[IL-Talk] at large minutes for February 2022

[David Meyer]

NFBI At Large Chapter
Minutes of meeting held Sunday, February 6th, 2022

The meeting began at 7:02 P.M.
 Those present included President Dave Meyer, Secretary Bill Reif, 
Michal Nowicki, Leslie Hamric, Linda Hendle, Debbie Pittman, Eileen 
Truschke, Ken Schad, Danny Mandrell, Pat Olson, Patrick Olson, Kyle 
Chellino, Cathy Randal , Jemal Powell, Yvonne Adjarco, and guest Sam seavey.

Kyle moved, and Linda seconded, that the distributed January 2022 
minutes be approved. Motion carried.

The program item was a recording of an interview by Debbie Pittman of 
Sam Seavey, who runs a youtube channel called The Blind Live and is an 
assistive technology coordinator for a nonprofit. Only part of this 
presentation was play as Sam was in attendance and available to answer 
the several meeting participant questions. He described a product 
called the Omnisense Cane Tip which had two wheels and rolls in front 
of the cane user. It is less likely to get caught in cracks or storm 
grates and is said to be helpful in detecting upcoming slopes. He also 
has something called an Amazon Shop in which he offers some of the many 
products discussed in his videos. He also has t-shirts and other 
merchandise for sale. He can be reached at www.theblindlife.net or 
through Youtube, or via email at sam at theblindlife.net.

Presidential Release 513 was presented. Our planned hybrid February 7 
Washington Seminar was changed to virtual due to few congress people 
agreeing to in person appointments. The NFB has contacted the 
Whitehouse and federal agencies regarding the inaccesssnility of 
distributed Covid-19 tests. Visit www.nfb.org/covidtest for more 
information. AIRA has agreed to assist in this process free of charge. 
We should also visit www.nfb.org/legal to report our experiences. We 
are monitoring the ridesharing company Lyft's compliance with the ADA 
regarding denial of rides to blind people and those using service 
animals. There was also discussion regarding the upcoming Blind Driver 
Challenge
and a survey seeking input on a state-of-the-art Blind Civil Rights 
museum the NFB is building.

President Marilyn Green, who was unable to attend the meeting, prepared 
a recording of the State report which Leslie presented through Iphone 
screen sharing. The deadline to apply for state and national 
scholarships is March 31st. NFBI will present Braille Enrichment for 
Literacy and Learning (BELL) programs in Chicago and in Springfield. 
Chicago's will take place July 18 through July 29th, with Springfield's 
being a shorter residential program taking place the week of August 
1st. NFB will again conduct a Bell At Home program. Information is on 
our respective web sites. The Illinois BELL, in addition to 
participants, is also seeking mentors. Those interested or wishing to 
help should contact Debby Stein via email at dkent5817 at att.net. Marilyn 
also discussed upcoming training on February 7th for those interested 
in the issues we will discuss at our Washington Seminar.

Dave reminded us that elections will take place at the April meeting, 
and requested that those wishing to run let him know. Those wishing to 
run or to vote need to have paid dues by 30 days before the March meeting.

Our next meeting will take place Sunday March 6th at 7:00 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Bill Reif, Secretary