[MD-AtLarge] Meeting Reminder and Minutes

[nfbmd]

Hello all,

 

The next meeting of the At-Large chapter will be on Tuesday, March 15.
Remember the National President's message begins at 7:30 and the meeting
begins at 8. For your convenience, the calling number is 641-715-3272. The
access code is 720125. Please read the minutes below. We look forward to
hearing the new activity that you tried. 

 

Talk to you on March 15, 

 

Sharon Maneki, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

410-715-9596

 

Minutes for the At large chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland

Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2016

 

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 P.M. via conference call by
Marguerite Woods. There were around 15 people on the call. 

 

Several federationists recently went to Annapolis to discuss issues
important to the federation, and a piece about the endeavor will be featured
on MPT. There will be more about this in Sharon's monthly email message.

 

The bill regarding rights of blind parents in custody disputes will be
looked at in March. Sharon will provide more information about contacting
legislators to support this bill.

 

Sharon announced that there are some decisions coming up concerning the
library for the blind and invited us to contact legislators on the library's
behalf. The decisions will involve adding more staff members and cutting
money from the budget for the library. Contact information for legislators
and the time to contact them will be in Sharon's monthly email message and
will be sent out by robocall for those who do not have email. Anyone needing
this information can also contact Marguerite. We discussed how adding staff
to the library is important because many people are leaving for various
reasons, and patrons are not always getting the materials they need on time.

 

There is a conference call the first Thursday of each month for those who
have diabetes. The number is the same as the one for our calls. Sharon said
even people who have had the condition for a long time are learning things,
so it is a great resource.

 

Anyone who hasn't paid dues yet to the chapter should do so. They are $5 and
can be sent to Sharon or paid through PayPal at nfbmd.org.

 

Tickets will be available for a raffle that will take place throughout the
month of May. Tickets are $5 each. Winners will receive $50 for winning
Sunday through Friday and $100 for winning on Saturday.

 

We were updated on the case involving Yasmin, who sewed Montgomery County
with the help of the NFB for not providing her with accessible software to
enable her to do her job. The case is currently in federal court in
Greenbelt. Sharon said she will announce when closing arguments will be so
people can go and show their support.

 

We were joined on the call by two guest speakers from Vanda Pharmaceuticals
to discuss the disorder Non-24. It is a rare disorder that can affect people
who do not have light perception and causes them to have weird sleep
schedules because the clock in their brain does not stay aligned with the
24-hour day. Non-24 is a circadian rhythm disorder; circadian meaning
"around a day" or "24 hours". It was explained that most people's brains
actually run on a clock that is not quite 24 hours, but the brain knows to
reset itself from the presence of light. However, this does not happen in
those without light perception. Many physicians are not familiar with the
disorder. There is medication available for those who have Non-24, and
anyone wanting more information on it should talk to their doctor or call
Vanda. Suggestions were given for improving sleep which can be used for
anyone regardless of whether they have the disorder, including keeping the
room temperature low, taking a warm bath, relaxing before bed, not having
noise or lights from televisions or other electronics, and using a steady
noise such as a fan. Anyone wishing to contact Vanda Pharmaceuticals about
Non-24 should call Roya at 240-428-6717.

 

Sandra gave us some information on the Marrakesh Treaty, which first came
about in 2009 and was updated in 2013. It increases the availability of
copyrighted Braille and electronic materials across different countries.
President Obama has ordered congress to approve it.

 

Sharon told us about a big case the NFB recently won in Maryland involving
absentee ballots. She explained that ballots have been available online for
people to vote who are overseas in the military, and the NFB said these
should also be available to those who are blind. This will now be the case,
and those who are blind will now be able to access a ballot online and vote
independently beginning with Maryland's primary election in April. The
ballot will have to be printed and mailed.

 

BISM will hold an IPhone workshop at the library on March 9. It will be all
day and includes lunch. Anyone interested should register with Sabrina
Richardson at BISM.

 

There was also a reminder about the workshop on Unified English Braille, or
UEB, at the library on April 9 at 12:00 P.M.

 

There was a discussion about dating and how it is affected by vision loss.
It was said that the other person must be willing to accept you for you. It
was agreed that people should try to continue the activities they always
participated in before they lost their sight, and churches and other social
activities are good for meeting new people. It was discussed how things like
looks can be challenging because you want to make sure the person you are
with looks nice, but it can be awkward to ask. It was pointed out that you
learn a lot about someone the more time you spend with them, and you can use
things like listening to them talk or walk, smells, and other cues to pick
up information about them. Marguerite said that being more confident in
herself and her blindness skills has made things easier, but she still has
questions at times. Sharon shared a story about being afraid to go out with
a sighted guy because she didn't want to have to ask where the restroom was
but finally decided he used it too and said we need to get over such things.

 

Many activities were named during our dating conversation, and Sharon
suggested we try a new activity and report how things went to the chapter.

 

The meeting ended at 9:00 P.M.

 

Submitted by Danielle Shives

 

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