[Mn-at-large] Minnesota NFB Update

David Andrews dandrews at visi.com
Mon Apr 3 00:01:19 UTC 2017 

>
>Dear Minnesota Federationists:
>
>Much great news and activity since the last 
>update. I am placing the "to-do" items first, 
>but following that is background on some of these items.
>If you have any items to be included in future 
>updates, please send them along.
>
>
>
>To-Do List (AKA Things You Can Do To Help)
>
>
>
>
>☐ Call both Senators Al Franken (202-224-5641) 
>and Amy Klobuchar (202-224-3244 ) and ask them 
>to cosponsor S. 732, the Access Technology Affordability Act.
>
>☐ Call your Congressman or Congresswoman and 
>ask him or her to cosponsor these three bills: 
>the AIM HIGH Act (H.R. 1772), the Access 
>Technology Affordability Act (H.R. 1734), and 
>the TIME Act (H.R. 1377). If you aren't sure who 
>your representative is, find the name and 
>contact information by entering your zip code at 
><http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/>http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/. 
>If you'd prefer, the number to the Capitol 
>Switchboard is 202-224-3121; from there, the operator can transfer you.
>
>☐ Read the April issue of our national monthly 
>flagship publication, The Braille Monitor: 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm17/bm1704/bm1704tc.htm>https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm17/bm1704/bm1704tc.htm 
>
>
>☐ Check out the Winter 2017 issue of Future 
>Reflections, our magazine for parents of blind 
>children (interesting and informative for 
>non-parents, too): 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr36/1/fr3601tc.htm>https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr36/1/fr3601tc.htm
>
>☐ Students, there is still time to apply for a 
>state scholarship from the National Federation 
>of the Blind of Minnesota. Everyone else, please 
>help us let any and all eligible students know 
>about the program: 
><http://www.nfbmn.org/students/scholarship.htm>http://www.nfbmn.org/students/scholarship.htm
>
>☐ Please continue to help spread the word 
>about the 2017 Possibilities Fair for Seniors 
>which will be held in Mankato on April 19. 
>Details and a registration form are at 
><http://www.nfbmn.org/fair/index.htm>http://www.nfbmn.org/fair/index.htm
>
>☐ Make your hotel reservations and preregister 
>for the national convention in Orlando—the 
>deadline to get the lower registration price is 
>May 31): <https://nfb.org/convention>https://nfb.org/convention.
>
>
>
>News:
>
>
>
>
>• The Accessible Instructional Materials in 
>Higher Education Act, also known as “AIM 
>HIGH”, H.R. 1772,  has been introduced in the 
>House by Congressman Phil Roe (R-TN) and 
>Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT). It will promote 
>instructional technology and content that are 
>accessible to the blind and other students with 
>print disabilities. Representatives Keith 
>Ellison, Collin Peterson, and Rick Nolan should 
>be reminded of their previous co-sponsorship of 
>a previous iteration of this legislation (when it was called the TEACH Act).
>
>• The Access Technology Affordability Act of 
>2017 (ATAA) H.R. 1734 and S. 732: These 
>companion bills were introduced by 
>Representatives David Young (R-IA) and Lucille 
>Roybal-Allard (D-CA) in the House and by 
>Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Benjamin L. 
>Cardin (D-MD) in the Senate on March 28, 2017. 
>This legislation will establish a per-person 
>individual refundable tax credit to be used over 
>a multi-year period to offset the cost of access technology for blind people.
>
>• The Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful 
>Employment (TIME) Act of 2017 (H.R. 1377): This 
>was introduced by Representative Gregg Harper 
>(R-MS) to remove barriers to employment 
>opportunities for people with disabilities by 
>phasing out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor 
>Standards Act and facilitating the transitioning 
>of people with disabilities now working in 
>segregated employment settings into competitive 
>employment opportunities in their communities. 
>Representative Keith Ellison had been one of the 
>original co-sponsors of a previous iteration of this legislation.
>
>☑ The Minnesota Association of Blind Students 
>held its "No Joke Student Seminar" on April 1. 
>In attendance was a great mix of energetic high 
>school and college students, and the agenda kept 
>everyone on their toes with loads of good 
>information, discussion, moving around, and 
>great take-aways! Kudos to the MABS board, and 
>we look forward to working with the new 
>Federationists who joined us at the seminar.
>
>• More on this in a separate email, but the 
>current Minnesota State Senate budget proposal 
>includes a decrease to the appropriation for SSB 
>after the year 2019--it would basically undo the 
>work that was done last year to address the very 
>real and growing need for 
>adjustment-to-blindness services to seniors 
>losing vision. The house proposal does some 
>tinkering as well. We need to make sure that our 
>Minnesota senators (and all legislators) 
>understand that the number of seniors who will 
>need services to stay independent when losing 
>vision will *increase* from now to 2019 and 
>afterward, not decrease, and that the state must 
>continue to make that investment or else be 
>paying much more later if people cannot maintain their independence.
>
>• Speaking of seniors, at the recent CSUN 
>technology conference, the NFB made a 
>presentation on phones for blind seniors. Here 
>is some brief information along with the 
>PowerPoint of the presentation.: 
><https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/national-federation-blind-reviews-phones-low-vision-and-blind-seniors>https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/national-federation-blind-reviews-phones-low-vision-and-blind-seniors
>
>
>
>Important Dates Coming Up Soon:
>
>
>
>
>• Thursday, April 13: Meeting of State 
>Rehabilitation Council for the Blind 
><http://mn.gov/deed/job-seekers/blind-visual-impaired/council/>http://mn.gov/deed/job-seekers/blind-visual-impaired/council/
>• Saturday, April 15: Deadline for NFB of 
>Minnesota state scholarship applications 
><http://www.nfbmn.org/students/scholarship.htm>http://www.nfbmn.org/students/scholarship.htm
>• Saturday, April 15: Deadline for applications 
>to BLIND Inc. summer programs for children and 
>youth 
><https://www.blindinc.org/programs/transition-program/prep-program/>https://www.blindinc.org/programs/transition-program/prep-program/Â 
>and 
><https://www.blindinc.org/programs/transition-program/buddy-program/>https://www.blindinc.org/programs/transition-program/buddy-program/
>• Wednesday, April 19: Possibilities fair for 
>Seniors in Mankato 
><http://www.nfbmn.org/fair/index.htm>www.nfbmn.org/fair/index.htm
>• Saturday, April 22, 9:00 AM: Next meeting of 
>Board of Directors of BLIND, Inc. <http://www.blindinc.org/>www.blindinc.org/
>
>
>
>Other dates to remember:
>
>
>
>• Monday, May 7: Application deadline for the 
>2017 NFB Youth Slam! 
><http://blindscience.org/nfb-youth-slam>http://blindscience.org/nfb-youth-slam
>• Saturday, May 20: Semiannual Convention 
>(pre-registration and other details available soon)
>• May 31: Deadline to pre-register for National 
>Convention: 
><http://lx-web.nfb.org/convention/preregistration.php>http://lx-web.nfb.org/convention/preregistration.php.
>• Saturday, June 3: Next board meeting of NFB of Minnesota in Rochester
>• Monday July 10-Saturday July 15: 2017 National Convention in Orlando
>
>The National Federation of the Blind knows that 
>blindness is not the characteristic that defines 
>you or your future. Every day we raise the 
>expectations of blind people, because low 
>expectations create obstacles between blind 
>people and our dreams. You can live the life you 
>want; blindness is not what holds you back
>
><http://www.nfbmn.org>http://www.nfbmn.org
>
>Twitter: <http://www.twitter.com/nfbmn>http://www.twitter.com/nfbmn
>
>YouTube channel: 
><http://www.youtube.com/nationsblind>http://www.youtube.com/nationsblind
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