Bernice Kandarian

In March, 1974, I attended the convention of the Associated Blind of California at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where I first met Eugene Lozano, Jr. At that point, we were putting the final touches on the application for affiliation of the National Alliance of Blind Students to the American Council of the Blind. This process was completed at the ACB national convention in July, 1974 in Chicago. At the same time, Gene was graduating from San Francisco State University and embarking on a master's program at San Diego State University.

At the 1975 ACB convention in Mobile, Alabama, Gene became president of the National Association of Blind Students (NABS) now known as the American Association of Blind Students (ACBS) and at the 1976 convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas, he got the first of his long list of access resolutions passed by ACB. This one was about elevators. Later, he assisted Sam Genensky to get the circles and triangles on restroom doors in California, as well as contrasting lines at top and bottom of stairs. In 1976, he finished his master's and went to work in the disabled students program at CSU Sacramento, where he stayed for forty years, retiring this past year.

Having been involved in organizing blind students and now, in his job, counseling them, Gene's interest became focused on physical access, the area where visually impaired people need to interact with people with other disabilities, so that making a facility more accessible for one group doesn't make it less accessible for another. Thus, he started the committee on access and transportation (CAT), leading to our famous joint Friday morning sessions at CCB conventions, sponsored by CAT and CCCLV.

In closing, here is the text of the plaque which was presented to Gene at the recent CCB convention.

California Council of the Blind
Hall of Fame
Eugene Lozano Jr., who has served as CCB's first vice president for the past four terms, while also working as Disability Student Services Counselor at Sacramento State University, where he mentored literally hundreds of blind and visually-impaired students.

For over forty years, He has been a vital contributing voice in many of the CCB legal and advocacy efforts ranging from access to Parks and recreation areas, to drug and prescription access to voting rights matters.

In addition to his duties as CCB Convention Planning Chair, He has also devoted countless hours in becoming a well-known nationwide expert on access issues, and has been the organizing force behind the now traditional Friday morning CCB Conference session of the Access and Transportation Committee which he Chairs, in cooperation with the California Council of Citizens with Low Vision.

Inducted this Eighth Day of April, 2017 in The City of Woodland Hills, California