[nabs-l] Washington Seminar Conference Call Follow Up

[Elizabeth]

Hello All,

It seemed as though several people had some trouble gaining access to 
tonight's membership conference call about Washington Seminar. Regardless if 
you experienced problems using the access number, or you simply forgot about 
the conference call altogether, here is what I recall taking place during 
the meeting.

Lauren McLarney, Government Program Specialist of the National Federation of 
the Blind, served as our special guest for this conference call. She began 
the call by giving us a brief overview about Washington Seminar, and 
highlighted the three issues we will be presenting to Congress this year. 
Issues for this year's Washington Seminar include the following:

1.	The Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2011 (H.R. 3086)

2.	The Home Appliance Accessibility Act (HAAA)

3.	The Americans with Disabilities Business Opportunity Act (ADBOA)

If you would like to learn more about these issues, I suggest reading over 
the fact sheets that have been distributed on the general mass email list, 
and have been posted on the national website under the section about 
Washington Seminar.

Lauren was then asked to provide information about how Washington Seminar 
works, and the Great Gathering In meeting. She explained that each morning 
of Washington Seminar, she sits down with her colleagues from the 
governmental affairs office, and goes over the information that people bring 
in to the Mercury room. For those who may not know, the Mercury room is 
where people report what took place during their meeting with their member 
of Congress using a ratings scale. This information is then used to help 
prioritize the actions taken by the governmental affairs office.

Lauren explained that sometimes a member of the governmental affairs office 
might tag along on a meeting with members of the state affiliates. She 
explained that this is not because the governmental affairs team believes 
that affiliate members are not confident enough to present the issues to the 
member of Congress, but rather because they may feel as though this meeting 
is important, and would like to be able to follow up with this member of 
Congress after Washington Seminar concludes.

The Great Gathering In meeting will take place this year on Monday, February 
6, 2012 at 5:00 pm in the Columbia Ballroom. I suggest you get to the room 
early as seats generally fill up quickly. Lauren said this is her favorite 
night of the year since it is where everyone gets to hear about the 
legislative issues we will be discussing with members of Congress. Sometimes 
there are also special guest speakers from outside the organization who come 
and speak to us as well.

Meetings with members of Congress then take place from Tuesday through 
Thursday depending on how each state affiliate schedule these meetings. If 
you have any questions about how your specific state affiliate schedules 
their meetings, I would encourage you to contact your state affiliate 
President. Your chapter President may be able to give you this information 
as well.

Lauren then spoke about how students can get involved even though they may 
not be able to attend Washington Seminar. She explained that meeting with 
members of Congress is only the first step in advocating for our legislative 
issues. The real work continues after Washington Seminar as members of state 
affiliates continue to contact their member of Congress to follow up with 
the meeting that took place during Washington Seminar. The way our 
legislative issues pass is not simply done by meeting with members of 
Congress during Washington Seminar, but through continued constant follow up 
throughout the rest of the year by general members of the organization.

Please note this is simply a summary of what I recall taking place during 
the conference call. Anyone is free to correct me if they believe any part 
of this summary of the conference call is incorrect. I just simply wanted to 
make sure everyone could receive this information regardless of whether or 
not they were able to attend or access the conference call. Hopefully this 
summary proves to be helpful to those who were not able to join the 
conference call.

Elizabeth