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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Fellow Connecticut Listers,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>The National Federation of the Blind and several other organizations of and for the blind are conducting a comprehensive survey of blind people to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting them. Connecticut is still very underrepresented in responses; as of yesterday we had less than 10. This is a survey that we have created and endorsed, and those who may have attended may remember that our national president, Mark Riccobono, discussed this survey on his live presidential release last week (which was very informative on many, many topics). You may recall it’s called the Flattening the Accessibility Curve Survey.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>All you need to do to qualify is be blind or visually impaired and age 18 or older. You can read more in the e-mail below, but I’ll paste right here the link to it:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><a href="https://flatteninaccessibility.com/">https://flatteninaccessibility.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Depending on how much you want to share it may take a few minutes or more than 30. No matter how much you want to share, what you do have to share is important and should be represented. Topics of concern include access to health care, transportation, and shopping and also deal with our jobs or college studies (and even the studies of our children if we are parents or care-givers).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>My fellow Connecticut residents…let’s see that we and all of our concerns as blind people in the COVID-19 pandemic are represented!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Nathanael Wales<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> NFBNet-Members-List [mailto:nfbnet-members-list-bounces@nfbnet.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Blake, Lou Ann via NFBNet-Members-List<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, April 07, 2020 2:09 PM<br><b>To:</b> nfbnet-members-list@nfbnet.org<br><b>Subject:</b> [Nfbnet-members-list] Blind and Low-Vision Participants Needed for Research Study on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>AIRA, <span style='color:#1F497D'>the National federation of the blind</span>, Louisiana Tech, and many other <span style='color:#1F497D'>entities </span>in the field of blindness have developed a survey to explore the increased accessibility barriers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Your feedback is needed. This survey may take thirty minutes or longer, but it is critical in understanding the additional impact COVID-19 is having on blind people. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>All blind and low-vision adults, aged eighteen and older, are encouraged to participate in this survey to provide information on the impact of COVID-19 on your life in the areas of healthcare; transportation; employment; education; social experiences; access to meals, food, and supplies; and voting. You can take the </span><a href="https://flatteninaccessibility.com/">Flattening the Accessibility Curve survey</a><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> until April 13, 2020, so don’t delay!</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal> <span style='color:#1F497D'>Lou Ann</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Lou Ann Blake, J.D.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Deputy Executive Director, Blindness Initiatives</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>(410) 659-9314, extension 2221 | <a href="mailto:lblake@nfb.org"><span style='color:#0563C1'>lblake@nfb.org</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://nfb.org/"><span style='color:#0563C1;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=210 height=76 id="_x0000_i1025" src="https://nfb.org/images/nfb/images/email/2/nfblogo.png" alt="National Federation of the Blind"></span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind"><span style='color:#0563C1;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=24 height=24 id="_x0000_i1026" src="https://nfb.org/images/nfb/images/email/2/facebook.png" alt=Facebook></span></a><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice"><span style='color:#0563C1;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=24 height=24 id="_x0000_i1027" src="https://nfb.org/images/nfb/images/email/2/twitter.png" alt=Twitter></span></a><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind"><span style='color:#0563C1;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=24 height=24 id="_x0000_i1028" src="https://nfb.org/images/nfb/images/email/2/youtube.png" alt=Youtube></span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=DefaultFontHxMailStyle><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>