[IABS-Talk] PresidentRiccobono's notebook for the week of May 18

Fri May 20 13:26:51 UTC 2022

Critical Convention Actions:

Convention Registration and Hotels:

Time is running out! Just two weeks left to register online for
convention and to book your hotel room. You can register to attend
convention in person
and purchase your banquet tickets at
https://nfb.org/registration
 until May 31. Prices go up if you wait until you arrive in New
Orleans. And don’t wait any longer to make your reservations. Space at
the Marriott has
filled up but there are still rooms available at the convention rate
right across the street at the New Orleans Sheraton. Call 888-627-7033
and ask to
book a room for the “NFB Convention.” Please note that this is a
different number than originally published in the Braille Monitor. The
convention rate
and our room block disappear after May 31, so don’t delay!

Honor Roll Call:

Convention time is when affiliates and national divisions make
contributions to our four sustaining funds: Kenneth Jernigan Fund, SUN
Shares, White Cane
Fund, and Jacobus tenBroek Memorial Fund. To make your 2022
contributions, please send a check payable to National Federation of
the Blind. Mail it to
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21230, Attention: Fiscal
Services – Roll Call and write “Roll Call” in the check memo. Please
send an email
to
rollcall at nfb.org
 detailing the amount to go to each fund and the name of the
organization so that we record the contributions correctly. If your
organization is making
a pledge to be paid later this year, please send an email to
rollcall at nfb.org
 telling us how much is being pledged for each fund and when we can
expect the check. All pledges should be fulfilled by August 31.

Share Feedback—Help Track the PAC Survey:

Whether you donate to the National Federation of the Blind through the
Pre-Authorized Contribution (PAC) Program or not, your feedback is
needed to help
improve the program for the organized blind movement. Please complete
the five-minute survey and share it with members and supporters.
Take the PAC survey now online
 or by phone. To complete the survey by phone, call 229-632-7878 or
toll-free 833-632-7878. Please note that the phone number provides the
survey in an
automated system and will require the survey to be completed in one
session. There is an option to pause the survey for five minutes and
the pause can
be extended as needed. Push # for help.

Delegates:

Please remember to send the name, email address, and cell phone number
(to be used at convention) for both the primary and alternate delegate
to Beth Braun
(
bbraun at nfb.org).

News:

Congratulations to the 2022 Scholarship Program Finalists!:

Each year the National Federation of the Blind is proud to honor blind
scholars, all of whom are raising expectations and expanding
possibilities. On May
12, we announced the 2022 scholarship finalists. The scholarship
program provides financial assistance and connects students with
mentoring and other resources.

Meet the finalists and learn about their vocational goals.

Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act (H.R. 4853):

Thanks to your calls and emails, we gained four new cosponsors last
week on the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act (H.R. 4853).
They are Grace
Napolitano (CA-32), Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-At Large), James McGovern
(MA-02), and Al Lawson (FL-05). These representatives bring our total
number of
cosponsors up to 53. Well done!

Access Technology Stories and Experiences for Congress:

We’re trying a new, more personalized, strategy in our advocacy for
the Access Technology Affordability Act (H.R. 431/S. 212). We want to
gather quotes
and short stories from our members all across the country who use
access technology on a daily basis about how important it is to them.
Conversely, we
are also looking for quotes and short stories which illustrate how
prohibitively expensive access technology can be. The idea is that we
can then take
these stories straight to members of Congress from all states and show
them how this issue affects their constituents, and how important it
is for them
to support and pass the Access Technology Affordability Act. Please
send your quotes to Jeff Kaloc at
jkaloc at nfb.org.

State Legislative Successes:

We are working to update our database of states that have passed bills
that are substantially similar to our state model bills. If your state
has passed
one or more of the following, please let us know by contacting Jesa Medders at
jmedders at nfb.org,
or 410-659-9314, extension 2207:

Phase Out and Elimination of Subminimum Wages Legislation

Parental Rights Legislation

Accessible Voting Legislation

Blind Students Rights to Independence Training and Education Act

Accessible Prescription Label Legislation

Our current records indicate that the following states have passed
legislation regarding the elimination of subminimum wages: Alaska,
California, Colorado,
Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oregon, Tennessee,
Vermont, and Washington.

Our current records indicate that the following states have passed
legislation regarding parental rights: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado,
Connecticut, Georgia,
Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah.

Our current records indicate that the following states have passed
legislation regarding accessible voting: States with Electronic Ballot
Delivery: Alaska,
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New
Hampshire, New Jersey,
New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont,
Virginia, and Washington.

States with Electronic Ballot Delivery AND Return: Colorado, Hawaii,
Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

Access Barriers in UC Berkeley’s Free Online Content:

In alignment with its 2016 Letter of Findings, the DOJ is interested
in speaking with individuals with disabilities who have experienced
barriers in accessing
UC Berkeley’s free online content—its YouTube channel, iTunes U
platform, and massive open online courses (MOOCs) referred to in the
letter as UC BerkeleyX.
Please email
UC.Berkeley at usdoj.gov,
with copy to
legal at nfb.org,
to share your experience with the DOJ and request a copy of the Letter
of Findings.

Mark Riccobono Keynote Speaker for ICT Accessibility Testing Symposium:

On Monday, May 16, President Riccobono was the keynote speaker for the
ICT Accessibility Testing Symposium, and he discussed the Blind Driver
Challenge—its
impact on technology, accessibility, and new possibilities for
independence. Review and
share the symposium keynote speech that is available on YouTube.

Upcoming June Presidential Release:

The next Presidential Release will take place Wednesday, June 1, at
8:00 p.m., eastern. The monthly Presidential Release provides
important updates and
perspectives of the organized blind movement, and the live event
includes a Q&A session. Submit questions in advance to
cdanielsen at nfb.org
 and put PR517 in the subject line, or call 410-659-9314, extension
2473. Zoom details coming soon.

Submit an Article for the Braille Monitor—No Experience Needed:

The National Federation of the Blind is seeking articles for the
Braille Monitor that focus on your lived experiences. Share a blind
moment or a strategy
that other blind people should know about. To learn more or submit an
article, connect with Gary Wunder, Braille Monitor editor, at
gwunder at nfb.org.

Raffles as Fundraisers:

We are seeing postings about raffles on some of our listservs. We urge
anyone who wants to run a raffle to first check their state and local
regulations
and comply with all laws and regulations when running a raffle. Note
that some states prohibit internet gambling entirely, so we can’t
advertise via the
internet in those states at all. Also, many payment processors like
PayPal prohibit their use for raffle-proceed processing. Please be
aware that raffles
are highly regulated. We have to figure out the laws and should fully
comply if we wish to use raffles as fundraisers. PayPal locks accounts
if they discover
that the account is being used to process raffle proceeds. For more
information on PayPal policies see
https://www.paypal.com/za/smarthelp/article/what-gambling-activities-does-paypal-prohibit-faq915.

Dates to Keep in Mind:

(all times eastern)

list of 5 items
• May 31:
Convention registration
 closes
• June 1: Presidential Release
• June 6: Resolutions are due to the committee chair
• June 21: Convention career fair registration closes
• July 5-10: 2022
National Convention,
New Orleans

-- 
Marilyn Green, President
National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
312-343-8396
president at nfbofillinois.org
www.nfbofillinois.org
Live the life you want!

The National Federation of the Blind of Illinois 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.