[nabs-l] Washington Seminar Question

[Vejas Vasiliauskas]

Thank you all so much for your answers.
I would be very interested in getting in touch with my members of 
Congress.  I just have a few more questions:
What are the main issues that we are trying to get across? I know 
that there is the one bill that people with disabilities should 
have equal minimum wage.  Is this the only issue we are bringing 
to our congresspeople, or is there something else?
My next question is: do you find that most Congresspeople fairly 
good at answering their e-mails? I know from attending the NFB 
Law Program as a teen that even when you talk to your 
congresspeople in person, they may just completely forget about 
the bill or ignore it and don't follow through, so I would 
imagine that follow-up with e-mail contact would be more 
difficult.
Thank you so much.
Vejas


 ----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 26 Dec 2015 13:28:23 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Washington Seminar Question

Hello Vejas,

I have never heard of any national or state conventions where you 
could
participate by phone before.  I know the national convention 
along with some
state affiliates will stream the convention online so other 
people can
listen.  But I have never seen people who are not at a convention 
be able to
participate and interact with specific events and activities at a
convention.  However, I do know some state affiliates as well as 
state
student divisions hold meetings via conference call, so perhaps 
this might
be what you are talking about when talking about people being 
able to
participate via phone.

I think the only way a person can participate in meetings with 
members of
Congress during Washington Seminar is by attending Washington 
Seminar.
However, there are still ways you can have an impact on the 
legislative
efforts that go on at Washington Seminar despite the fact you are 
not able
to attend Washington Seminar.

In years past when I have not been able to attend Washington 
Seminar, I
would write an email to my members of Congress shortly before 
other members
of the NFB would be meeting with them during Washington Seminar.  
In general,
there is usually a coordinator in each state affiliate who is in 
charge of
contacting members of Congress to set up the appointments for 
Washington
Seminar.  I am sure if you contact the coordinator for Washington 
Seminar in
your state they should be able to provide you with the names and 
contact
information for the people they will be meeting with during 
Washington
Seminar.

Contacting members of Congress before and after Washington 
Seminar is just
as important as meeting with members of Congress during 
Washington Seminar.
Sometimes it can take a lot of follow up to get a member of 
Congress on
board with our legislative efforts.  Following up with members of 
Congress
after Washington Seminar can be a rather tedious but rewarding 
job if it is
something you are interested in doing.

Anyway, I hope this helps answer your questions about Washington 
Seminar.
Attending Washington Seminar can sometimes be challenging for 
students.
Hopefully you will be able to attend Washington Seminar next year 
since you
are not able to attend this year.

Warm regards,
Elizabeth



-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
Vejas
Vasiliauskas via nabs-l
Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2015 12:26 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Vejas Vasiliauskas <alpineimagination at gmail.com
Subject: [nabs-l] Washington Seminar Question

Hi All,
I was very interested in going to the Washington Seminar in 
January, but I
now can't, due to reasons I do not wish to disclose on a public 
forum.
My question is this: I know that for the NFB conventions, if you 
couldn't
make it to meetings, you could still do it by phone.
Does anyone know if you could still have state appointments and 
meetings
with your affiliate by phone and still participate?
Thanks,
Vejas

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