<html><body><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal">You are invited to the NFB of Kansas, Senior Division meeting on Tuesday, June 25th, 2024. at 7:00 pm, via conference Line. We are pleased to announce we have a guest speaker for tonight’s meeting.</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; min-height: 26px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal">Our guest speaker is, Neva Fairchild, a friend and associate of Susie S. Please read her story down below.</span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal"><br></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I was born premature and my poor vision as a preschooler was attributed to Retinopathy of Prematurity. My parents were told by every eye doctor they took me to that my vision was bad but it would not deteriorate as I grew older. Perhaps they were right, at least about the cause, but not about the stability of my vision. In my early 20’s I got a pair of reading glasses from a low vision specialist that allowed me to read regular print, even small print, for the first time in my life. First grader size print was fine when I was 6, but by the time I got to 6<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>grade, the print was too small for me to see. As you can imagine, I started reading everything I could get my hands on. When I returned to college to finish my bachelors degree I could read my textbooks, even though it was fatiguing to use only one eye. Part way through my masters degree the reading glasses stopped working for me and many return trips to the retina specialists finally determined that I had a form of RP called Cone Rod Degeneration. Decades later, genetic testing showed Stargardt Disease. At age 67 I have no usable vision and have learned to compensate by using my other senses. I learned braille in my 40’s, when I also switched from ZoomText to Jaws, ending eye strain headaches forever. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I have worked in the field of vision rehabilitation for 33 years. I began my career at the Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind, now Envision Dallas, as a vocational evaluator. I gave aptitude, academic and interest tests to people who were blind to help them find the type of job they were best suited for as a part of the vocational rehabilitation services provided by Texas Commission for the Blind. When I finished my masters degree in Rehabilitation Counseling Psychology, I went to work for Texas Commission for the Blind as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for five years serving a college caseload of over 100 students. I transferred to an assistive technology focused job for the next 10 years, still with the state, but the name of the agency changed to the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services. As an Employment Assistance Specialist, I helped consumers, counselors and the current or potential employer determine what technologies were needed for a person who was blind or had low vision to perform the job and what training that person would need to be job ready.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In 2008 American Foundation for the Blind recruited me to work at the Center on Vision Loss in Dallas. My focus went from a local venue to the national stage at that point. Even though I stayed in Dallas, and oversaw Esther’s Place, the 1800 square foot independent living model apartment, I also wrote for SeniorSite, now VisionAware, and Career Connect, both websites begun by AFB and now operated by APH. After more than 15 years at AFB, in July, 2023, I retired and started focusing on a business I bought in February of the same year.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I own an expert witness company, Experts On Blindness, where I provide information to attorneys litigating cases that involve people who are blind or have low vision. Living with vision loss all my life and working in the rehabilitation world for over 30 years has given me a wealth of knowledge that lawyers often do not have when they are involved in cases as council for the plaintiff or defendant.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Last August, I accepted a part time role as Director of business Development at WayAround to help them launch the Public Space tags that businesses can install to make their space more accessible to everyone, not just people who are blind or have low vision. I have worked as a consultant for this company since 2016 when it was first conceived in my role at AFB. It is a product I believe in and I get to work with people I really enjoy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I was in Kansas city in April for the VisionServe Alliance conference, where WayAround had an exhibit and provided the Public Spaces tags for the venue.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I have been a member of AER, Association for Education & Rehabilitation for the Blind & Visually Impaired, since 1991 and have served on the International Board for a total of 6 terms, with the last 4 being consecutive. I am finishing my role as Past President by serving as Conference Chair for the International Conference this July in charlotte, NC. We have over 600 professionals attending with over 100 breakout sessions, 4 general sessions and an exhibit hall of about 60 companies that offer products and services educators and rehabilitation workers need and want to know about.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I am a former Seeing Eye dog handler, having worked with 2 dogs over 17 years. I am an avid reader, and I love to loom knit. My husband and I have been married for over 47 years, and we have two children and 4 grandchildren, 3 who are adopted from the foster care system. We live 12 houses away from our daughter and her husband and the three youngest grandchildren and our son and his wife and our oldest granddaughter live 15 miles away. Being close to family is the most important thing to me and my husband and when he retires from a 46 year career as an engineer we will be cruising as often as possible, sometimes with kids and grands.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-decoration: none; margin: 0in; font-size: 17.92px; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </p><div style="text-decoration: none; font-family: -apple-system, HelveticaNeue; font-size: 17.92px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos, sans-serif">Neva Fairchild</p></div><br></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; min-height: 26px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Please come and join us, to learn more about our guest speaker, and ask questions that you may have.</span><br><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal"></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; min-height: 26px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal">The conference number is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="s2" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline">(916) 235-1420</span><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal">.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal">The PIN, is 879925, then press (#) pound.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; min-height: 26px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal">We are looking forward to your participation on the call and meeting.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; min-height: 26px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal">Best regards,</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; min-height: 26px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal"></span><br></p><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 21px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="s1" style="font-family:UICTFontTextStyleBody;font-weight:normal">Michael</span></p><br></div>
<div id="ms-outlook-mobile-signature"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleTallBody, serif; color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16.426666px; display: inline !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Michael A. Nava </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></b></p><p style="margin: 0in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><font face="UICTFontTextStyleTallBody, serif" size="2"><b>NFBKS Senior Division, secretary</b></font></p></div></div></div>
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