[nabs-l] Washington Seminar Conference Call Follow Up

[Ashley Bramlett]

nice summary and sounds like a great washington seminar planned

-----Original Message----- 
From: Elizabeth
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 11:14 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: [nabs-l] Washington Seminar Conference Call Follow Up

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



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