View a Washington Post video documentary story on Kenny Fountain, Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind.

Kenny Fountain is the manager of Paper Clips, an AblityOne Base Supply Center (BSC) store located at the U.S. Department of Treasury in Washington, D.C.

Watch the video here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/12/23/VI2010122304320.html

The story was posted Decembeer 24, 2010.

Kevin Lynch, President and CEO, National Industries for the Blind, is also featured in the story talking about the AbilityOne Base Supply Center program, as well as Kenny Fountain's recognition as the Milton J. Samuelson Career Achievement Award recipient for 2010.

Public officials have an obligation to do more for people with vision loss

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month - celebrate by supporting the purchase of SKILCRAF products and services. Every purchase creates jobs for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Sheila Solomon Klass wites about her life with Macular Degeneration in a Special to The Washington Post Monday, October 4, 2010. A portion of the story is excerpted here. Read the entire story and view a video on what macular degeneration looks like from the perspective of someone who lives with it.

Video Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/10/04/VI2010100404256.html?sid=ST2010100405965

Story Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/04/AR2010100405310.html?sub=AR



Each day on waking, as I pad barefoot to the door to get the morning newspaper, I wonder: Will I be able to read the headlines when I pick it up? Yes, the headlines.
Headlines, after all, are large and set in bold type. That's what it has come down to. Oh, sure, with my magnifier I can do it. But I never carry my magnifier to the door; that would be cheating on the daily test I set for myself.

I'm legally blind because of macular degeneration, and I have glaucoma.
What the normal eye can see from 200 feet, I can see from only 20 feet or less. I can read normal-size print in a good strong light, if I hold the book close to my face. One and a half million Americans share the disability of legal blindness with me. Additionally, I'm an 82-year-old widow in lace-up orthopedic shoes who spends a lot of time on the subway happily going about her business.

Until five years ago, I had no very serious laments about my body, which has served me well and serves me still.

But now . . . my eyes are going. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in my age group, and my vision is practically gone. What worse punishment is there for an English teacher, for a writer of fiction whose major sport is reading, for a person who worships the printed word?

Story Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/04/AR2010100405310.html?sub=AR

About the National Industries for the Blind
NIB’s (www.NIB.org), mission is to enhance the opportunities for economic and personal independence of persons who are blind, primarily through creating, sustaining and improving employment. NIB and 89 associated agencies serve as the largest employer for people who are blind by the sale of SKILCRAFT® products and services through the AbilityOne Program. (Pictured left: SKILCRAFT logo and AbilityOne Program logo. SKILCRAFT slogan: Every Purchase Creates Jobs)

SKILCRAFT U.S. Government Pens Features in Washington Post Story

The 41-year-old National Industries for the Blind SKILCRAFT U.S. Government Pen is being called an “American icon” in a feature story that ran on the front page of the Washington Post on April 18, 2010. Washington Post reporter Ylan Mui became interested in the “ubiquitous” pen after finding dozens of them around her house. An excerpt from her story, which has also been syndicated nationally, is below:

Excerpt: For more than 40 years, standard black pens have cluttered the desks of thousands of federal employees, hung on a chain at post offices across the country and slipped into the pockets of countless military personnel. Yet few have realized that this government-issue pen has a history to rival that of any monument.

Blind workers assemble the pens in factories in Wisconsin and North Carolina under the brand name SKILCRAFT as part of a 72-year-old legislative mandate. The original 16-page specifications for the pen are still in force: It must be able to write continuously for a mile and in temperatures up to 160 degrees and down to 40 degrees below zero.

It has been used in war zones and gas stations, and was designed to fit undetected into U.S. military uniforms. According to company lore, the pen can stand in for a two-inch fuse and comes in handy during emergency tracheotomies.

"It's the Coca-Cola of ink pens," said Richard Oliver, operations manager for Industries of the Blind in North Carolina. "Everybody recognizes this pen. It's amazing."

Read the full story, “Low-Tech SKILCRAFT Pens Endure in a High-Tech World,” in the Washington Post online. Don’t forget to read the comments by readers from around the country! Registration may be required (it’s free). Read the related story in the Herald-Tribune.com. SKILCRAFT products and services are sold to the federal government and U.S. military through the AbilityOne Program.

For more information, contact Ken Murphy at 703-310-0500 kmurphy@nib.org

SKILCRAFT US GOVERMENT PENS - Featured in Washington Post Story

It's taken more than 40 years on the market to become an "American Icon," that's what the Washington Post is calling the SKILCRAFT US GOVERNMENT PENS that have been produced through the AbilityOne Program since 1969.

Read Ylan Mui's, Washington Post reporter, story online: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/17/AR2010041701297.html

Note: registration to the Washington Post web site is required and free.

The online article features quotes from Kevin Lynch, President and CEO, National Industries for the Blind; Chuck Lange, CEO West Allis; pictures from West Allis Industries for the Blind in Milwaukee. The pens are also made at Industries for the Blind Greensboro, NC.