[Centralok] Fwd: NFB Presidents' Notes

Tue Feb 23 01:12:12 UTC 2016

Hello all.

Great information from President Massay below. Please read.

Audrey T. Farnum
President
Central Oklahoma Chapter
NFB Oklahoma

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	NFB Presidents' Notes
Date: 	Sun, 21 Feb 2016 17:07:34 -0600
From: 	Jeannie Massay <jmassay1 at cox.net>
CC: 	jmassay1 at cox.net

Federation family,

I hope that each of you is having a wonderful Sunday afternoon! We are 
gearing up for our 42^nd Annual National Federation of the Blind of 
Oklahoma state convention to be held the evening of March 31^st thru the 
3^rd of April at the Holiday Inn City Centre located in downtown Tulsa. 
Sessions will be  fun and interactive. There will be items of interest 
for all blind persons and those who WORK WITH THEM. Additionally, there 
will be sessions specific to blind studetns as the Oklahoma Association 
of Blind Students are holding their first Student Seminar on Friday, 
April 1^st , in conjunction with the Seminar day of our annual convention.

General Session will include speakers and panels regarding 
rehabilitative services for the blind in Oklahoma, programs and services 
for blind persons of all ages including childrens programs in OKC and 
transition programs offered in state and out-of- state. Additionally, if 
you are interested in the Business Enterprise Program, are interested in 
Sports and Recreation or are a student of any age, there will be 
Division meetings of the Oklahoma Association of Blind Merchants, the 
NFB of Oklahoma  Sports and Recreation Division and the Oklahoma 
Association of Blind Students. Our national representative is Ever Lee 
Hairston, a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Federation 
of the Blind and  a recently published author.

For more information and to register for convention please go to the 
following link or call Glenda Farnum at 405-255-6482:

http://nfbok.org/state-convention/

A final few items before a message from President Riccobono about our 
national organization:

1.If you are planning on attending the National Federation of the Blind 
national convention this summer in Orlando, Florida and are a first time 
attendee and are an active member, you may apply for the Kenneth 
Jernigan  Convention Scholarship. The KJ Scholarship provides assistance 
to attend the national convention but is not designed to entirely pay 
for your trip and attendance. Please read the article at this link 
https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm16/bm1602/bm160211.htm. 
*Read the directions carefully!!!!* If you would like to apply, please 
contact me soon. The applications including a letter of recommendation 
  from me must be submitted by no later than April 15^th . Please make 
sure to contact me before April 1^st in order to give me time to write a 
letter of recommendation for you and to get your application turned in 
on time

2.If you are a student who is legally blind or you know one, please 
apply for the National Federation of the Blind annual Scholarship 
program.  Thirty scholarships ranging from $4,000 to 13,000 will 
beawarded to deserving blind scholars from across the nation. We should 
have at least one if not a few from Oklahoma. Part of the application 
process is an interview with the President of the National Federation of 
the Blind of the state in which you live. That would be me! If you are 
interested, please contact me via e-mail to schedule an interview. You 
may reach me at Jeannie.massay at nfbok.org 
<mailto:Jeannie.massay at nfbok.org>. For more information and a checklist 
including the requirements for the scholarship go to 
www.nfb.org/scholarships <http://www.nfb.org/scholarships>. Read the 
directions carefully!!! The deadline for application is March 31^st . 
You must have scheduled your interview with me before that time but our 
interview does not have to be before that date. The letter of 
recommendation from me is sent directly by me to the Scholarship 
Committee. We have had a number of students from Oklahoma in previous 
scholarship classes. Why not again?

The below message is from Mark Riccobono, President, National Federation 
of the Blind:

As you will notice by the number of items below, we are on the move in 
February. Please continue to find opportunities to encourage people to 
apply for our scholarship program, nominate people or organizations for 
Bolotin Awards, recognize outstanding teachers, and apply for our summer 
programs. The more connections we make with others, the stronger we make 
the organization.

    News:

Marrakesh Treaty:
Last week President Obama transmitted the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate 
Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired 
or Otherwise Print Disabled treaty to the United States Senate for 
ratification. The Marrakesh Treaty was officially proposed in 2009, 
successfully adopted in June 2013 by the World Intellectual Property 
Organization, and signed by the United States in October 2013. For more 
information on the treaty, please visit https://nfb.org/marrakeshfactsheet.

Access to Absentee Ballots:
We learned last week that the United States Court of Appeals for the 
Fourth Judicial Circuit upheld the ruling in National Federation of the 
Blind et al. vs. Linda H. Lamone et al. requiring the state of Maryland 
to make an accessible online ballot-marking tool available to blind 
voters who wished to vote by absentee ballot.

Medicare and Medicaid Lawsuit:
We have filed a federal lawsuit charging the US Department of Health and 
Human Services through its sub-agency, the Centers for Medicare and 
Medicaid Services (CMS), and its CMS sub-contractors, with systemically 
violating the civil rights of blind Medicare recipients. The action 
seeks to require HHS to provide blind individuals meaningful and equally 
effective access to their Medicare information. More information is 
available in the press release. 
<https://nfb.org/national-federation-blind-and-disability-advocates-charge-federal-health-agency-civil-rights>

    Reminders:

Braille Book Fair:
We have started collecting donated books for this year's Braille Book 
Fair. Please encourage members to ship (via Free Matter for the Blind) 
their gently used, but no longer needed, Braille books to:

2016 Braille Book Fair

National Federation of the Blind

200 East Wells St. at Jernigan Place

Baltimore, MD 21231

We Need Foreign Language Assistance:
We need help with our efforts to add languages to the KNFB Reader. If 
you speak Russian, Greek, Czech, Bulgarian, Estonian, Ukrainian, or 
Indonesian; use a supported iOS device; and are able to help; please 
send an email to support at knfbreader.com <mailto:support at knfbreader.com>. 
Please specify “Beta Testing” in the subject of the message.

    Dates to keep in mind:

·March 3-5: NFB STEM2U San Francisco

·March 31: NFB Scholarship Program application deadline, 
https://nfb.org/scholarships

·March 31-April 1: 2016 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium 
<https://nfb.org/law-symposium>; Diversity in the Disability Rights 
Movement: Working Together to Achieve the Right to Live in the World

·March31-April 3, 2016  National Federation of the Blind of Oklahoma 
State Convention

·April 15: Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Program nomination deadline, 
https://nfb.org/bolotin-award-main

·May 1: Distinguished Educator of Blind Students Award application deadline

·May 17-20: BLAST, Chicago

·May 19-21: NFB STEM2U Minneapolis

·June 19-25: NFB EQ (first iteration)

·June 30-July 5: National Federation of the Blind Convention, Rosen 
Shingle Creek, Orlando, Florida

Mark A. Riccobono, President

National Federation of the Blind

I sincerely hope to see you at our upcoming state convention. Also, I do 
hope that there are many students who will take advantage of the 
Scholarship program and all of the opportunities that arise from being a 
recipient. As you move through the week, may you find positive ways to 
interact with everyone you meet.

Warmly,

Jeannie

Jeannie M. Massay, President

National Federation of theBlind

Of Oklahoma

505 Baker Street

Norman, OK 73072

Phone: 405-600-0695

Jeannie.massay at nfbok.org <mailto:Jeannie.massay at nfbok.org>

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the 
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day, we raise 
expectations of the blind because low expectations create obstacles 
between blind people and our dreams. Blindness is not what holds you 
back. You can live the life youw ant.!.

“Whatever you dare to dream, begin.” – Goethe

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