[269] in bcs-newton
electing Bob Gildea to the board of the Boston Computer Society
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (JAMAL@ksgdfs.harvard.edu)
Tue Nov 16 15:25:31 1993
From: <JAMAL@ksgdfs.harvard.edu>
To: bcs-newton@posse.mit.edu, npc@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 15:18:54 EST
745 Somerville Ave.
Apt. 2
Somerville, MA 02143
November 16, 1993
Dear BCS Members:
As Director of the Boston Computer Society's Visually
Impaired and Blind User Group (VIBUG), I am writing to encourage
your support of Bob Gildea for the BCS board of directors--if you
haven't yet voted. Though he collected more signatures than any
other candidate, Bob was not a choice of the nominating
committee. However, I'm convinced he has the experience,
knowledge, and values to serve our organization well in this
position. Let me tell you why.
Bob is a retired engineer with forty years of experience in
the computer industry. As a blind person searching for
employment when there was little civil rights protection, he had
to be noticeably better than the competition to earn job offers
and promotions. The technical and management responsibilities
did not come right away, however. When no one would hire him
after graduating with a Master's in applied mathematics from
Brown University, Bob took a job making brooms in a factory
rather than content himself with government benefits.
From there, Bob built a record of experience in design and
project management of corporate systems. His manner is amiable,
analytical, and solution oriented. Being retired, he now has the
interest and time to be highly involved in the board work of the
BCS.
Bob has used his industry contacts to promote research and
development of adaptive technology for people with disabilities.
For example, Bob was a cofounder of the company that published
the first braille translation software.
This background in adaptive technology would, I think, make
a unique and needed contribution to the BCS board. One of the
most exciting and socially useful roles played by information
technology has been the empowerment of people with disabilities.
Technological changes (as well as attitudinal ones), affect our
prospects for education, employment, and independent living.
Without appropriate consumer pressures on the computer industry,
however, it often does not make the small changes that make a big
difference in adaptability to alternative forms of input and
output. As a recognized consumer voice in the field, the BCS,
through board connections and expertise, can wield significant
influence for good.
Without appropriate pressures, our Computer Society also
does not make the small changes that make a big difference to
members with disabilities. Since VIBUG became an official BCS
group in 1988, we have been trying to get BCS publications
available in electronic text that we can read independently with
our adaptive equipment. On numerous occasions, staff and
newsletter volunteers assured us that this format would be
forthcoming, since it is not technically difficult to produce
ASCII versions of the computer files. Yet until last May we
didn't receive electronic texts in two consecutive months.
Fortunately, the flow has been good since then, except for this
month.
A staff member is absent and apparently no arrangements were
made for a substitute to prepare the disk which I distribute to
VIBUG. For the past three weeks, I have been calling the office
and requesting the disk. The continued absence of November
publications means, among other things, that no visually impaired
member of the BCS got the voting material in accessible format.
This specific situation will probably be addressed, but such
problems would be unlikely to occur if we had representation on
the board.
If you have any questions about Bob Gildea's candidacy you
may call him at (617) 646-8528 or me at (617) 666-9856. Remember
that the ballot came with the November BCS Magazine and that the
deadline is December 3. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Jamal Mazrui
