[nabs-l] Washington Seminar Question

Vejas Vasiliauskas alpineimagination at gmail.com
Mon Dec 28 04:59:12 UTC 2015


When you wrote to your congresspeople, did you just simply copy 
the information from the fact sheets? Or did you paraphrase the 
information in your own words?
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: Sun, 27 Dec 2015 20:43:49 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Washington Seminar Question

Hello Vejas,

If I recall correctly, I believe the fact sheets for Washington 
Seminar are
usually posted sometime in mid-January.  There are usually 
several
announcements posted to email lists and Twitter accounts when the 
fact
sheets become available.  The fact sheets contain information you 
can use
when contacting members of Congress.

When I contacted my Congressional Representative using the 
contact form
located on his website, I received a response from someone in his 
office
indicating appreciation for my support for the legislative issues 
I
mentioned in my correspondence with them.  However, there are 
generally
address filters attached to these forms that only allow 
correspondence from
constituents, or people living in the Congressional district, to 
go through.

When I contacted members of Congress using the email addresses 
provided to
me by my state affiliate legislative coordinator, I generally did 
not
receive a response to my email.  However, I always used subject 
lines that
indicated support for a specific piece of legislation by 
mentioning the bill
number in the subject line.  So even when someone did not read or 
respond to
my email, they still knew why I was writing them.

If you prefer receiving feedback when contacting a member of 
Congress,
perhaps you could call their office instead.  The person you talk 
to on the
phone may not know much about the specific issue you are calling 
about, but
they can reassure you that the member of Congress will take note 
of your
support on any legislative issue.

One thing I thought of after posting my previous response to your 
email is
the use of Twitter.  Recently, I have seen an increase of the use 
of Twitter
in thanking members of Congress who support the legislative 
issues of the
NFB.  Additionally, I have also seen some state affiliates use 
Twitter to
thank members of Congress for meeting with them during Washington 
Seminar.
So this is something else you could do to help support the 
legislative
efforts of Washington Seminar if you are not able to be there in 
person.  I
am honestly not quite sure how effective using Twitter might 
actually be in
promoting legislative issues, but I would imagine every little 
action in
gaining support for the legislative  issues of the NFB would be 
helpful.

I hope this helps answers your questions.  However, I would be 
more than
happy to answer any additional questions you might have regarding 
Washington
Seminar.

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 8:50 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Vejas Vasiliauskas <alpineimagination at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Washington Seminar Question

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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