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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>
<br>
Dear Fellow Federationists,<br>
<br>
In three weeks we will be together in Orlando. I hope you are as
energized as I am about our upcoming family reunion. There are a few
things to get done before we get to our national convention.<br>
<br>
I am aware that many affiliates of the National Federation of the Blind
have received a message from Sharla Glass
(<a href="sglass@envisionamerica.htm">sglass@envisionamerica.com</a>)
with a subject line of: Can we get your endorsement for Medication Safety
for the Blind Awareness Week?<br>
<br>
A number of you have thoughtfully written to me asking if this is an
effort the Federation endorses. Our communications team is planning to
put together some suggested social media engagement. We do not recommend
that affiliates sign on as a sponsor of this project. Please allow us to
coordinate at the national level. Most importantly, we want to make sure
we are promoting the broad area of access to prescription information
that is consistent with our messaging rather than promoting any
particular product.<br>
<br>
I have written to first-time delegates to the convention inviting them to
a conference call next week. If we missed you by mistake, please drop me
a note so we can send you the calendar invite.<br>
<br>
All convention delegates should be on the watch for another message
coming soon regarding business on the convention floor.<br>
<br><br>
<h2><b>Critical Actions This Week:</b></h2><br><br>
Legislative Alert:<br>
H.R. 620, the ADA Education and Reform Act, will be voted on in committee
(referred to as markup) over the next week or two. If passed, this
legislation will dramatically weaken the ADA, hindering education,
employment, and community participation for all people with disabilities.
The bill prevents people with disabilities from filing a lawsuit
regarding an ADA violation until the person first notifies the violator.
The violator then has 60 days to respond and then has another 120 days to
remedy the problem, for a total delay of 180 days.<br><br>
Does it make sense to wait 180 days for accessible instructional
material? By then, the class will be over. How about waiting 180 days for
an accessible job application? By then the job will be filled. How about
waiting 180 days at the doctor’s office for an accessible check-in
kiosk? Furthermore, this legislation will do nothing to stop so-called
frivolous lawsuits, which will still be valid under state law. Businesses
do not need more time to comply with the ADA—they have had twenty-seven
years already.<br>
<br>
Please call your representative and urge them to oppose H.R. 620, the ADA
Education and Reform Act. And if your representative has not cosponsored
one of our other three bills, also urge them to do so. Congress will be
back in session for the next two weeks but please try to make your calls
and send your emails by Friday, June 22. A short summary of each bill is
included below. I have also included a list of all the current
cosponsors. The best way to contact your member of Congress is to call
the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for the office in
question. Emailing your member of Congress is also a good idea. If you do
so, please copy <a href="mailto:JPare@nfb.org">JPare@nfb.org</a>. <br>
<br>
It is critical that we shut down H.R. 620. In addition, we are hoping to
significantly raise the number of cosponsors on all of our bills before
convention but we cannot do it without everyone working together. Your
calls and emails make a big difference. <br><br>
<br><br>
<h2><b>News:</b></h2><br><br>
Click-to-Give Campaign:<br>
Our Imagination Fund Committee is pleased to announce a Click-to-Give
campaign that we will kick off at our national convention. Click-to-Give
allows anyone to make a donation to the National Federation of the Blind.
This is an opportunity for us to identify those individuals who are not
members of the organization but want to support the good work that we do.
We need your help identifying individuals in your extended network of
family, friends, colleagues, and service providers. Their gift will
assist a newly blinded person with independent travel through our Free
White Cane Program, help a child to learn to read through our Braille
Reading Pals Club, assist blind veterans to regain their independence,
and so much more. How you can help: please take the time to share the
names and email addresses of potential supporters by visiting
<a href="https://nfb.org/give2017">https://nfb.org/give2017</a>. When the
campaign starts, we will send an email inviting all of these individuals
to share in the great things we do every day to help blind people live
the lives we want. <br>
<br>
New Exhibit on tenBroek Now Available:<br>
The tenBroek Library is pleased to announce that a new digital exhibit on
the life and work of our founder, Jacobus tenBroek, is now available
online through Digital Maryland, part of the Digital Public Library of
America. This exhibit mainly focuses upon Dr. tenBroek's life outside of
his work with the NFB and the organized blind movement, including his
post-secondary education, initial struggles to find work as a blind man,
teaching career, family life, and research projects. These specially
selected records span the years 1938-1967 and provide a unique glimpse at
his personality, sense of humor, and intelligence. Some materials also
touch on the events of the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in the
mid-1960s. Each document has been scanned, transcribed, and rendered as
plain text to ensure accessibility. The exhibit is available online at
<a href="http://collections.digitalmaryland.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/nfjt">
http://collections.digitalmaryland.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/nfjt</a>
. If you have any questions or experience problems trying to access the
exhibit, please contact Anna Kresmer at
<a href="mailto:akresmer@nfb.org">akresmer@nfb.org</a> or (410) 659-9314,
extension 2310. <br>
<br>
<br><br>
<h2><b>Dates to Keep in Mind:</b></h2><br><br>
· July 10-15, 2017:
<a href="https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm16/bm1611/bm161101.htm">
National Convention, Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Orlando,
Florida</a><br>
· July 23-29, 2017:
<a href="http://www.blindscience.org/nfb-youth-slam">Youth Slam</a>,
Towson University<br>
· September 12-17, 2017:
<a href="http://blindmerchants.org/blast-2017/">BLAST</a>, 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>
Mark A. Riccobono<br>
President<br>
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230<br>
(410) 659-9314 |
<a href="mailto:officeofthepresident@nfb.org">
officeofthepresident@nfb.org</a> <br>
<br>
<br>
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<br>
The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and
friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind.
Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.
<br>
<br><br>
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