[Mn-at-large] Fwd: NFB President’s Notebook - week of 01/ 16/2017

Tue Jan 17 01:14:52 UTC 2017

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>President's Notebook
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>National Federation of the Blind
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>Mark A. Riccobono
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><mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>officeofthepresident at nfb.org
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>(410) 659-9314
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>Dear Fellow Federationists,
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>Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Knowing that 
>each of you are likely undertaking Federation 
>work of one kind or another today, it is 
>appropriate to salute our civil rights 
>leaders—from all secttors—and the leadership 
>lessons we can take away from their service and 
>dedication. I have sometimes wondered what a 
>meeting between Dr. Jernigan and Dr. King might 
>have been like. While Dr. Jernigan had the 
>opportunity to be influenced by Dr. King's work, 
>to our knowledge, the reverse did not happen. 
>However, today more and more of the leaders of 
>the Federation are making an impact on other 
>civil rights movements by sharing the Federation 
>philosophy with those movements. Our recent work 
>to expand the diversity in the law through our 
>tenBroek Law Symposium is just one of the many 
>examples that exist. It is up to us to also take 
>the knowledge and innovations of those movements 
>and apply them to our unique struggle for first-class status.
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>A special thank you goes out to Garrick Scott 
>who completed his service as president of our 
>Georgia affiliate this past weekend. We thank 
>Garrick for his many years of leading our 
>affiliate and the many years of service we know 
>he has ahead of him. Garrick has successfully 
>passed the torch to our newest affiliate president, Greg Aikens.
>Congratulations to Greg who we will look forward 
>to getting to know at our upcoming retreat.
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>Speaking of the affiliate president retreat, you 
>can expect to receive a logistics email later 
>today. I did not want to send it as part of the 
>notebook knowing that it might get lost in the other announcements.
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>On this day of service and in honor of Dr. 
>King's legacy, I leave you with one of Dr. 
>King's quotes that I believe is a description of 
>the leaders of the Federation. I thank each of 
>you for your work and dedication. "Human 
>progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. 
>Every step toward the goal of justice requires 
>sacrifice, suffering, and struggle: the tireless 
>exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."
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>Critical Actions This Week:
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>Feedback Regarding Social Security Administration Forms:
>Though we continue to push the Social Security 
>Administration toward accessibility, many SSA 
>office intake-processing forms remain 
>inaccessible to the blind. At this time we are 
>in need of NFB member stories regarding SSAâ€™s 
>inaccessible forms. If you have encountered 
>either this year, please contact Valerie 
>Yingling at (410) 659-9314, extension 2440, to share your experiences.
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>News:
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>Section 508 Refresh Regs:
>Last week, new technical standards were 
>published to bring information and communication 
>technology (ICT) into compliance with Section 
>508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which 
>requires government agencies and contractors to 
>make their electronic information and technology 
>accessible to the blind and others with disabilities.
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>Law Symposium Registration Open:
><https://nfb.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&action=preview&id=60>Registration 
>is now open for the 2017 Jacobus tenBroek 
>Disability Law Symposium to be held March 30-31, 
>2017. For additional information, contact Lou 
>Ann Blake at 
><mailto:lblake at nfb.org>lblake at nfb.org or (410) 659-9314, extension 2221.
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>eBooks and EPUB Accessibility Event:
>We will be hosting an eBooks and EPUB 
>accessibility event on Thursday, March 23, 2017. 
>With the rapid adoption of EPUB 3, this event 
>will look at creating and implementing 
>accessible EPUB 3 in a variety of different settings.
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>January Monitor:
>The January issue of the Braille Monitor is now 
>available on the 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm17/bm1701/bm1701tc.htm>website.
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>Onkyo Braille Essay Contest Winners:
>Last week we announced the winners of the 2016 
>Onkyo Braille Essay Contest. The NFB 
>administered the Onkyo Braille Essay Contest on 
>behalf of the North America/Caribbean Region of 
>the World Blind Union. The essay contest, 
>sponsored by Onkyo Corporation, a Japanese 
>consumer electronics manufacturer, and the 
>Braille Mainichi, part of the Mainichi Newspaper 
>Company in Japan, was created to promote Braille 
>literacy and to encourage the sharing of social 
>and cultural information among blind and visually impaired persons.
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>Did You Know?
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>Affiliate Guide to Records Management
>The Jacobus tenBroek Library has released a 
>guide to assist state affiliate and national 
>division leaders who are considering sending 
>their records to the archives. Structured as an 
>FAQ, this document provides easy answers to the 
>most common questions concerning evaluating and 
>preparing your files for submission to the 
>archives. The guide is available online at 
><http://nfb.org/archive-faqs>http://nfb.org/archive-faqs. 
>For additional assistance, please contact Anna 
>Kresmer at 
><mailto:akresmer at nfb.org>akresmer at nfb.org or (410) 659-9314, extension 2310.
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>Dates to Keep in Mind:
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>Â·        January 30, 2017: Great Gathering-In
>Â·        January 30-February 2, 2017: 
><https://nfb.org/washington-seminar>Washington Seminar
>Â·        March 23, 2017: 
><https://nfb.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6317&qid=1522699>eBooks 
>and EPUB accessibility event
>Â·        March 30-31, 2017: Jacobus tenBroek Law Symposium
>Â·        March 31, 2017: Deadline for 
><http://www.nfb.org/scholarships>scholarship applications
>Â·        April 15, 2017: Deadline for 
><https://nfb.org/bolotin-award-main>Jacob Bolotin Award applications
>Â·        July 10-15, 2017: 
><https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm16/bm1611/bm161101.htm>National 
>Convention, Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Orlando, Florida
>Â·        July 21-29, 2017: 
><http://www.blindscience.org/nfb-youth-slam>Youth Slam, Towson University
>Â·        September 12-17, 2017: 
><http://blindmerchants.org/blast-2017/>BLAST, Nashville, Tennessee
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>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.
>
>Mark A. Riccobono
>President
>200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
>(410) 659-9314 | 
><mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>officeofthepresident at nfb.org
>
>
><https://nfb.org/>
>National Federation of the Blind
>
>
> 
><http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>
>Facebook
>     <https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>
>Twitter
>     <https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind>
>Youtube
>
>
>The National Federation of the Blind is a 
>community of members and friends who believe in 
>the hopes and dreams of the nationâ€™s blind. 
>Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.
>
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