[Cabs-talk] Disappointed

Sat May 2 04:26:20 UTC 2009

Hi joe.  I'll float a few ideas by you and if they sound like what your 
looking for maybe CA can propose something when the next available 
oportunity comes along.  I didn't step out earlier because it seemed like 
the assignment should be filtered down from the administration rather than 
just a free for all type of submission or submissions.
The first idea is a "knowledge is power learning how to be better self 
advocates student campaign.  We could cover areas such as selecting a 
college, networking among peers and instructors, locating and acquiring 
internships and developing braille literacy how to use it what aids and 
appliances can enhance the student experience.
Invited to these seminars would be high schoo and college students who are 
visually impaired(legally blind)  as well as parents or family members 
helping them through college.  Also invited would be educators responsible 
for guiding or providing education to the same high school / College 
students.
The seminars would consist of panel discussions and perhaps workshops to 
aide blind students in being independent active self advocates.

I would put together several seminars in sacramento, the bay area, Fresno, 
Los angeles and San diego.
They would be held either in the spring or most likely mid August.

The seminars would include literature in braille CD and on tape and guests 
would be invited to dialogue from the department of rehabilitation as well 
as from college campuses. if the project is successful we could consider 
launching it on a yearly or bi-yearly basis.
While it will contain mentoring as a component as you can see it would 
contain lots more.
If the funds are not adequate we could scale the seminar down to two or 
three cities across the state.
A second idea is to organize surveys and regional meetings amongst blind 
computer users to determine what would be most helpful in making websites 
and social networks more helpful for blind users.
We could invite vendors to the meetings and try to develop a common strategy 
for aproaching and combating current problems.
 The difference between this and similar meetings is the focus would be 
directly on talking to and getting feedback from the consumers asking them 
what works what doesn't and how we can improve.It would not be a support 
rally for one company such as my favorite GW-micro, or Freedom scientific, 
zoom text or access to go.
upon compleetion of the survey and sieries of regional meetings a report 
would be issued and the State could provide copies to apropriate parties 
including the National student division and the National Federation of the 
blind.  This data could be used in working with legal teams as well as in 
providing useful information for the compilation ofNFB resolutions.
Sorry I didn't send these before but I'm currently a grad student and my 
focus lately has been on trying to find an internship so I can get 600 hours 
in order to compleete my VR counseling internship and fieldwork in time for 
graduation in June 2010.That and the fact that I didn't want to appear to be 
interfering with our divisions administrationwithout sanction caused me to 
hold off and the error on my part is I Didn't ask for backing or permission 
yet but if I'm on the right track let me know and I can submit these ideas 
for refinement to the NFBC student board.
Also if this is what you are looking for feel free to post to the list it 
might give the potential applicants a better idea of what specific kinds of 
projects your looking for.
Also am I correct in asuming the $2,000 grant should be used for covering 
such things as the workshop's expense.

Thanks
Mike Peterson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Angela fowler" <fowlers at syix.com>
To: "'California Association of Blind Students Mailing List'" 
<cabs-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 9:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Cabs-talk] Disappointed

> Have the deadlines past?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cabs-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:cabs-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
> On
> Behalf Of Joe Orozco
> Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 8:58 PM
> To: 'Arizona Students'; 'California Students'; 'Colorado Center'; 
> 'Colorado
> Students'; 'Florida Students'; 'Illinois Students'; 'Kansas Students';
> 'Kentucky Students'; 'Louisiana Students'; 'Michigan'; 'Minnesota 
> Students';
> 'Missouri'; 'National'; 'Nebraska'; 'New Hampshire Students'; 'New Jersey
> Students'; 'North Carolina Students'; 'Ohio'; 'Pennsylvania'; 
> 'Presidents';
> 'TABS Students'; 'Tennessee Students'; 'Utah Students'; 'Virginia 
> Students'
> Subject: [Cabs-talk] Disappointed
>
> Dear all,
>
> If someone offered your student division $2,000 to carry out a project
> between September and November, would you take it?  The amount is 
> certainly
> not a fortune, but it's $2,000 more than you have now.  It would give you 
> an
> opportunity to elevate your outreach among the general public, recruit new
> members and generally put your name out there for people to understand you
> are serious about the business of changing what it means to be blind.  Are
> you interested?
>
> I shared information of this grant my office was offering to youth almost
> two months ago.  I just checked the list of last-minute applicants, and
> unless I am mistaken, and I hope I am, no one took me up on that post.  I
> genuinely do not understand the apathy among my fellow students.  The
> application was relatively simple.  I offered to answer any questions 
> people
> had of the application.  I mean, I work for the grant maker.  I should 
> hope
> I know what we are looking for, and had you taken the time to talk to me, 
> I
> could have told you that your proposal could have centered around Meet the
> Blind Month in October, that the Braille coin could have made for an
> excellent literacy campaign or explored any number of different ways you
> could have developed a compelling case for why your division deserved the
> money over another organization.
>
> So, there we are.  Trying and failing leaves room for improvement.  Not
> trying at all?  ...  I don't get it.
>
> Joe Orozco
>
> "A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the
> crowd."--Max Lucado
>
>
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