitment to our grassroots origins. The preamble to our Bylaws states this clearly. In perhaps my most angry column from Winter 2018 “The Scarlet Letter” to those who accused CCB of becoming “an agency,” I wrote:

“But let’s be honest here: many agencies can and do provide useful services and benefits; the issue is: who controls them?” our membership of course!

The final paragraph: “I look forward to the day when the letter A stands for Advancement: the kind of advancement we can accomplish when we communicate and converse, working together toward the common goal of promoting the interests of all Californians who are blind or visually-impaired.”

All these themes are inextricably intertwined: without funds we, the grassroots CCB members, cannot do our meaningful work reflecting our core values substantially created by those who came before.

For me these threads come together in my article of which I am perhaps most proud: Spring 2017’s “George Bailey and the Miracle Question: Opposite Sides of the Coin.”

“Remember when, in the movie ‘It’s A Wonderful Life,’ George Bailey says his family would have been better off if he’d never been born? Clarence granted his wish and George learned how changing that one thing created a far-reaching domino effect. In a similar vein, what if there had never been a California Council of the Blind?” A sobering list follows including no CCB scholarships; no SB105 creating the Division for the Blind; no white cane laws; no environmental design accessibility regulations or accessible pedestrian signals; no structured negotiations allowing access to ATM’s, prescriptions, or point-of-sale machines. And there’d be no assistive technology loans, no audio description in movie theaters, no advocacy for accessible autonomous vehicles, or no legal protection against attacks on guide dogs. And blind parents: be prepared to lose the custody of your baby.

My article goes on to fantasize about that beautiful morning when our mission had been completely accomplished. That dream was fabulous to imagine, but we’re a long way from its fulfillment. Today’s CCB continues to advocate for increased rights even while we strive to preserve existing ones. George Bailey learned just in time that the world was a better place with him in it, and surely with CCB in it, the world is a better place as well.

Here Comes The CAAVLry!: Introducing The California Alliance On Aging And Vision Loss, Frank welte

Here Comes The CAAVLry!: Introducing The California Alliance On Aging And Vision Loss
Frank Welte

We are pleased to announce that we have created the California Alliance On Aging and Vision Loss, CAAVL, an organization that will work in behalf of older Californians living with vision loss. CAAVL is preparing to be an affiliate of the California Council of the Blind and of the Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss, a special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind. We expect that we will have received charters from both groups by the time you read this article.

Our Purpose

The purpose of CAAVL shall be:

A. To build an active, inclusive and supportive community of older persons who are blind that fosters each person’s self-acceptance and self-confidence, helps each person to access information, resources, products, services and opportunities that will enhance his or her experience with vision loss and provides opportunities for each person to share his or her unique personality, life experiences, talents and friendship in behalf of others in the community.

B. To promote the acceptance, accommodation and full inclusion of older blind individuals by all agencies, employers, educational institutions, businesses, and by the general public.

C. To work to improve the scope and quality of educational, cultural, rehabilitation and employment opportunities in order to enhance the quality of life for blind persons in general, and for older blind individuals in particular in the state of California.

D. To influence providers of products and services to address the specific needs of older blind individuals, including those with multiple disabilities, in the designs of those products and services.

For more information, please contact Frank Welte, CAAVL’s Interim President, by email at Frank.A.Welte@gmail.com or by phone at 510-541-1442.

Before, During and After, Jeff Thom

Before, During And After
Jeff Thom

As the ball dropped on 2020, the outlook in California was certainly more positive than it had been a decade before. Contrary to the generally held view by many Americans, the restrained state fiscal policies of the decade resulted in California undertaking limited spending on new initiatives, salting away a fairly significant rainy day fund and essentially being on a very solid fiscal footing. In fact, although revenue projections were very positive for 2020, the state was reasonably well-situated to weather the long-awaited recession, which never seemed to materialize. Moreover, in recognition of the large unmet need, both current and future, for services to seniors and persons with disabilities, Governor Newsom took the bold step of requiring the development of a master plan on aging and persons with disabilities in order to obtain a short-term and long-term blueprint on the direction California needed to take in order that California could best serve these populations.

Committees were making incredible strides in the development of MasterPlan content.

And then Covid-19 arrived and the world as we knew it changed, and will continue to change in ways that we can only begin to guess. This article looks at only one small piece of the landscape, the state budget for California.

As you all know, the economy is, temporarily at the very least, in shambles, with unemployment reaching depression-era numbers thus creating significant revenue losses for the state and local governments for an unknown number of months or even years to come. As one example, transit provider fare box revenues are down to a trickle and it remains to be seen, even after we fully re-open, to what extent riders will return to using public transit. On the other side of the equation, costs to hospitals, nursing facilities and other providers, for Covid-19 testing, for unemployment benefits, and for a host of other items related to Covid-19 are sapping the resources of government. In addition, since we are not in a position to predict, with any high degree of certainty, the length of this pandemic, including any possible recurrence, it is difficult to accurately estimate what Covid-19-related costs will be for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. To make matters worse, it is almost certain that the economic situation will cause more Californians to apply for publicly-funded health and social services, thus stretching the thin safety net even thinner.

By the time you read this, the Legislature will likely have met its constitutional deadline and passed a budget by June 15. In fact, it is possible that, when the Legislature returns in August to wind up the 2019-2020 session, revenue and expense projections will have changed, for better or worse, and the Legislature and the Governor may be forced, based on any such changes, to adopt modifications to the budget. However, the budget that the Legislature will adopt in June will be primarily based on a May revise that the Governor made on May 14 and that revision was filled with cuts. A few areas did not suffer, such as funding for the handling of wildfires, case growth increases for nursing facilities, and homelessness funding, as well as the aid grant amount for families on the CalWORKS program. By and large, however, most program areas are slated to receive reductions. Even education, although the proposed reduction is smaller than in most areas of the budget, will be negatively impacted. However, I am pleased to mention that special education appears to have been relatively unscathed in the governor’s May revision.

Sadly, the governor’s May revision axe made the heaviest strokes to health, mental health and social services programs, including Medi-Cal, senior services, in-home supportive services, SSI, and many more. Some of these health and social services cuts are proposed to occur only if the federal government fails to provide California with funding that could be used to offset these funding reductions, although the specific language on how this trigger mechanism would work is not yet known. Moreover, with Congress currently deadlocked over the level of assistance state and local governments might receive, it is impossible to tell whether any of these proposed funding reductions will be precluded by the receipt of federal monies.

Just as was true during the recession of a decade earlier, programs for people with disabilities and seniors are the first to be slashed and if history repeats itself will be the last to be returned to prior funding levels. In fact, state funding for SSI has not even returned to the levels of a dozen years ago. It is just a reality of American life that programs for vulnerable populations, other than education, generally do not fare well in times of economic crisis.

Having said that, I think there are some opportunities that Covid-19 has provided to us as advocates. The public recognized that older adults and people with disabilities are more vulnerable in certain respects than others. With that viewpoint comes a backlash that casts doubt on why we should invest so much money into our vulnerable populations. Such public backlash, however, allows us to argue that services that help to promote independence and non-institutionalization make complete sense for the individual and for society. In addition, the cry for nursing home reform should be amplified by the extremely high numbers of Covid-19 cases, including deaths, in these facilities. In my last BC column, I noted that the long-term services and supports subcommittee for the aging master plan included a call for more access for nursing facility residents with vision loss. Social distancing and other requirements make it all the more imperative that our population be as independent as possible whether they are attempting to continue residing in their own home or they already reside in a nursing facility.

As you know, isolation issues are incredibly rampant among those suffering vision loss, especially those losing their vision later in life. Now that the general population has had to handle some degree of isolation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, perhaps we can take advantage of the opportunity to educate the public concerning the traumatic nature of losing vision and the need for services to enable these individuals to regain the ability to live independently.

We must also advocate for services that address the needs of those with transportation limitations. This crisis may be giving those of us in urban areas a taste of what our rural brothers and sisters have had to overcome. We need to make sure that essential services, including food, medical/veterinary care, etcetera are available to all of us, no matter where we live and whether we have access to a computer.

Finally, the governor does not want to shelve the development of his Aging Master Plan. Unlike his predecessor, I believe that this Governor does care about seniors and people with disabilities and we must continue to make sure our voice is heard.

So, as the pandemic hopefully begins to ease and the cruel reality of the aftermath of that crisis begins to become apparent, let us try and learn from the crisis and shape our advocacy messages in a way that will achieve results that, before the crisis, we could not have hoped for. Let us use this horrible time as a way to move toward a better future for those who are blind or have low vision.

Pranks, Noel Runyan

Pranks
Noel Runyan

{Editor’s note: We all know Noel through his work with accessible voting machines, but now we see him in highschool, as flamboyant as ever. And though this story happened before the accident that caused his blindness, he never let his “gone eyesight” stop him.

This was published in the May, 2020 SVCB In Touch newsletter after we all encouraged him at a SVCB Social Hour virtual meeting to write it.}

This first atomic caper story is one of several from my collaboration with Leon Cooper, our favorite high school chemistry teacher, and fountain of fascinating stories.

Deb and I grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb was developed. It was a small, isolated community with only one movie theater, no drive-in, and only limited other venues for entertainment. Therefore, we youngsters had to get creative to come up with our own forms of fun. Intelligent, carefully thought-out capers were greatly prized by kids, and even more so if they left school principals and other adult authorities frowning hard (often while trying their best to not let a laugh or smile escape their lips).

A Dennis the Menace mischief kit got me started with pranks and capers, after a great response to a fake ink spill I set up in the cubby hole in my third grade desk.

Proper capers with real style endangered nobody, were not vandalistic, and were not real crimes. Some of our most sophisticated capers were in the form of senior graduation pranks.

Due to the statute of limitations, it is now finally safe to reveal these capers. However, most of the names have been withheld to continue to protect the not so innocent. Similarly, many of our caper stories have been written from a third-person viewpoint, in order to limit possible incrimination of the authors.

The flagpole was the focus of many capers such as a trash can placed high atop the pole, streamers of girls’ panties flapping in place of the flag, and other flagpole capers. If you like this first caper about the moving flagpole, we can share many others. We would also like to encourage other members to write up and share their favorite caper stories.

The Moving Flagpole Caper

The Los Alamos High School complex was constructed in stages as the town grew into a city over the course of some twenty years. The high school library became so cramped that a larger facility was needed. Planners came up with a modern design for a new “IMC” (Instructional Materials Center) in the middle of the open area in front of the school. The flagpole stood right in the center of the future structure, so it’s removal was the first order of work.

The heavy aluminum flagpole stood 120 feet in height, the tallest flagpole in New Mexico. It was firmly anchored in a large cylindrical mass of cement about four feet in diameter by eight feet deep. Massive equipment was required for removing the pole intact and laying it off to the side.

It was April of 1967, the time of year when devious students were considering options for the annual senior prank. Now keep in mind, the dozen or so of those devious characters almost always included the top scholars in the class. The flagpole might be a useful object for the prank. As mentioned previously, the senior pranks were never supposed to be destructive, didn’t involve material costs to the school or community, and didn’t harm anyone.

Creative minds went to work. How could the flagpole be incorporated into a unique prank? Numerous ideas were tossed around, but most required too much time and effort. After all, the enormous aluminum flagpole weighed more than a ton which, combined with the massive concrete base, made it difficult to manage.

A plan was chosen, and the wheels of progress began to grind. A few nights later, the clandestine group dressed in dark clothing, and went to work. All tools had been collected, and all measurements had been taken. They were ready.

Several kids equipped themselves with walkie talkies and secreted themselves at strategic places, in order to report on any police patrols cruising near the school. The others erected a tent made from a tarp over the concrete base, and proceeded to saw the flagpole from the concrete. Still others used a master key to enter the double doors leading into the high school D wing near the Little Theater, giving them access to the hallways. The D, C, B, and A wings were intersected by the main hallway leading to the front lobby and main entrance to the school.

The bolts holding the center post of the D wing door, as well as those holding the hallway door center posts, had to be removed with wrenches, to permit the temporary removal of the center posts.

The assortment of heavy equipment that had been brought to the high school construction site for excavation and construction of the IMC facility included a front-end loader. One of the kids became familiar with the operation of the loader through watching the operator a few days earlier. This student managed to start the engine, and moved the front loader up to the flag pole’s formerly attached concrete base, picked it up gently, and drove to the high school D wing door. With only inches to spare, he entered D wing, proceeded to the main hallway, made a left turn at B wing and drove to the south end. He cautiously lowered the concrete base onto a wooden pallet that his friends had placed there to protect the floor.

A 12 by 12-inch fresh air vent was removed from the northern end wall of the hallway, providing an opening large enough for passing the flagpole through. Fifteen big kids spaced themselves along the pole, lifted it to their shoulders, and marched over to the opening. As each few feet of the pole was passed through the opening, one kid would run into the hall and shoulder the pole, repeatedly, until the entire pole was inside the B wing hall. It was then placed level on blocks, and the pole and concrete base were joined by spot welding at the joint, after which the joint was smoothed and painted with aluminum paint. Their work was excellent; the joint wasn’t noticeable. The air vent was replaced in the north end wall, thus completing the job.

The tractor front loader was parked back in its regular place at the construction site, and everything else was restored “as was.” The entire job was well planned and went off without a hitch, the total time being little over three hours. Parents, teachers, and others were unaware of the “night shift” mischief job until after school started the following morning. Only one teacher and perhaps twenty students were in on the caper.

The situation was that everyone attending classes in B, C, and D wings had to step high to get over the pole extending across the intersection at B wing. The principal wasn’t amused; he called the superintendent, who also was not amused. The superintendent called school maintenance people to assess the problem and figure out how to remove the pole from B wing.

Even people from the Zia Company, who took care of all maintenance and construction in Los Alamos, were called in to consult, but no one could figure out how the pole appeared in the hallway. They were sure there was no way the pole, along with its massive concrete base, could have been set there without removing the roof. They checked the roof; it hadn’t been tampered with. They checked the mortar between the concrete blocks in the end walls; it hadn’t been tampered with.

The flagpole remained in B wing for two days before the superintendent announced that it would have to be cut up in short lengths and hauled away. It was at this point that a chemistry teacher instructed one of the main instigators to suggest to a janitor that the pole could be cut from the concrete base, thus saving it from destruction, and that, after removing the small air vent at the end of the wing, twenty men might be able to pass it out through the opening. And if they’d remove the metal center pole from the double doors at the front entrance, they might be able to place the concrete base on heavy duty dollies and roll it down the hall and out the front of the school. The lowly janitor earned a lot of points that day, since the school’s administration successfully followed his “brilliant” suggestions to a “T”.

A chemistry teacher was later quizzed by the principal as to whether he had any idea as to who the culprits might have been. The “baffled” teacher had to plead total ignorance.

Case closed.

Wise Words from A Wit, Olivia Ostegaard

I received this essay, (I guess you could call it that), from one of my GSGDHI friends and just had to share it with my CCB family.

By the time you read this, we will have been down the road of Covid-19’s realm of uncertainties; and hopefully schools, churches, and hair and nail salons will be reopening, and life returning to “normal.” But for now we’re living in unprecedented, often scary times, especially for many of those in the “vulnerable” group. But aren’t we all vulnerable? It seems that the media has opted to dismiss the blind, deaf, and other disabilities as major parts of society.

When my friends told me this essay was from George Carlin, I was surprised, wondering if I should read it, waiting for the assault of blue epitaphs to pour out. To my chagrin, it was extremely insightful and I share it here. Enjoy!

Something to Ponder
by George Carlin

May 29, 2014

Link: vargacom.com/something-to-ponder-by-george-carlin/

George Carlin’s wife died early in 2008 and George followed her, dying in July 2008. It is ironic George Carlin—comedian of the 70’s and 80’s—could write something so very eloquent and so very appropriate.

An observation by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember to say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.

Mindfulness Techniques Can Help With Diabetes, Stacy Lu

November 2018 Mental Health, Well-Being, Coping

When Jon Kabat-Zinn was practicing mindful meditation in the 1970s, it was a hip way to strive for peace and self-awareness. But while on a meditation retreat, the young doctor had an idea: He would use mindfulness concepts to help people dealing with chronic illness manage their stress and anxiety.

In 1979, Kabat-Zinn opened what’s now known as the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The center attracted those eager to take his eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course, which teaches exercises such as meditation, gentle stretching, and deep breathing.

In the years since, hundreds of studies have proven what Kabat-Zinn seemed to know intuitively: Mindfulness-based stress-reduction exercises can help people with chronic illness cope with the mental health issues they may experience and improve their physical well-being and quality of life. Research suggests the practice has particular benefits for people with diabetes.

In a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Diabetes Research, adults with type 2 who did a mindfulness-based stress-reduction course improved their emotional well-being and suffered less depression and anxiety than those who did not do the program. There were benefits for diabetes management, too: Participants significantly reduced their fasting blood glucose and A1C levels, a sign of improved blood glucose management.

“Living with diabetes is a major life stressor, from the physical and psychological aspects of managing blood sugar and medications to the eating challenges,” says Ivy Marcus, PhD, CDE, a psychologist and certified diabetes educator in New York City. “A great deal of what we go through in life is beyond our control. The diabetes is always going to be there, but until you connect with what you’re feeling and experiencing, you’re not going to be able to make conscious choices about living with its many challenges.”

What Is Mindfulness?

We hear a lot about mindfulness. Health care providers often suggest we use it to help us make healthier choices. But what exactly does it mean to be mindful? Based on Kabat-Zinn’s definition, mindfulness involves:

Paying attention. No matter what you’re doing: enjoying a hobby or talking with your family, give it your undivided attention.

Living in the moment. Put aside past regrets (an opportunity you let slip) and future worries (a looming work project), and concentrate instead on what’s happening right now.

Being nonjudgmental. Rather than deciding that someone’s behavior, an experience you’re having, or something you’re observing is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or not, simply notice it.

If you practice the above, you’re being mindful. “Mindfulness can help people hit the pause button between thoughts and actions,” says Aliza Phillips-Stoll, PhD, a psychologist who works at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

How Does Mindfulness Work?

Paying attention to what you’re experiencing in the present moment gets easier with practice, which is where exercises such as mindfulness meditation come in. Unlike other forms of meditation, which can include intricate breathing techniques, chanting, or thinking kind thoughts, mindfulness meditation involves training your mind to pay attention to one thing, such as the rhythm of your breathing.

One basic mindfulness meditation exercise is called mindful breathing. It goes like this:

1. Find a quiet spot and sit in a comfortable position. Do a quick check of how your body feels from head to toe (mindfulness experts call this a “body scan”). Are any muscles tight? If so, try to relax them.

2. Move your attention to your breathing. Slowly count to four as you breathe in and again as you breathe out. Notice how your chest expands and contracts.

3. If other thoughts creep in as you’re tracking your breath and it’s likely they will, take note of them, but try not to react. Just direct your attention back to your breathing.

Though the process is simple, staying focused can be challenging, so don’t feel discouraged if you get distracted. Learning to refocus is the point of the exercise. You can then use it to be mindful during other moments of the day when you’re not meditating, including when you’re managing your diabetes.

Manage Pain

We think of pain as being a physical feeling, but there’s also a psychological component. If, for example, you have a burning sensation in your feet due to nerve damage (neuropathy), you may also feel despair, thinking, “This is never going to get better. How can I live a normal life?”

How you think about a physically painful experience can affect the way you experience it on an emotional level, says psychologist Paul Greene, PhD, director of the Manhattan Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in New York City. Instead of dwelling on unsettling thoughts, try to calmly dismiss them and shift your attention to something less upsetting. A reliable go-to: your breathing.

In a study published in 2015 in the Journal of Neuroscience, people who practiced mindful breathing while exposed to intense heat had less activity in a part of the brain that processes the physical sensation of pain than those who didn’t practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness also works by helping people feel that they have more control over their reaction to pain. A Canadian study published in 2017 found that people with nerve damage in their hands and feet had less severe pain, less depression, and a better quality of life after taking a mindfulness course. Effects lasted for up to 12 weeks.

“The next time you’re experiencing discomfort, a headache or nerve or joint pain, for instance, try this: Calmly notice what it is you’re feeling,” suggests Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, director of research and innovation for the Mindfulness Center and associate professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island. “See if you might be resisting the pain and if you can, instead, be open to what it feels like. Note the different characteristics of your pain, such as heat or throbbing and how these might even subtly change over time,” he says. “When we [embrace] our experiences instead of trying to make them go away, we can step out of our habit of reacting with fear.” The result is a less traumatic experience overall.

Eat Healthier

Studies show that mindful eating can help change behaviors that lead to obesity. It includes exercises such as learning to savor food and understanding how to recognize when you’re really hungry or when you’ve had enough.

“Many of us are not eating out of hunger; we’re eating because it’s lunchtime or there’s food around or we’re bored,” says Carla Miller, PhD, a professor of human nutrition at The Ohio State University, who has conducted research on mindfulness and eating habits. “Mindfulness can help you pause before you start eating to check your level of hunger and prevent overeating.” Start with a body scan: Is your stomach growling? Does it feel empty? Do you feel listless or slightly headachy? These are physical signals that you need to eat.

It can also help you examine conflicting feelings around food. “A lot of people I work with aren’t enjoying food,” says Jean Kristeller, PhD, a psychology professor at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana, and cofounder of The Center for Mindful Eating. “If it’s something they’ve labeled as bad, as soon as they put it in their mouth all they’re experiencing is guilt.”

Practicing mindfulness can help you move past guilt. Start by connecting with the feeling of guilt, Marcus says. If you binged on rich foods while on vacation, for instance, think about why you made those choices and how they might contradict your values, such as trying to be healthier. What might you do differently next time to be more in line with your goals? “Mindfulness is useful with helping people make more values-based [choices], rather than pleasure-in-the-moment choices,” she says.

Paying closer attention to what you’re doing and feeling can also help you avoid overeating. Kristeller counsels her patients to savor the experience of eating. Next time you eat, do so slowly, using all of your senses to experience color, smell, taste, and texture. Not only will you enjoy the food more, but the slower pace will help you eat less. “Our taste buds actually get satisfied and tired quickly, in just a few bites, but you have to learn to bring mindfulness to the experience,” Kristeller says.

Reduce Stress

Mindfulness is a particular balm for the stress of dealing with diabetes. Focusing on an unwelcome blood glucose reading can lead to anger and panicky thoughts about potential complications down the road. You may even avoid blood glucose checks to escape such unpleasant emotions. Getting into the habit of spotting these worst-case-scenario thoughts can help you realize that results from a single reading aren’t going to ruin your future; in fact, they can help you better plan your care. If you still feel upset, take a few moments to calm down with a mindful breathing break.

Your diabetes care may benefit, as well. In a study of 86 overweight or obese women published in the journal Obesity, researchers found that stress levels dropped significantly among those who took a mindfulness-based stress-reduction course. Fasting blood glucose levels dropped, too. “People who have chronic stress may be making higher amounts of cortisol and adrenaline,” says Nazia Raja-Khan, MD, associate professor of diabetes, endocrinology, and metabolism at Penn State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania. “Mindfulness might reduce some of these stress hormones and so reduce fasting glucose.”

Let Go of Self-Judgment

Cutting yourself some slack, another facet of mindfulness, can help with diabetes-related guilt. Maybe you blame yourself for that high blood glucose reading or for the low you had this afternoon. Or maybe you feel others are blaming you for developing diabetes in the first place. “There can be stigma,” says Robin Whitebird, PhD, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, who researches mindfulness for diabetes care. “People sometimes make judgments about how you got diabetes, especially if you have other issues like being overweight.”

Mindfulness can help you avoid self-blame while focusing on how to help yourself in this very moment, Whitebird says. Mindful breathing exercises can train you to stop your mind from wandering to thoughts that may be hurtful or not grounded in reality, such as your diagnosis being your fault. It can also help you look at your thoughts without judging them so you can focus on living in the present.

“The reality is that these are just thoughts passing through us,” says Whitebird. “Mindfulness means accepting your feelings [about the past], then releasing and letting them go. Mindfulness teaches us to be gentler with ourselves.”

Seize the Moment

The best way to maintain mindfulness habits is to practice regularly. There are smartphone apps that can help, especially for guided meditation. Here are a few to try.

Headspace

Get guided mindfulness meditations along with how-to articles and videos
headspace.com, free for a basic version; $7.99 per month for full features

Insight Timer

Get more than 11,000 timed meditations from a number of experts
insighttimer.com, free

Unwinding Anxiety

Get mindfulness exercises to ease panic attacks, live Q&A sessions with experts, and group support sessions
unwindinganxiety.com, $29.99 per month

Becoming Mindful

Interested in learning the basics of mindfulness? There are a number of ways to take the eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course.

It is available at many health centers and community centers around the country and may be reimbursable. The Center for Mindfulness has a list of qualified instructors and courses. In-person training includes group discussions about how to achieve greater awareness in everyday life.

The Center also offers its flagship MBSR course online. Tuition starts at $545. Find out more. You can also learn the elements of the program in the book Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness (Bantam, $22) by John Kabat-Zinn.

It’s Now Or Never, NEI Research

It’s Now Or Never: Visual Events Have 100 Milliseconds To Hit Brain Target Or Go Unnoticed

Edited press release from the National Eye Institute

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have defined a crucial window of time that mice need to key in on visual events. As the brain processes visual information, an evolutionarily conserved region known as the superior colliculus notifies other regions of the brain that an event has occurred. Inhibiting this brain region during a specific 100-millisecond window inhibited event perception in mice. Understanding these early visual processing steps could have implications for conditions that affect perception and visual attention, like schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study was published online in the Journal of Neuroscience. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.

“One of the most important aspects of vision is fast detection of important events, like detecting threats or the opportunity for a reward. Our result shows this depends on visual processing in the midbrain, not only the visual cortex”, said Richard Krauzlis, Ph.D., chief of the Section on Eye Movements and Visual Selection at NEI and senior author of the study.

Visual perception—one’s ability to know that one has seen something—depends on the eye and the brain working together. Signals generated in the retina travel via retinal ganglion cell nerve fibers to the brain. In mice, 85% of retinal ganglion cells connect to the superior colliculus. The superior colliculus provides the majority of early visual processing in these animals. In primates, a highly complex visual cortex takes over more of this visual processing load, but 10% of retinal ganglion cells still connect to the superior colliculus, which manages basic but necessary perceptual tasks.

One of these tasks is detecting that a visual event has occurred. The superior colliculus takes in information from the retina and cortex, and when there is sufficient evidence that an event has taken place in the visual field, neurons in the superior colliculus fire. Classical experiments into perceptual decision-making involve having a subject, like a person or a monkey, look at an image of vertical grating (a series of blurry vertical black and white lines) and decide if or when the grating rotates slightly. In 2018, Krauzlis and Wang adapted these classic experiments for mice, opening up new avenues for research.

“Although we have to be cautious translating data from mice to humans, because of the difference in visual systems, mice have many of the same basic mechanisms for event detection and visual attention as humans. The genetic tools available for mice allow us to study how specific genes and neurons are involved in controlling perception,” said Lupeng Wang, Ph.D., first author of the study.

In this study, Wang and colleagues used a technique called optogenetics to tightly control the activity of the superior colliculus over time. They used genetically modified mice so that they could turn neurons in the superior colliculus on or off using a beam of light. This on-off switch could be timed precisely, enabling the researchers to determine exactly when the neurons of the superior colliculus were required for detecting visual events. The researchers trained their mice to lick a spout when they’d seen a visual event (a rotation in the vertical grating), and to avoid licking the spout otherwise.

Inhibiting the cells of the superior colliculus made the mice less likely to report that they’d seen an event, and when they did, their decision took longer. The inhibition had to occur within a 100 millisecond (one-tenth of a second) interval after the visual event. If the inhibition was outside that 100-millisecond timeframe, the mouse’s decisions were mostly unaffected. The inhibition was side-specific: because the retinal cells cross over and connect to the superior colliculus on the opposite side of the head (the left eye is connected to the right superior colliculus and vice versa), inhibiting the right side of the superior colliculus depressed responses to stimuli on the left side, but not on the right.

“The ability to temporarily block the transmission of neural signals with such precise timing is one of the great advantages of using optogenetics in mice and reveals exactly when the crucial signals pass through the circuit,” said Wang.

Interestingly, the researchers found that the deficits with superior colliculus inhibition were much more pronounced when the mice were forced to ignore things happening elsewhere in their visual field. Essentially, without the activity of the superior colliculus, the mice were unable to ignore distracting visual events. This ability to ignore visual events, called visual attention, is critical for navigating the complex visual environments of the real world.

“The superior colliculus is a good target for probing these functions because it has a neatly organized map of the visual world. And it is connected to less neatly organized regions, like the basal ganglia, which are directly implicated in a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders in humans,” said Krauzlis. “It’s sort of like holding the hand of a friend as you reach into the unknown.”

This press release describes a basic research finding. Basic research increases our understanding of human behavior and biology, which is foundational to advancing new and better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. Science is an unpredictable and incremental process; each research advance builds on past discoveries, often in unexpected ways. Most clinical advances would not be possible without the knowledge of fundamental basic research.

NEI leads the federal government’s research on the visual system and eye diseases. NEI supports basic and clinical science programs to develop sight-saving treatments and address special needs of people with vision loss. For more information, visit www.nei.nih.gov.

California Council of the Blind Officers and Directors

California Council of the Blind
Officers and Directors
as of July 1, 2019

Officers

President: Judy Wilkinson (2018-2020, 2nd term), San Leandro, 510-388-5079 Cell, judy.wilkinson@ccbnet.org

1st Vice President: Gabe Griffith (2018-2020, 1st term), Concord, 925-768-8195 Cell, gabe.griffith@ccbnet.org

2nd Vice President: Sarah Harris (2019-2021, 1st term), Fresno, 559-816-1507 Cell, sarah.harris@ccbnet.org

Secretary: Linda Porelle (2019-2021, 1st term), San Francisco, 415-577-8437 Cell, linda.porelle@ccbnet.org

Treasurer: Lisa Presley-Thomas (2018-2020, 1st term), Fresno, 559-250-6760 Cell, lisa.thomas@ccbnet.org

Immediate Past President: Jeff Thom (2016-), Sacramento, 916-995-3967 Cell, jeff.thom@ccbnet.org

Directors

Steve Bauer (2019-2021, 1st term), Los Angeles, 310-738-2853 c, steve.bauer@ccbnet.org

Christy Crespin (2019-2021, 1st term), Highland, 909-800-7189 c, christy.crespin@ccbnet.org

Nelly Emerson (2019-2021, 1st term), Santa Maria, 951-237-2960 c, nelly.emerson@ccbnet.org

Pamela Metz (2019-2021, 3rd term), Chatsworth, 818-882-3610 h, pamela.metz@ccbnet.org

Sharlene Ornelas (2018-2020, 2nd term), Oceanside, 619-339-6043 c, sharlene.ornelas@ccbnet.org

Paul Patche, Jr (2018-2020, 3rd term), Sacramento, 916-662-0861 c, paul.patche@ccbnet.org

Rob Turner (2018-2020, 2nd term), Sunnyvale, 408-203-9300 c, rob.turner@ccbnet.org

Penny Valdovinos (2019-2021, 1st term), Bakersfield, 661-378-8282 c, penny.valdovinos@ccbnet.org

Frank Welte (2018-2020, 1st term), San Leandro, 510-541-1442 c, frank.welte@ccbnet.org

Publications Committee

Linda Porelle, Chair, San Francisco, 415-577-8437 c, linda.porelle@ccbnet.org

Mike Keithley, Editor, Mountain View, 650-386-6286 h, mike.keithley@ccbnet.org

Susan Glass, Associate Editor, editor@ccbnet.org

Gabe Griffith
Sarah Harris
Lynne Nishihara
Roger Petersen
Bonnie Rennie

Donations

Donations

If you or a friend would like to remember the California Council of the Blind in your Will, you can do so by employing the following language:

“I give, devise, and bequeath unto the California Council of the Blind, a nonprofit charitable organization in California, the sum of $____ (or ____) to be used for its worthy purposes on behalf of blind persons.”

If your wishes are more complex, you may have your attorney communicate with the Executive Office for other suggested forms. Thank you.