[IL-Talk] at large minutes june

[datemeyer at sbcglobal.net]

NFBI At Large Chapter June Minutes

June 7th, 2026

ZOOM Meeting

CALL TO ORDER

At Large Chapter President David Meyer called the meeting to order at 7:03
PM

PM. Persons in attendance were: President David Meyer, Leslie Hamric,
Michelle Ault, Linda Hendle,  Bill Reif, Debbie

Pittman, Marilyn Green, Cloyues Myles, Pat Olson, Yvonne Agyarko, Jemal
Powell, Dennis Devitt,  Ember Thompson, Yifan Shen, Kim Liddell, and Maryam
Ebadi.

PROGRAM ITEM

The Program Item was shared by Debbie Pittman and the presentation that we
heard today was on the  Echo Glasses by Sam Seavey.of The Blind Life. We
listened to his review of the Echo Vision glasses  by Agiga. Echo Vision are
smart glasses and look similar to a standard pair of Ray-Ban style
sunglasses. These glasses were built specifically for the Blind community
with help from the Blind  community. We can choose between tinted lenses,
clear lenses, progressive lenses, or prescription  lenses. The lenses that
you choose may affect the pricing of the glasses. One accessory for these
glasses are a charging case which charges the glasses when you put them in
the case. When you fully  charge the case it will last for several days. The
battery life on the glasses is about six hours.  The charging case has a
button on the back side and when you double press the button you get an
audible tone indicating how much battery is in the charging case. Three
beeps means the charge is  around 75 percent. Another accessory that you can
get is a magnetic tinted lens cover which fits in  the case.

At the end of the right stem there is a USB type-C port that we can also use
to charge the  glasses, or we can connect the glasses to an external
battery. On the top of the left arm or left  temple there is an on/off
button and we also use that button to take a photo or take a video. On  the
top of the right arm or right temple we have the action button or the AI
button. This button  also jumps into some of our modes, like the live AI
mode, or the reading mode. On the left side of  the left temple we have a
touch pad which is how we can adjust the volume. There is a raised line  on
the touch pad which makes the touch pad easy to find. On the front right
corner of the glasses  is our camera. It is a 13 megapixel camera which has
a wide field of view. We can take photos with  one press of a button and
videos with two presses of the button on the camera. The videos are a  full
wide screen. The screen is 16 by 9. There is no recording limit as long as
there is memory in  the glasses and the battery holds out. The audio
recording is not the best. The primary focus of  these glasses is the AI
component. Some of these extras like the video recording will be improved
on in the future. All of the AI is controlled by the AI button on the right
side. If the button is  pressed once then the glasses will be listening for
a command. If a command or a question is not  asked then the glasses
prioritize a scene description. You can ask questions like what is on the
desk or you can play cards and the AI will tell you what cards you are
holding. In the video the  audio is going thru a blue tooth speaker so we
can hear it but normally the person wearing the  glasses is the only one
that can hear it. You can also ask AI general questions as well. If the
action button is pressed twice that will initiate live AI. The best thing
about live AI is that the  glasses are constantly watching what is in front
of us and you can have a conversation with them  and get the information
right away. If you triple click the action button you can read a book, even
a cookbook. The AI voice sounds natural and has inflection, inflection that
makes sense for the  context that it is reading. The touch pad controls
music and double tapping ends a phone call. It  can also tell you what you
are holding. There is also a history tab that can tell you what AI and  you
were talking about. There is also a find glasses feature so that the glasses
will beep if they  get misplaced. The glasses do need WIFI to function. You
will need to create a mobile hotspot on  your phone. Sam Seavey had a very
positive experience with these glasses and wants to remind us  that this is
a new product and very much still in development. The glasses are very
lightweight and  have the word Agiga on both sides of the temples.or arms. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR MAY MEETING

Bill Reif moved and Linda Hendle seconded. All in favor said "AYE" and the
minutes were approved.

PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE

This is Presidential Release number 561 Chapter version.

President Mark Ricobono talked about National Convention because we talk
about it a lot and we take  for granted that everybody fully understands the
weight, importance, and significance of the  National Convention even if
they have not been there. 

A question that President Mark Riccobono answered for us on the Presidential
Release is: Why do we  spend so much time talking about the National
Convention? The easiest way to come back to why it's  important is to look
at the Constitution of the National Federation of the Blind and this is
codified in Article five of the Constitution, which is titled "Powers and
Duties of the Convention,  the Board of Directors and the President."

Section A of our Constitution, was read to us in its entirety because it
articulates all of the  important points. So Section A reads as follows:
"Powers and duties of the convention. The  convention is the Supreme
Authority of the Federation. It is the legislature of the Federation.

As such, it has final authority with respect to all issues of policy. Its
decisions shall be made  after opportunity has been afforded for full and
fair discussion. Delegates and members in  attendance may participate in all
convention discussions as a matter of right. Any member of the  Federation
may make or second motions propose nominations serve on committees and is
eligible for  election to office except that only blind members may be
elected to the national board. Voting and  making motions by proxy are
prohibited. Consistent with the Democratic character of the Federation,
convention meetings shall be so conducted as to prevent parliamentary
maneuvers which would have  the effect of interfering with the expression of
the will of the majority on any question or with  the rights of the minority
to full and fair presentation of their views. The convention is not  merely
a gathering of representatives of separate state organizations. It is a
meeting of the  Federation at the national level in its character as a
national organization. Committees of the  Federation are committees of the
national organization. The nominating committee shall consist of  one member
from each state affiliate represented at the convention and each state
affiliate shall  appoint its member to the committee. From among the members
of the committee the president shall  appoint a chairperson". 

This is what the constitution tells us about the convention and President
Mark Riccobono pointed  out to us that the convention is the most
concentrated time when we have Blind leaders together  committed to working
together to further opportunities for the Blind.

We do not always agree when we get together, we are sharing information, and
we try to formulate  priorities for the overall movement based on what the
majority of our members believe and feel  would be appropriate for the
benefit of all Blind people. It's bringing this group of leaders  together
that helps us make these very strong decisions and set these priorities. We
come together  as a national movement and we bring the diversity of blind
people together from all different parts  of the country with all different
backgrounds in order to come to agreement about where we should  go and how
we should use our limited resources. 

The Constitution is very specific that proxy voting is prohibited in the
Constitution. It's  prohibited everywhere in the Federation. This is
important because we need to show up to have the  conversations with each
other and sometimes members say, "Well, I can't come to the convention and
I feel a little left out because I'm not represented there," but that's not
the case.

Every State Affiliate has a delegate at the convention and this delegate is
often the State  President. Every member at the local level, whether they're
at the convention or not, is  represented by someone who has been
designated, often elected to represent them at the convention.  Most often
it's the State President because the State President is our chief executive.
We want to  be represented by our chief leader in the affiliate at the
convention. The convention is a critical  time for us to demonstrate the
power base that we have as a movement to others.

A good example is we invite government officials to our convention and it's
really important that  they observe from being at our convention that we are
a significant base of influence and power and  that we have real passionate
members who are serious about making things happen for Blind  people. This
is the same impression we get when people come to our national headquarters
for the  first time. They think, "Oh, I'm going to go to a little office
suite somewhere to meet with this  organization." And when they get to our
headquarters facility, they know that they're dealing with  an organization
that is more significant and more impressive than they thought and they take
Blind  people more seriously. We also have the convention as a vehicle for
helping the public officials,  the companies know that we are a significant
force to be considered and to be listened to. The  convention is also a
place to test new ideas and products.

We often share thoughts and ideas about how things can be different. We
innovate what needs to  happen in our community. We provide feedback on
research projects that are really based on the fact  that blind people
deserve dignity, respect, and that we can think and act for ourselves. The
convention is one of the most powerful feedback opportunities that we have
as a community anywhere  in the world at any time during the year.

The National Convention is an important time for us to plan for how we're
going to continue to  build the organization. 

Our National Convention is the one time in the year that blind people are
definitely in the  majority for the week. This is an important opportunity
for newly blind individuals because they  can benefit from being in this
environment of high expectations. The newly blind are also  surrounded by
blind people who are ready and willing to share their experience, their
knowledge,  and the techniques they use in a safe environment. We get a very
energizing effect by being  together and getting that shot in the arm to
remember what's possible for us in society because so  much of the rest of
the year we're fighting low expectations, we're dealing with inaccessibility
and it can sometimes get a little depressing and a little discouraging. This
is our opportunity to  remember that we control our own destiny and we
control what can happen for Blind people going  forward.

The National Convention also helps us forge bonds with Blind people, not
just in our local  community or our state, but all over the country and
often around the world. The convention creates  an opportunity, a space
that's very unique where we get to know each other and that means we can
call on each other when we need expertise that Blind people outside of our
community have.

For all these reasons, the convention is really central to our program as a
civil rights membership  organization. If you're sitting in the chapter
meeting and you're thinking, "Yeah, but I just can't  come to the convention
this year, what about me? " Well, first of all, remember that you are
represented at the convention. You should let your delegate know if you have
particular feelings  about issues that are going on or concerns. Secondly,
there may be things that our chapter is  dealing with that we might be
looking for information on and expertise about. President Mark  Riccobono
suggested we find leaders in chapters who are dealing with issues that are
just now  coming to our community and find out what's worked, what hasn't,
and what approaches have been  effective so we can copy them and build on
them.

There are many other issues and areas that we have of commonality, but also
where we can learn from  each other. Every state has battles with the
rehabilitation system in the state and different  affiliates have taken
different approaches. Some have been more effective than others. We can urge
our delegate or members from our chapter to seek out members that have been
dealing with those  issues and bring back information to the chapter so we
can devise strategies locally. But it's not  just empowering our delegate or
members of our chapter who are going. We can participate in our  virtual
convention experience, which will give us access to the general sessions and
some  additional sessions. Our chapter can organize listening parties and
enjoy some fellowship. We can  have discussions leading up to convention
about the issues that are circulating in our community.  The National
Convention brings the great diversity of experiences, backgrounds, and
perspectives  together in one place and it allows each and every one of us
through our affiliates to gain the  benefit of coming together.

Once the agenda is published we can put it on our calendar. We will have
access to things like the  resolutions before they get discussed. They're
made available online. If we have thoughts and  opinions, we should share
them with our delegate. If we do not attend National Convention in person
we can still help to set the priorities locally, as well as influence the
national discussion.

After the convention we can write articles about the issues discussed. We
can write articles to the  Braille Monitor. If we think the convention maybe
should have considered an issue or if there was a  perspective that hasn't
been shared about technology or some other aspect, we can use our virtual
convention experience to inform the members throughout the Federation and
use what we have learned  to impact our chapter.

Everybody virtual or in person can complete our convention survey to give
feedback on what worked,  what didn't work, what would we like to have
experienced, and what was particularly meaningful to  us. The convention is
like so many things in the Federation, an opportunity to build the
connections within our organization and we can do that even if we are not
coming to the convention. 

President Mark Riccobono also reminds us that we have our Give 25 Spring
fundraising campaign going  on and in addition to asking members to donate,
what we're really looking for is for members to  reach out and get others to
donate to our Give 25 campaign, what we're calling our connectors.

We're encouraging each and every member to get four other people to Give 25
to the National  Federation of the Blind during the month of June so that we
can significantly increase our reach to  new donors and pull down matching
funds that have been generously donated by the AIRA Corporation.  We can get
involved with our Give 25 efforts and become a connector. Go to:

nfb.org/give25 

to get all the details. We will only have a couple of days in July to get
that done.

President Mark Riccobono circled back to our National Convention and
reminded us that 

 nfb.org/convention

is our source for all of the information about the convention and the
virtual convention  experience, which we should register for if we have not
done so already.

This will be the last release before the convention and before August.
August will be our next  release

.  

STATE PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Our State President, Marilyn Green emphasized the importance of our National
Convention as the  supreme authority of our organization. Our National
Convention is July 3rd to July 8th in Austin, Texas. We would be saving
ourselves some money if we registered early. If we did not  pre-register we
can still do so at the door. The room block is closed so she is hopeful that
we  already have a room booked or a friend who we can room with. The agenda
is available at:

nfb.org

There are also Zoom links in there for sessions that will be streamed if we
are unable to attend in  person and want to attend virtually. We can still
register online for that. Resolutions, general  sessions, and a lot of other
content will be streamed. We have some people who may never have been  to
the National Convention and President Mark Riccobono talked about the
purpose of the delegate.  David Meyer did mention that at our State
Convention that Marilyn Green was elected as our delegate  and Denise Avant
is the alternate delegate. Denise Avant is our first Vice President of our
Affiliate. We will have our Illinois Caucus at 7:00 AM on July 5th. The
caucus will not be streamed  but if there are any questions about anything
she will be putting some information, along with the  room assignment up on
IL Talk and IABS Talk. At the Caucus we will be discussing our Resolutions
and our State Convention which will be coming up. We will also be turning in
our banquet tickets to  the person who will be getting a table or two for us
at the National Convention.

Our next State Affiliate Board meeting is on June 17th at 7:00 PM. We will
use the same link At  that meeting we will be talking about our preparation
as we get ready to go to our National  Convention. We will also be
discussing if we want to do a Social this year at National Convention  so be
on the look out for that agenda. Our State Affiliate Board Meetings are our
next opportunity  to find out about what is going on in the National
Federation of the Blind of Illinois.

We do have two NFB BELL Academy programs coming up. BELL stands for Braille
Enrichment Literacy and  Learning. Our first program will start on July 13th
thru July 17th in Springfield, Illinois.  Springfield will be our one week
residential program. Registration is still open so if we know of  any blind
or low vision students between the ages of 4 to12 that may benefit from
learning  independent living skills, Braille, and cane travel from Blind
role models, please have them reach  out to Debbie Stein. Her phone number
is: 7 7 3-2 0 3-1 3 9 4. You can also email her at:

dkent5817 at att.net . 

We also have our Chicago program, which is a two-week day program. That
program runs from July 20th  thru July 31st. There will be a lot of the same
activities, field trips, a lot of Braille, and a  lot of independent living
skills where students make their own lunches and clean up after  themselves.
We will also have positive blind role models there as well for the students.
Our  teacher for our Springfield Bell program is Amy Youngt. She was a
teacher there for a long time  with both of our BELL programs and we have
Bridget Hickey for our Chicago program. Michelle Ault is  the assistant
teacher for both programs. You can also go to:

nfb.org/BELL 

to learn more about our programs.

We do have our NFB STEM2U and our face to face board meeting coming up in
August. Our NFB STEM2U is  Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. That
program is on August 15th and it is a one day  program. We are looking for
students between the ages of 8 to 13 so if you know of any students
interested in science, technology, engineering and math, this would be a
great program for them to  participate in. Debbie Stein is our contact for
that as well. You can also register the students at:

nfb.org/STEM2U

The following day we will have our face to face board meeting on Sunday,
August 16th. Our room  block will be available until July 15th. Our face to
face board meeting will start at 9:00 AM. We  will adjourn around
11:30/12:00 for lunch which should be around 30 minutes and then we will
come  back into session. We usually adjourn between 2 and 3;00 PM. This is
the meeting where we are able  to explore our convention hotel, which is at
the Hyatt Regency near Lisle, IL. The information is  available at our
convention website:

nfbofillinois.org/convention

The room rate is $129.00 for singles and doubles and 155.00 per night for
triples. A lot of  information covered at our State Board meeting does have
to do with our State Convention. There are  a lot of other things that occur
at our face-to-face board meeting. You can ZOOM in if you are  unable to
come in person and it is the same ZOOM link that you are using tonight for
the At Large  Chapter meeting. 

Our State Convention is October 23rd to October 25th. On Friday afternoon we
have some activities  planned as well as our exhibit hall. We will start
with our Resolutions at 4:00 PM. We will go into  our general session from 5
till 6:30. We will also be having some dinner at that time. Braille is
Beautiful will be on Friday night. From 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM or as long as
people are interested  will be NFB's got Talent. It is $5.00 per song or
performance. We have also have battle of the  chapters . People enjoy just
getting up and singing, dancing, and family friendly comedy. We  usually
have a cash bar. Saturday we start at 7:00 AM with breakfast and some
programming and we  will likely keep the same format as last year with the
exhibit hall being from 8;00 AM until 11:00  AM and also run our breakouts
from 9:00 AM until 11:30 AM. We will come back for our afternoon  general
session and have some lunch at 12:00 and some programming, take a short
break at around  2:30 and come back in for our board meeting and do some
more programming from around three to 4.  and then we will have our business
meeting and finish at 5:00 PM. We will come back at 7:00 PM for  our banquet
with the awarding of our State Scholarships, as well as a banquet speech
from our  national rep to be determined by our President Mark Riccobono. We
will usually finish somewhere  between 9 and 10 PM and there will be a cash
bar available that evening. On Sunday Morning we will  have breakfast and
our Philosophy. We will be done around noon. There is some modest financial
assistance being offered for State Convention. The applications are due on
September 1st, 11:59 PM  CT. for our Chappell/Dennis and the link will go
out on IL Talk. For those that know they might  need some assistance already
they are welcome to do the application online.

At National Convention there are listening devices available and when we
registered for National  Convention there was an option that we could click
and say that we need accommodations. We could  also notate our specific
accommodations request.

The At Large Chapter President, David Meyer thanked our State President,
Marilyn Green, for her  report and let us know the At Large Chapter Board
had a board meeting and discussed the idea of  donating to National Funds.
We have a White Cane Fund, the Jacobus tenBroek Fund, the Sun fund, and  the
Kenneth Jernigan fund. We will be donating $100.00 to each of the four
National Funds. We also  have a Pre-Authorized Contribution Plan which is
chaired by our State President. People,  Affiliates, and Chapters can donate
on a monthly basis towards that plan and we have been giving  $15.00 a month
We will now be giving $20.00 a month. We also voted on our contribution for
a state  program called 15 for funds and we are giving the same amount this
year as we were giving last  year and that is $600.00.

A motion was made to welcome Maryam Abadi to the At Large Chapter. Marilyn
Green moved to welcome  Maryam Abadi to the At Large Chapter and it was
seconded. All in favor said "Aye" and Maryam Abadi  was welcomed into the At
Large Chapter.

OLD BUSINESS

Debbie Pittman reminded us that those that did not apply for the extra 10
rides for the RAP program  should do that right away by calling in 3 1 2-9 1
3-3 1 1 0. We should choose the paratransit option and  let them know you
need assistance with that. If you do not apply for those 10 additional rides
you  will not get them. You may get approved right away but when you
actually have those rides it may  take 60 days. When you go thru the process
at the very end it tells us that we will not have access  to those rides
until 60 days after our application.

NEW BUSINESS

Debbie Pittman moved that we do not have a July meeting. Marilyn Green
seconded. All in favor  signified by saying "Aye" and the next meeting will
take place on Sunday, August 2nd, at 7:00 PM.

At Large Chapter President suggested that those that are unable to attend
National Convention in  person to stream it. It is a great way to learn
about what the Federation is about If we register  for the virtual
expeerience it is a considerable saving. It is only $10.00 and it is well
worth the  price. The links can be found in the agenda for the stream. There
is also a place online for  registering for the virtual experience and if
anyone is having any trouble registering they may  call the National Office
at 4 1 0-6 5 9-9 3 1 4.

A motion was made to adjourn and Linda Hendle moved. Leslie Hamric seconded
and all in favor  signified by saying "Aye". The meeting was adjourned at
8:42 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Michelle Ault

Secretary/Treasurer