[il-talk] Fw: [Chapter-presidents] Going to congress the high tech way:

[Robert Gardner]

FYI

----- Original Message ----- 
From: John Fritz 
To: 'NFB Affiliate Presidents List' 
Cc: 'NFB Chapter Presidents discussion list' 
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 7:58 AM
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] Going to congress the high tech way:


This year the NFB of Wisconsin decided to go high tech when we went to Washington Seminar.  Jeremiah Beasley and I talked about how effective the quiet cars video was at making our point to the public.  We then talked about how cool it would be to give our congressional members a DVD of the video at our upcoming Washington Seminar.  That turned in to a discussion about showing them the video while we were talking with them.  And an idea was born.

We decided to make a DVD with several videos on it in which we could include as part of our packets we hand out in DC.  We included the Quiet Cars video, the Testing the Audibility of Quiet Cars video, the NFB Youth Slam 2009 video, the Imagine: March for Independence 2008 video, and Straight Talk About Vision Loss, Episode 23 where Mark Riccobono is on location at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  We put the Quiet Cars video first so it would be easy for us to show the members and their staff.  

One of our student members brought a portable DVD player and we used this to show the Quiet Car video while in our meetings.  This worked very well.  We would introduce Quiet Car issue very briefly including giving bill numbers and an overview.  We would then let them know that we would like to show them a brief video about quiet cars and play the video on the DVD player.  When the video was over it would get very quiet in the office as the video is very dramatic.  We would then say something like "We know that this video is very dramatic but as you can see this is a very serious issue.  We hope we can could on you to co-sponsor this legislation.  Do you have any questions?"  This would lead to a brief conversation about the issue.  We had several people say that they have had close encounters with these quiet cars and saw our point all too well.

We had many people tell us that we were the first group to bring this level of technology in to a meeting and that they really thought it worked well.  If you ask me I think it was a huge hit.  What do the numbers tell us?  Last year Wisconsin did not have any members co-sponsor the legislation.  This year we now have two members co-sponsoring and I believe we will have more.  Was it the video?  I would say that the video did not do it alone.  It was our organization working year after year to make things better.  Our congressional members know who we are and what we stand for.  The video is a new way to tell the story and we used it to do just that.  The video is very well done and that is what worked.  It is dramatic and it needs to be because this issue has very real consequences.  

The video starts out showing blind people traveling independently.  Then you see a woman getting in to her Prius Hybrid car.  You watch her press a button to turn the car on and you can tell it is not making any sound.  The voice over is talking how these cars are a problem for kids bicyclists and joggers.  While this is happening you see a jogger almost getting hit by a quiet car.  You then see a blind couple walking down a path towards a street.  The video begins to flash between them and the Prius coming down the street.  The blind people stop at the street and determine it is safe to cross and the guy starts out.  You then see the car coming and then you hear a crash and the women says "Jessie No!" then you hear the sirens and then she says "I didn't hear the car."

We had one staffer start taking to the video telling the blind people to stop because she could tell what was coming.    Over all I think it was very successful and we should use this type to technology when it is appropriate.  I do not think this would work for just any issue.  I do not know if a video would ever work for our Social Security issue.  I think they need to hear our stories on that issue.  We hope to never have real storied about dying from a quiet car and so the video works well to make the point.

 

We feel that this type of technology and working outside the box can be very successful in the future.  

 

 

John Fritz, President

NFB-Wisconsin

27824 Nuthatch Road

Kendall, WI  54638

608-758-4800 NFBW Office

 

 



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