 We the blind are a different people; no longer on the outside looking in; no longer in abject poverty; no longer without hope or belief; no longer without a literature which defines the nuance of our understanding and belies the nonsense of the naysayers; no longer without a corps of leaders hardened on the picket lines and tempered in the trenches; no longer without the possibility of training at superior centers; no longer without the right to have our blind children be taught Braille; no longer without the material resources of superb physical plant and cutting-edge technology; no longer the passive recipients of yesterday's charity but the active architects of tomorrow's promise; and no longer without the legacy of Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and the tools he left us to finish the journey to full freedom and integration.Kenneth Jernigan served as the elected leader of the National Federation of the Blind from 1968 until 1986, but he continued as the political leader of the organization until near the time of his death in 1998.His tombstone in Baltimore bears the following legend offered in loving memory by the blind community