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<h1><b>President's Notebook</b></h1><br><br>
<br>
<h1><b>National Federation of the Blind</b></h1><br><br>
<br>
<h1><b>Mark A. Riccobono</b></h1><br><br>
<br>
<h1><b><a href="mailto:officeofthepresident@nfb.org">
officeofthepresident@nfb.org</a></b></h1><br><br>
<br>
<h1><b>(410) 659-9314</b></h1><br><br>
<br>
Dear Fellow Federationists,<br>
<br>
Happy Meet the Blind Month. I have been on the road for the Federation
much of the past ten days. It is good to be back in Baltimore for a
little while. There is a lot of exciting Federation work underway,
including planning for the future. <br>
<br>
Prior to the 2017 Washington Seminar, we will plan to have a meeting for
all affiliate presidents at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan
Institute. This means that affiliate presidents should expect to be in
Baltimore prior to their time in Washington. It also means that we will
not have a legislative directors' seminar at our national office in 2017.
More details regarding the meeting of affiliate presidents will be coming
soon. For the sake of your calendar, you should plan to be in Baltimore
on the evenings of January 28 and 29. <br>
<br>
I hope that all of our Federation family members who were in the path of
Hurricane Matthew are safe and have not been adversely impacted. <br>
<br><br>
<h2><b>News:</b></h2><br><br>
Presidential Release:<br>
The October Presidential Release is available at
<a href="https://nfb.org/images/nfb/audio/pr/pr454.mp3">
https://nfb.org/images/nfb/audio/pr/pr454.mp3</a>. <br>
<br>
FBB Blog Post:<br>
As you are all aware, the Foundation Fighting Blindness recently
announced the end of the first phase of their campaign that includes the
#HowEyeSeeIt video campaign. My most recent blog post,
<a href="https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/progress-through-telling-our-stories-truth-about-blindness-makes-difference">
https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/progress-through-telling-our-stories-truth-about-blindness-makes-difference</a>
, was written in response to their announcement.<br>
<br>
Videos from Marrakesh:<br>
Last week, leaders of the Federation participated in the first Marrakesh
assembly in Geneva. I was there with Fred Schroeder and Scott LaBarre.
Below are links to videos that Fred and I recorded for the assembly:<br>
Tweet and link to my video:
<a href="https://twitter.com/WIPO/status/781162888841003009">
https://twitter.com/WIPO/status/781162888841003009</a><br>
Tweet and link to Fred Schroeder's video:
<a href="https://twitter.com/WIPO/status/781087345399492609">
https://twitter.com/WIPO/status/781087345399492609</a><br>
<br>
Target Agreement:<br>
Also, last week we announced that Target Corp. is the first company to
<a href="https://corporate.target.com/article/2016/09/accessibility-team?">
participate</a> in the NFB's new
<a href="https://nfb.org/national-federation-blind-strategic-nonvisual-access-partner-certification">
Strategic Nonvisual Accessibility Partnership</a> (SNAP) initiative. The
goal of the SNAP program is to increase the accessibility of technology
by developing productive ongoing partnerships with organizations in an
effort to assist them with infusing accessibility into their
culture.<br>
<br>
Video:<br>
The Spanish version of the HAVA video is available on our YouTube channel
at
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxlwGbw-CHs">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxlwGbw-CHs</a>.<br>
<br><br>
<h2><b>Requests:</b></h2><br><br>
Recipes for the <i>Braille Monitor</i> Needed:<br>
Gary Wunder would like you to send him your favorite holiday recipes, not
only things that you do for the holidays but party recipes that you would
use for New Year's. Please send it to
<a href="mailto:gwunder@nfb.org">gwunder@nfb.org</a> by November 1. <br>
<br><br>
<h2><b>Dates to Keep in Mind:</b></h2><br><br>
·
<a href="https://nfb.org/state-conventions">Fall Conventions</a><br>
· October 20-23: NFB BELL
Academy Training Seminar (Novice/Intermediate) in Baltimore,
Maryland<br>
· January 30, 2017: Great
Gathering-In <br>
· January 30-February 2, 2017:
<a href="https://nfb.org/washington-seminar">Washington Seminar</a><br>
· March 30-31, 2017: Jacobus
tenBroek Law Symposium<br>
· July 21-29, 2017: Youth
Slam, Towson University<br>
· September 12-17, 2017:
BLAST, Nashville, Tennessee<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<br>
Mark A. Riccobono, President<br>
National Federation of the Blind<br>
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place<br>
Baltimore, Maryland 21230<br>
Phone: (410) 659-9314<br>
Fax: (410) 659-5129<br>
Email:
<a href="mailto:officeofthepresident@nfb.org">
officeofthepresident@nfb.org</a><br>
Twitter: @Riccobono and @NFB_Voice<br>
Web: <a href="http://www.nfb.org/">www.nfb.org</a><br>
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