[IL-Talk] Chicago Chapter September 10 Meeting Minutes

[davant1958 at gmail.com]

Chicago Chapter Meeting Minutes 

Zoom/Exchequer Pub Hybrid

September 10th, 2022

 

Denise called the Chicago Chapter of the NFBI meeting to order at 1:00pm,
She first wanted to start by making a couple of announcements. First of all,
as always please keep your mask on unless you are actively eating or
drinking. You will have to do this for our state convention as well as COVID
testing but she will discuss more about that later. She also noted that we
are unable to move the tables so if you need to social distance, you can put
a seat between you and the next person. For those on Zoom when you seek the
floor, please raise your hand and when you are not speaking, please stay
muted until you are called on. We are going to start by having everyone
introduce themselves and she began with those on Zoom, by having Patti call
on those on Zoom.

 

Present on Zoom:

Glenn Moore – Hi everybody

Gary Jones – Hello

Melissa Fuller – Good Afternoon everyone

Robert Lee – Good Afternoon

Denise asked if it was Robert’s first meeting and it was, he said he is from
Springfield, IL and she said that was wonderful. Robert shared that he is
blind and a former member of the NFB, friends with Gary Jones from Joliet
and he gave him the zoom information so he could call in and listen to the
presidential address. 

Alicia ConDios Green – Hello everyone, glad to be here, good news, her
oldest daughter waited until she was older to have a child and she wishes
she could see his little face but at least she can feel his little fingers
and toes and smell him so it’s good enough for her.

Steve Hastalis – Hi, Chapter Treasurer

Dan TeVelde – Glad to be here, things are going more or less ok, but has
some health problems which may require surgery for his sinus problems,
taking one day at a time. 

Denise said that we wished him well.

Greg Rosenberg – Unfortunately his health has taken a bit of turn for the
worse, his breathing is so bad he cannot walk 10-12 feet and the slow
growing cancer in his prostate they didn’t think would be an issue for 6
months or so but it has doubled in size. Pain level is pretty high right now
but trying to have a positive attitude and start each day with a ten and
hope that it stays above 0 by the end of the day.

Denise said to take care of himself, we are always there for him. 

Juliette Walker – Doing well, and hoping everyone else is feeling ok, she
will be praying for Greg

Kira O’Bradovich – Good Afternoon everyone

Sara Luna – Hello everyone, glad to be joining everyone from Minnesota and
announced that this month she has been given her assignment to do a small
meal in training so she will be cooking for six people at the end of the
month.

Patti Chang – She apologized for not being in person but she has sprained
her ankle so it would be better to not be on it all day. Denise said she’s
glad that she is on it anyway and thanked her for zoom hosting this
afternoon.

Ed Birmingham – Has been very busy with all kinds of family things going on
including the grandchildren, his last daughter who was living at home just
bought a condo so he’s spending the weekend with her. He’s a professional
babysitter and cleaning woman, he multi-tasks. 

Bob Wittman 


In Person 

Denise Avant – President of the Chicago Chapter, immediate past president of
the state affiliate, now first vice president, serves on the board, has worn
many hats in the organization. She started her first month on the board of
governors for the American Bar Association so that’s a learning curve. 

Michal Nowicki – Treasurer of the Illinois affiliate, he wanted to share
that he was invited to the last NFB leadership seminar in Baltimore that was
a wonderful event, he got to meet president Riccobono and other key leaders
in our organization so he’s very thankful for the opportunity. 

Marco Giannotti – Good afternoon, everyone, good to see everyone here

Robert Hansen – we just closed out week three, it’s good to be back at work,
a lot of kids are there, everyone is doing well so far, no sniffles, but
keeping careful and wearing a mask

Ken Borst – Glad to be here, summer is being pretty stubborn this year

Laura Cordingley – Just visiting today

Mary Lou Grunwald - Friendly neighborhood door prize chair with a fabulous
co-chair, Teresa Favre, she’s very excited for that, you will be seeing
emails from them, you know what the story is but we will keep reminding you.
Whatever you have indicated you will bring they are going to post it so you
can know what we will be expecting.

Teresa Favre – Secretary of IABS, and as you all know right now, she is also
co-chair for the door prizes for convention so please don’t try to bribe
her. She has a bit of good news, she is starting her new role on Monday so
please everyone, wish her good luck. This was met with cheers.
Ellen Bartelt– Student President of IABS until October, she is currently job
hunting as a teach er of blind students and she has a couple of job
interviews next week. 

Ken Schad – He’s glad tomorrow will be a little coolish in the 60s and is
glad to be here

Eileen Truschke – Wanted to report on friend and long time federationist
Roberta Glickman. She’s had COVID and a long stay at a rehab facility but
she’s now on the mend. 

Denise said to give her our best. 

Paul Shepardson 

Michelle All – Her second meeting, she’s really happy to be here, her second
meeting

Denise shared it was good to see her and that she was welcome to come into
board meeting in the future.

Pam Gillmore – She wears many hats, now the auctioneer, there are so many
cats looking for homes that make wonderful companions so please adopt. 

sHe just adopted a kitty cat and hasn’t had any mice in his house so go
ahead.

Dave Meyer – Little less than 100 these days but glad to be here and anyone
who wants to catch up on news, gossip, sports, tv, and other things keep on
with Newsline

Jemal Powell – Longtime member, as of the next meeting in November it will
be his 31sit anniversary of being in this organization, he can’t believe
where the time has gone but nevertheless good to be here and glad to have
made it.

Juliette congratulated Jemal. 

Irma Gomez – CTA ADA Manager, she thanked everyone for being here. 

 

Denise said that as we know Amy Serpe retired as the CTA ADA Manager and so
she asked Irma to come and talk to us and tell us about herself as well as
what the CTA is doing in order to make ridership for people with
disabilities a little easier and more accessible. She then turned it over to
Irma at this time.

 

Irma Gomez introduced herself and shared that she started working at CTA
around March 21, so not too long ago and she worked in disability services
in higher education, her last position was just over at Roosevelt University
that is like two blocks away so now she is doing transportation which is
totally different but when it comes to disability services it’s related. She
then shared that she’s still learning the transportation side of things. So
far, the initiative that she has been a part of have been the tactile bus
stop sign, she’s not sure if we are familiar with it or have heard of it but
they have come out with new bus signs to allow blind individuals to know
which bus stop it is with braille and raised letters and it’s on a navy blue
typical CTA background. They just finished stations on the Madison Buses and
they are working on the 157 Streeterville route, in total it will be 12
routes, including Western, Ashland, & Chicago will be the biggest as well as
state street so there is more to come. It should be complete by next summer
and if we have any feedback as these come along, please email her directly
and she will follow through on that. Furthermore, once the user
accessibility program is in full force, they are working on the California
brown line station and the Damen blue line station as well as other projects
which are under construction currently. Because they are under construction
it will take time to get the full benefits. Finally, they currently have the
ADA Advisory committee membership open so if you are open to it, they meet
quarterly, four times a year, and she would more than gladly be able to
forward the application and hope that you will fill them out, applications
are due September 19th. If there are any questions, she is more than happy
to answer them.

 

Ken noted about the ID Information on bus routes and he asked where it was
located at. She said it’s not an ID it’s a metal post that is located right
on the CTA pole. So, it should be about at least 3 ½ feet high so you can go
up and identify it. Jemal then asked about the program which sounds like a
good working program but he’s wondering if they are going to put the
descriptors in some of the terminals with multiple buses such as Western,
Midway, 95th Street where the buses are departing as that would be very
beneficial to prioritize as well. She agreed and said it would be very
important but right now they are still sticking to those 12 routes but they
do hope to get more funding to expand to the entire city including the
terminals. Ellen shared that she was noticing that trains running on the
same track aren’t being announced and she ended up on the wrong train the
other day. She shared they are having new trains that will have outside
announcement, seven of them and they will have announcements, beeps when the
doors are closing, but she knows for sure they will. She said especially the
orange and the brown line trains are the oldest, 300, so they don’t’ have
the capability that the red, pink, and purple lines do. They are making
strides and will have a viewing in October and once it is set she will
inform Denise and will come out and see the 7000 as well. 

 

Steve added that he worked for the CTA for 35 years and he retired and was
later chairman of the ADA advisory committee. Regarding the older L cars,
they all have outdoor and indoor speakers and we’ve had this discussion for
a long time. When he worked for the CTA and he rode around the service and
the announcements could be played by the train operator at the station which
would allow the last sentence of the announcement for example this is an
Orange Line train to Midway. The last thing you want to do is get on a train
and figure out where it’s going according to whether it goes straight or
whether it makes a turn. Denise can get her in touch with him if she would
wish to pursue this discussion further. Denise asked Irma to share her email
address. She said she would have to follow up on the rail side to see what
the reason is, she’s pretty new and is still learning the mechanics of the
different trains but her email is igomez-fierro at transitchicago.com
<mailto:igomez-fierro at transitchicago.com>  and you are more than welcome to
email her directly. Teresa then said that it’s not only affecting those who
are blind but everyone, and she’s wondering if there is a solution in place.
Whenever she’s trying to track where her train or bus is on any app or map
app it is often off. Sighted people can look over and see if the bus is
coming but we have to pay attention. She’s wondering if there is a GPS
tracking system that is going to be implemented soon or if you have
something as it’s very important for everyone to get to places on time. Irma
said that yes there’s been a lot of ghost buses since they tarted back up
after the pandemic, they did come out with a new tracking system, which is
under the same bus tracker as bustracker.com but she will forward the link
to the new tracker to Denise to share. Prior to the new bus tracker, they
would put up the buses that were scheduled to go out for that day but they
are only 65% employed so if someone calls off that day it throws out that
entire day. Now, they’ve eliminated the scheduled buses and just the buses
that are out are on the bus trackers so at least that will be more accurate
information. 

 

Michal then asked if the CTA has any plans to deploy a robust train
announcement system within stations. For example, in Boston there are real
time announcements for the T station on the time of arrival for the next
train to tell when it will arrive and when it is approaching. Which would
also be another solution to the announcements. One of the other concerns
about the announcement on the train, sometimes the announcement doesn’t’
come until it’s too late to act on it. Irma asked for clarification as to
which announcements, Michal stated he was speaking about speakers in the
stations. She said that she believed the announcements are linked to the
electrical and internet part of the trains as they are connected with the
visual that other people see at each station. So, if something is delayed it
will not have announcement but she needs to double check on the mechanics of
it. Because they do have the ASAP program, they are renovating a lot of the
station to make sure the voice announcements are up to date but if there’s a
specific station you can recall that it doesn’t work, she can look into it.
Robert Hansen noted that since the 80s and 90s he remembered at Rosemont
that there were announcements, and he said they don’t do it on all but at
least a few. Irma agreed and said it was also beneficial as you were for
instance going up the stairs. If there are other specific stations besides
Rosemont you can let her know and she can follow up. Jemal followed up and
shared that Metra will announce the train number, the time it’s coming in
and the time it’s going out. 

 

Greg shared that transitchicago.com/tracker is the website to track the CTA
bus. Denise told Irma that if she emails her the info, she will send it out
to the Illinois list serve and Irma said she’d definitely do that. Melissa
then shared that she was the vice-chair until January 2020 of the ADA
committee, it is nice to meet her and congratulations. Her question for Irma
was what was her disability. Irma shared she is a wheelchair user and has
so she uses a wheelchair for long distances and a walker for short
distances. She then asked what her experiences with blind people. IN higher
ed she worked to advocate for accommodations for blind students and is
working with Access Living to 

 

Denise then asked that she heard that the CTA will have listening sessions
and Irma shared it’s called ASK CTA which will have people stationed at
different railway stations present to take feedback, learn about job
opportunities. She’s been at UIC & Clark & Lake this week and she thinks
they make announcements online but she can also send the schedule. This will
continue until October 6 and will go to 3-4 stations a week. There were no
further questions so Denise thanked her for coming by sharing that we want
to stay in touch with her regarding issues that are of concern to us. We are
an active chapter as you can see and many of our members are active CTA
riders here in town. Irma said thank you.

 

Pam shared that there are 18-20 participants in the room and 12 on zoom.
Denise then asked Dave to play the presidential release. Dave did so.

 

President Riccobono welcomed all to the fall and shared that he just got
back from his first round of fall conventions noting that there is an
acceleration to return to in-person meetings and other activities to build
our movement. He noted that September is national guide dog month which
leads us right into blind equality achievement month in October. He also
pointed out as a parent with blind children heading back to school there are
great resources on our website for both school and college-age students that
can be helpful in this process as well as surveys to give feedback. The free
standard COVID tests are coming to an end on September 2nd but the
accessible tests for blind people will remain. You can call 1-800-232-0233
or find it online at www.nfb.org/COVIDtests <http://www.nfb.org/COVIDtests>
. They are continuing to work with industry partners to make accessible
COVID tests available and a survey on our website is available. The NFB has
created a 5 year diversity calendar to support the DEI initiative and there
is a new diversity page which can be found at www.NFB.org/dei
<http://www.NFB.org/dei> . The NFB is also working with a consulting firm,
Mission Minded in its strategic planning work which includes surveys and
opportunities to participate. President Riccobono then mentioned the start
of the Senate session on September 6th with the House returning on the 13th.
This is a great opportunity to begin or continue reaching out to your
elected representatives to support our bills before the important election
coming up in November where he encourages everyone to get involved and vote.
He noted several members of the NFB who have unfortunately passed including
Wiley Smith from the NFB of Pennsylvania, Tracy MacDonald of the Red Rocks
Chapter, Beverly Fulton of the Kansas City Chapter, and Dorothy “Dot”
Barksdale in South Carolina who was the first African-American member to
join the NFB of South Carolina some 50 years ago and was active in many
ways, and finally Allen Harris of both Alabama and Michigan who was a giant
in our family. President Riccobono then thanked all the chapters and
affiliates who submitted great proposals, they want to be out on the road as
much as possible visiting. He shared that for the first on the road release,
the chapter President of Jackson, MS will be the host who then introduced
herself on the release, Dr. LaShawna Fant. She shared that they are thrilled
to kick off blindness equality achievement month hosting the presidential
release. 

 

Following the Presidential Release, Denise shared that the collection at the
meeting was $62 so she will Zelle to Steve in addition to her $5, so it will
be a total of $67 to be sent onto the Chicago Chapter. For those on Zoom
land you can make your donation via Zelle at treasurer at nfbofillinois.org
<mailto:treasurer at nfbofillinois.org>  so you can still make donations there.
She then asked Pam if she was ready to auction off an item before the state
report begins. Pam said hello to everyone and she said she is going to put
the yummy item first. She then shared that Dave would be our auctioneer. Pam
shared that they have a bag of bourbon glazed pecans from nuts.com. She
started the bidding at $10. Mary $10, Dave $15, Ken Schad $20, Marco $25,
going once, going twice, three times, sold to Marco for $25. Denise shared
that the money will also be sent to Steve via Zelle. Pam then auctioned off
a gift card for Central Gyros at 3127 N Central for Greek Food. She noted
she’d been there several times and they are well acquainted with NFB
members, Eileen $20, Glenn $25, Dave $30, going once, going twice, Teresa
$35, going once, going twice, sold to Teresa who will Zelle the money to the
affiliate to be passed along to the Chicago chapter. A second gift card to
the same place was then auctioned off, Mary $20, Pam turned the bidding over
to Dave who then shared that Central Gyros was the first restaurant he ever
ate at in Chicago. He was looking for an accordion at a place called Musis
and after trying it he went to lunch down the block and it did have Greek
food so he thinks that was the place. That was the day before the Vikings
got creamed in the Superbowl. Dave then asked if anyone had $25, Glenn $25,
$25 give me $30, Mary $30, give me $35, going once, going twice, would Mary
like to up her bid. Glenn? Going once, going twice, going thrice, and gone.
Mary was at $30 and Denise offered to send that on Zelle to Steve. Denise
went back over the totals with Steve and Patti encouraged those on Zoom to
feel free to pay their dues or contribute to the chapter by sending their
money via Zelle to treasurer at nfb.org <mailto:treasurer at nfb.org> .

 

Denise then shared that our state president Marilyn could not be here as she
has to work so she would share her state report, it was read as follows:

“We are Together Again”, this is the theme of our 2022 state convention.
Thank you to Steve Hastalis for the suggestion and it is appropriate as this
is our first in person state convention since 2019. Plan to attend and
reunite with our federation family.

Adelmo Vigil, National Board member of the National Federation of the Blind
and 1st Vice President of the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico
is our national representative at this year's convention. Adelmo has a great
background, as he was an elementary school teacher for more than fifteen
years and served in leadership roles at the New Mexico Commission for the
Blind. I am excited to have him at our state convention.

Visit www.nfbofilllinois.org <http://www.nfbofilllinois.org>  to
pre-register for our state convention. If you need assistance with
registration, call Leslie Hamric at 847-636-1662 or Marilyn Green at
312-343-8396. The pre-registration deadline is Friday, October 14 and if you
register after that date, costs for registration and meals increase. Make
every effort to pre-register and save some money.

Our state convention is Friday, October 28-Sunday, October 30 at the Chicago
Marriott Naperville Hotel in Naperville, Illinois. The room rate is $109 per
night for one king bed and $119 per night for two queen beds plus applicable
taxes. Call 630-505-4900 to make your reservation and reference the National
Federation of the Blind of Illinois to get our room rate. The deadline for
room reservations is Thursday, October 6.

We are planning for an in-person state convention and that means observing
the Covid protocols that were adopted by the National Federation of the
Blind of Illinois Board of Directors in 2021. You will e-mail your negative
Covid test results within 72 hours of the start of convention on Friday,
October 28 and mask while at the convention unless you are actively eating
or drinking. We will accept the results of an at-home Covid test and if you
need an accessible test, contact Denise Avant, davant1958 at gmail.com
<mailto:davant1958 at gmail.com> . The e-mail address to send your test results
to will be provided closer to the time of convention.

We are seeking program ideas for the 2022 state convention. Please contact
Marilyn at 312-343-8396 or president at nfbofillinois.org
<mailto:president at nfbofillinois.org> , with your ideas for the state
convention. We need your input in order to make every convention a success.

Teresa Fabre and Mary Lou Grunwald are your state convention door Prize
co-chairs. We ask for small items for door prizes (sweet treats, gift cards,
cash, etc.) 

Please email marylougrunwald at gmail.com <mailto:marylougrunwald at gmail.com>
with your door prize items. We will accept all door prizes at the convention
and ask you to Zelle treasurer at nfbofillinois.org
<mailto:treasurer at nfbofillinois.org>  if you would like to donate a cash
door prize and type in the memo that it is for 2022 door prizes.

The affiliate board won the Battle of the Chapters at the 2021 state
convention and they voted to make the theme for this year's competition
travel songs. Bring you're a-game to the battle as the affiliate board is
undefeated since 2019. The deadline for submitting your Washington Seminar
Applications is December 15, 2022. This concluded the September 2022 State
Presidential report.

 

Denise added that she has the accessible COVID tests for the State
Convention but please be aware that they would prefer that you use your own
as they only have a limited amount of these tests so only ask if you
absolutely have to have one and she will make sure that you get a test. She
said that we are still gathering support for the legislation, we have over
160 cosponsors for the Access Technology Affordability Act, 15 of those are
from Illinois. We are not doing as well on the Medical Device Non-Visual
Accessibility which was introduced by Jan Schakowsky and there are only four
additional representatives on the bill and all are from Chicago, we could be
doing much better there. With the 14-C Minimum Wage bill we only have four
co-sponsors there as well so we have work to do there so if you haven’t
already, please contact your congressperson to ask them to support our
pieces of legislation and any upcoming legislation that has still yet to be
introduced in congress. She then asked for any questions about the state
president report.

 

Kira shared you can still obtain Accessible COVID Tests on the USPS website
while supplies if you have not ordered before. Denise pointed out that
President Riccobono mentioned the telephone number in his report and Patti
noted that the direct link is nfb.org/COVID but the information is out
there. Denise said it’s probably on NFB Newsline as well. 

 

Pam asked if there are expiration dates on COVID tests and Denise asked Kira
if she knew. Kira shared that yes there are expiration dates and usually in
her experience they last a few months. Patti also noted that for most tests
the government has extended those expiration dates to three additional
months past the date on the box so don’t throw them out right away if they
have expired. 

 

Denise then collected the number of those staying at Exchequer following the
meeting, including her that was five. She then shared that we are almost
done. We have approval of the Chicago Chapter Minutes that were sent out
over IL-talk and Dave put them up on Newsline, they were done by Kira
O’Bradovich, the Secretary for the Chicago chapter, she then asked for a
motion, Ken Borst moved to approved, Jemal seconded, and Denise asked for
any deletions, corrections, or additions to the August minutes, there were
none, the vote took place and the August minutes were approved. 

 

Denise then asked Steve for a treasury summery who shared that currently we
have $3,819.69 and by the time we add today’s income we will be at nearly
$4,000. Denise then turned to Dave to give a fundraising report. Dave shared
they did the first of the fundraising installment earlier with the auction
of the items, next month is the Annual Read-A-Thon and they would love for
people to read, to donate. The cost of the even for those reading is $10
unless you raise $10 or more in donations from one of your friends,
neighbors, etc. If you do, your admission fee is raised. It will take place
on October 8, which would have been the day of the October Chapter meeting
and it will be conducted over Zoom with his Zoom account. HE will be posting
a message on IL-Talk with the credentials for the Zoom call. He will
probably be doing that closer to the end of the month and will be sending a
reminder after that, it will take place from 1pm-4pm and you can read in any
way you want to read and if your pockets are deep, they appreciate that too.
In November the Beggar’s Fundraiser will take place at 310 S. Clinton Street
on Wednesday, November 16th and it will be for the duration of the day, from
noon when it opens until 8pm when it closes. So please come and if you feel
you cannot come or don’t like the food, they always appreciate donations. In
December the annual Christmas Auction will take place at the chapter
meeting, which has been an annual event for at least 47 years, possibly 48.
Bring auction items, solicit items, bring your dollars, and hopefully we
will do as well as last year. We did about $4,500, $4,600 and it was
wonderful. He noted that for those who have not supported the chapter,
particularly if you are on a board of a chapter, please think about it,
examine your conscience and if you cannot support a fundraiser by attending
any donations would be welcome. Finally, our neighbors at the IL Council of
the Blind are having a fundraiser on Wednesday, September 21 if you decide
to come let them know you are there to support, actually it’s the American
Council of the Blind Metro Chicago Chapter. Again, just as we do, they have
been supporting us over the years so please consider supporting their
fundraiser as well and if you can, consider giving a donation. Patti shared
what we spend the money on, she said this chapter has a history of sending
some of our members to Washington Seminar in January and that’s how we get
our legislation passed. She said this chapter also has a history of passing
up money to the state affiliate for things like the Bell Program. She saw a
video of a parent crying after just 2 weeks of Bell at how independent her
child was even after years of trying to help her herself. It also goes for
scholarships, helps in the long run for independence and it certainly makes
a difference to know what you’re trying to raise money to do. 

 

Steve asked Dave to tell us about the Read-A-Thon contributions received
today. Dave shared so far he has received $100. Denise also shared that we
can also give contributions to one another and even do so by the number of
pages read, etc. So, everyone is responsible for getting your own
contributions but you can also make a donation yourself outside of that.
Denise then asked if there were any other questions, there were not. 

 

Denise then invited Kira to give an update on the Advocacy Committee. Kira
thanked everyone for her patience as she started a new job and wrapped up a
second. She shared that meetings will resume this Monday at 7pm and that the
link will go out to IL-Talk today but if you need to contact her you can
reach her at kobradov at gmail.com <mailto:kobradov at gmail.com>  or (402)
670-1980

They will be discussing any legislative and advocacy issues in our city both
new and old and you are more than welcome to join even if you are not a
member of the committee. 

 

Denise then asked for any old business but there was none, she then shared
that there was some new business as there is going to be a change to the
Chicago Chapter’s constitution after the NFB State Board’s face to face
meeting> They have decided to vote out the lifetime membership option. The
Chicago Chapter is the only chapter in Illinois since we have it written
into our constitution. Those who have the lifetime membership as of that
meeting back in August they will be grandfathered in but going forward there
will no longer be lifetime membership. We will make sure that our
constitution is in line with the intent of the State Board and their
constitution. That means at the November meeting the constitution will be
read and then again in December, a copy will be sent out, and then the state
affiliate will vote on it and some other changes including the option to
only pay two years of membership dues at a time. So that we don’t have to
keep changing the constitution, it will note that the board can make changes
to membership from time to time as they see fit. Jemal asked about the
rationale of this change at the state level. Denise noted that there are a
number of lifetime members who we have not seen in years and the idea is
that every year or two you need to make a recommitment to this organization.
Through the payment of your dues. You cannot just come and pay and we never
see you again. In addition, that impacts elections, if you haven’t been
present for ten years and you want to vote, we have to let you. Patti
pointed out we have members who have moved decades ago. Denise shared that
having members recommit every two years max, we are going to be able to make
sure that we eliminate some of the pitfalls that they’ve seen with lifetime
membership. 

 

Glenn shared that he found the link for the COVID test on the NFB website
and Denise asked him to post it to IL-Talk. The link is
https://special.usps.com/testkits and phone number is 1-800-232-0233. (Kira
added later that while this was the link posted on the NFB website that the
link does not take you to the accessible tests but rather to the regular
tests and that has expired on September 2nd, she added that she’d send the
link but the link is https://special.usps.com/testkits/accessible and that
opportunity has not expired, it is as long as supplies last.)

 

One further question was asked about if the change in lifetime memberships
now allowed them to decide who could reinstate themselves and Patti shared
that we don’t reselect, we only vote people in when the first join.

 

Denise then shared that the National office, board of directors, voted that
we would have an in-person convention and the same thing happened at our
state level. The question of hybrid chapter meetings was posed at the board
meeting and for now they have voted to keep them in place but they do need
people to volunteer to be zoom hosts. Right now, they only have three and
they need to train others and set up a schedule. They would pair new and
experienced volunteers. Patti has offered to train anyone who is interested.
Glenn, Melissa, Dave, & Ed all volunteered and Patti said she’d take the
lead on coordinating that.

 

The next item, Denise shared, is that the board voted to donate $100 to the
Affiliate for door prizes, as you heard Mary Grunwald and Teresa Favre are
this year’s door prize co-chairs. So, if you are making a donation
personally you will need to talk to them. She then shared that we need to
choose a song for Battle of the Chapters. The theme this year is travel.
Eileen suggested “Midnight Train to Georgia”, Jemal “I’ve Been Everywhere”,
Dave “Travelling Man” by Rick Nelson ’61, “Country Road” by John Denver,
Steve “Leaving on a Jet Plane”. All received 2 votes except for I’ve Been
Everywhere” which received 3, and the most went to “Midnight Train to
Georgia” which will be the Chicago Chapter’s song. 

 

Denise then shared that we are now in full election season so not only can
you do early voting and expect it to be accessible you can also vote on the
day of. For the first time you can now request an accessible vote by mail
ballot throughout the state of Illinois. Chicago has had this option for
several years but they don’t’ always tell you. You can start requesting
August 7th but she just recently found out it was open. You can request an
accessible vote by mail ballot from the Chicago Board of Elections and Cook
County also must be a provider of the ballot so you can contact the board of
elections there. For issues in Chicago, you can contact Max Weber who was
here back in May with the Chicago Board of Elections and if outside you can
reach out to Bebe Novich and Equip for Equality. Hopefully since you can now
vote privately and independently you will use that option. We will plan and
persist to work on electronic ballot return in the upcoming legislature as
well as trying to make every aspect of the voting process accessible to
people who are blind, low-vision or have other disabilities. Jemal also said
that it was announced that there will be an option to request it permanently
and he asked if it will be accessible and Denise said that she thinks yes,
we have said that we have the same right as those without disabilities. 

 

Michal then announced that our affiliate advocacy and state legislative
committees will hold a joint meeting via Zoom on Sunday, September 18th at
5pm where the focus will be on figuring out ways to get the word out to
Blind people in Illinois and all are welcome to attend and share their ideas
about how we can get the word out. In 2020 when we had elections, we only
have a few people take advantage of the option so we want to make sure
everyone knows this is available to them. Denise added that they met with
the Illinois State Board of Elections last Tuesday and while they argued
they weren’t’ required to because it wasn’t a part of legislation, they
provided a vote by mail option for the June 28 primary. According to them
they had 23 states participating, 40 of those voters came from four
counties. Not included in those totals were Cook County and also Chicago
since they have separate election authorities. The Board of Elections says
they already have their own option and they don’t really count it so the NFB
is in the process of trying to get the numbers for those areas. One of the
reasons Denise thinks they don’t participate with that option is because
they don’t know about it and because it’s new and hasn’t’ been used they may
be a little reluctant to try something new. One of the things she did ask
people at the face-to-face board meeting was to email her and tell her if
they had considered using the absentee ballot option accessibly. If you did
and you did it, how did you like it and if you didn’t, why not? Was it
comfort level with technology, was it because you went to the polls. They
are trying to get a sense of where people are coming from as we go forward
and try to request accessible ballot return. Whether 10 people or 40 people
use it, it shouldn’t make a different because it’s a matter of equality. We
need to make sure every blind person in the state knows the option so they
can take advantage.

 

Patti then shared her experience. The Chicago Board of Elections now has an
online application to apply to vote by mail to get the accessible ballot.
She went on and filled out about three pages, not big ones, name, phone
number, address and so on and then at the end they ask for a security code
but JAWS does not read it, she thinks it’s a CAPTCHA. She wants someone else
to go on and try it out to see but she finds it incredible the city would
send it out specifically for people with disabilities without having figured
out how to make that part accessible. If it really is what she thinks, a
CAPTCHA, we can make them quit it. It’s ridiculous, it prevents the
independent accessible request for a ballot. Denise did send it over to our
contact with the Board of Elections and Patti said we should duplicate to
confirm it’s not user error. 


Denise asked if there was any new business, there was none. Dave moved,
Jemal seconded, the motion passed and the meeting is adjourned. As a
reminder we will not be here in October, we will be back in November. 

 

 

Signed and Submitted by, 

Kira O’Bradovich

Secretary

Chicago Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois