From dsmithnfb at gmail.com Mon Jan 6 09:07:43 2014 From: dsmithnfb at gmail.com (Darian Smith) Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2014 01:07:43 -0800 Subject: [Mabs] **For High School Students Only** Presenting "adjusting to high school":a National Association of Blind Students membership call. Message-ID: Greetings High School Students! Want to take more control of your education? Want to be more socially active? Want to talk about and share ways to be more successful? Then Join the National Association of Blind Students for a call on enhancing the high school experience! Join NABS member Sophie Trist As she shares some techniques that work for her as she is navigating high school. Bring your questions and be ready to share a technique or skill you?ve learned too! Date: Sunday, janurary 12, 2014 Time:7:00 p.m. ET/ 4:00P.M. PT Call: ( 605)475-6700. Code 7869603. We look forward to hearing from you high - schoolers on the call! Regards, The National Association of Blind Students. From dsmithnfb at gmail.com Tue Jan 14 16:09:56 2014 From: dsmithnfb at gmail.com (Darian Smith) Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 08:09:56 -0800 Subject: [Mabs] Fwd: [nabs-l] Tomorrow is Fix WIA Wednesday! Sample Email to Send to Senators In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Fellow Federationests, Please read the important message below and assist in this important effort. Please forgive any re-post where this applies Darian ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rose Sloan Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 09:58:01 -0500 Subject: [nabs-l] Tomorrow is Fix WIA Wednesday! Sample Email to Send to Senators To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org *Federationists**:* On Wednesday, January 15, 2014 we need to tell our Senators that it is time to #FixWIA. Below is the email I plan to send to my Senators. I encourage you to use this letter as a template (or create your own) to inform your Senators about the problems with WIA. Thanks for all of your work. Let?s get this done! Rose ####### Dear Senator Durbin, I am writing to voice my concerns about S. 1356, the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Although I know the reauthorization of WIA is overdue, I just cannot support the current bill as it is written. During the 1990s, the disability community fought really hard for language that would *not *allow a vocational rehabilitation case to be closed by a placement in a sheltered workshop. The current bill language of Section 511, a controversial section among the disability community, will allow vocational rehabilitation counselors to successfully close cases by placing their clients in subminimum-wage sheltered workshops. Subminimum-wage sheltered work does not come close to adequately training people with disabilities for mainstream competitive employment. In fact, research shows that people with disabilities have to *unlearn *the habits taught in sheltered workshops in order to get a mainstream job. Ninety-five percent of people with disabilities who enter sheltered workshops never obtain the employment they are being ?trained? for. In other words, once a person with disability is placed in a sheltered workshop, their full potential is almost never reached. They must remain on public assistance for the rest of their lives. I am also concerned with the bill language moving the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor. There is no research that shows this move will improve the efficiency and outcomes of the RSA. It is important to keep in mind that everyone needs an education before he/she obtains a job. For many, this education comes in the form of college and/or graduate school. For people with severe disabilities, this might mean having access to quality rehabilitation services to develop their unique skills and talents. This process is an educational process?RSA should stay in the Department of Education. Senator Durbin, I need your help. Please consider offering an amendment that will strike Section 511 of Title V of WIA, and remove the language that transfers RSA from Education to Labor. Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you soon. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach me at rsloan at nfb.org. Sincerely, Rose Sloan _______________________________________________ nabs-l mailing list nabs-l at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nabs-l: http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dsmithnfb%40gmail.com -- Darian Smith Text the word BLIND to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagination Fund via your phone bill. The time is now to eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities http://www.nfb.org/fairwages ?We know not of our future, but we know of our past. A past that is made up of our ancestor?s Dreams, their stories and hopes. These sights once seen, sounds heard and emotions felt are now our knowledge. The knowledge that guides us to this very moment?? -Darian Smith From dsmithnfb at gmail.com Tue Jan 14 23:29:08 2014 From: dsmithnfb at gmail.com (Darian Smith) Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 15:29:08 -0800 Subject: [Mabs] Fwd: [nabs-l] If you have ever experienced inaccessible technology in college, we need your help! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Please read and assist! This is a wonderful chance for us as students to make true change for ourselves and for blind students like ourselves; what we do as federationests! (please forgive any re-posts on my part) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Cindy Bennett Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 15:02:02 -0800 Subject: [nabs-l] If you have ever experienced inaccessible technology in college, we need your help! To: National Asociation of Blind Students Cc: nabs presidents list , North Carolina Association of Blind Students Dear Members, My name is Cindy Bennett. I am an NFB member and the secretary of the National Association of Blind Students (NABS). NABS is excited to help with the recently introduced Technology, Education, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education (TEACH) act. I am currently working with Lauren McLarney, a Government Affairs Specialist for the National Federation of the Blind, to collect stories about blind student?s experiences with higher education. We are contacting you because we want stories from constituents living in every congressional district in the U.S., and we can only do this with your help! Our current push for stories is so they can be used during Washington Seminar, so we need them by Wednesday, January 22! In summary, the TEACH Act will create accessibility guidelines for electronic instructional materials and related information technologies used by institutions of higher education. The TEACH Act will provide guidelines for manufacturers of educational technology and clarity for institutions of higher education to ensure that materials are usable by all students. Earlier this year, Congressman Tom Petri (R-WI) introduced the TEACH Act (H.R. 3505). Click here to learn more about the TEACH Act. https://nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/word/2013%20teach%20fact%20sheet.doc. Now that the bill has been introduced, we need to get it passed! And that?s where you come in! We need stories from current and recent students who are and have been affected by the lack of accessibility in the classroom, whether it be through inaccessible software, lack of materials, or late or inadequate accessible materials. Be sure to include a sentence of how accessibility guidelines would/would have helped you. Compose your paragraph-long story and send it to me at clb5590 at gmail.com by Wednesday, January 22. Please include the school you attend/attended, and any congressional districts that you live in. for example, if your permanent address is in a different congressional district from the district in which you go to school, list both. If you do not know this information, you can look it up here. http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ There is a simple edit field where you can enter your zip code. On the next page, your zip code and the number district in which you reside are listed like this. Zip code: 98121 is located in the 7th Congressional district of Washington. The second way you can help is by reinforcing the appointments Lauren and other NFB members have with congress. If someone has an appointment with your congressperson, I will contact you with the date of the appointment, and you can call your congressperson?s office and tell your story. This will show your congressperson that one of their constituents is directly affected by inadequate accessibility and needs the TEACH Act. This part is very important as members of congress work for their constituents! Of course, you do not have to wait for someone to have an appointment with your representative or senators; we encourage you to go ahead and contact them on your own! Please pass this announcement on to all of the blind current and recent students that you know! Finally, please feel free to contact me or Lauren McLarney with any questions. you can reach me at clb5590 at gmail.com, and Lauren at LMcLarney at nfb.org. We look forward to receiving your stories! Cindy Bennett and Lauren McLarney -- Cindy Bennett Secretary: National Association of Blind Students B.A. Psychology, UNC Wilmington clb5590 at gmail.com _______________________________________________ nabs-l mailing list nabs-l at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nabs-l: http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dsmithnfb%40gmail.com -- Darian Smith Text the word BLIND to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagination Fund via your phone bill. The time is now to eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities http://www.nfb.org/fairwages ?We know not of our future, but we know of our past. A past that is made up of our ancestor?s Dreams, their stories and hopes. These sights once seen, sounds heard and emotions felt are now our knowledge. The knowledge that guides us to this very moment?? -Darian Smith From dsmithnfb at gmail.com Wed Jan 15 00:14:53 2014 From: dsmithnfb at gmail.com (Darian Smith) Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 16:14:53 -0800 Subject: [Mabs] =?windows-1252?q?Fwd=3A_=5Bnabs-l=5D_Workshop=3A_Create_an?= =?windows-1252?q?_Advertising_Directory_=96_NABS_Membership_Commit?= =?windows-1252?q?tee?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Justin Salisbury Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2014 00:06:36 +0000 Subject: [nabs-l] Workshop: Create an Advertising Directory ? NABS Membership Committee To: "nabs-l at nfbnet.org" , "List for NABS State Presidents (nabs-presidents at nfbnet.org)" , "ctabs at nfbnet.org" , Wisconsin Association of Blind Students List , "Massachusetts Association of Blind Students List (massabs at nfbnet.org)" Colleagues: So, we have an idea. We?re putting on a student seminar, a student division social, or a fun activity at the state convention. We know how to run it, who will speak, what kind of food we want, but now?how do we get people to attend? Who do we invite? How do we spread the word? We once struggled with these questions in the North Carolina Association of Blind Students, and we devised a solution: create an advertising directory for our state. With four people working on the project for only about two months, we realized that it was, in fact, possible. The system is simple. A division can create a directory of disability contacts at all universities, community colleges, and trade schools in its state. As soon as we had organized this directory, advertising our events became much simpler. We did it all in Microsoft Excel, too. The NABS Membership Committee will be hosting a series of conference call workshops, which I will lead, where we will explain and discuss how to organize and best use an advertising directory for student division events in your state. The first of these conference call workshops will be held: Monday, January 20 9:00 PM eastern Dial (605) 475-6700 Enter access code 7869673 We will announce further advertising directory workshops soon. I look forward to talking with many on Monday. If you have any questions, please email me directly at . Yours, Justin Salisbury President Connecticut Association of Blind Students _______________________________________________ nabs-l mailing list nabs-l at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nabs-l: http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dsmithnfb%40gmail.com -- Darian Smith Text the word BLIND to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagination Fund via your phone bill. The time is now to eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities http://www.nfb.org/fairwages ?We know not of our future, but we know of our past. A past that is made up of our ancestor?s Dreams, their stories and hopes. These sights once seen, sounds heard and emotions felt are now our knowledge. The knowledge that guides us to this very moment?? -Darian Smith From b.schulz at sbcglobal.net Mon Jan 20 02:10:12 2014 From: b.schulz at sbcglobal.net (Bryan Schulz) Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 20:10:12 -0600 Subject: [Mabs] 2014 national convention Message-ID: hello, I apologize as you will probably see this more than once. The main expenses of the annual NFB convention are lodging, travel, and meals. I would like to know if someone would be interested in splitting the hotel cost for the week as this will probably force my decision to attend the convention. Various airlines will open their calendars to reservations past June 30th next week. There may be the chance of a $69 deal each way to Orlando but the tickets are non-refundable. I would appreciate hearing from a early 20's - early 40's non-smoking male at b.schulz at sbcglobal.net. thanks, Bryan Schulz From dsmithnfb at gmail.com Tue Jan 21 23:03:16 2014 From: dsmithnfb at gmail.com (Darian Smith) Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 15:03:16 -0800 Subject: [Mabs] Volunteers Needed for Washington Seminar Message-ID: <222DA63A-AA95-42E0-B344-9A8A124B20E0@gmail.com> Greetings fellow NABS-ters and future Washington seminarians! NABS is looking for folks who will be in DC on monday and would be willing to volunteer for events we have planned such as NABS Cafe. Should you be someone that fits this description, please contact candice Chapman at chapman.candicel at gmail.com. Thanks so much in advance for your help! regards, Darian Darian Smith 2nd Vice President, National Association of Blind Students dsmithnfb at gmail.com www.nabslink.org Follow the National Association of Blind Students on twitter: @nabslink > > Vehicle Donations Take the Blind Further > Donate your car to the National Federation of the Blind today! > For more information, please visit: www.carshelpingtheblind.org or call 1-855-659-9314