[nabs-l] Washington Seminar Question

Derek Manners dmanners at jd16.law.harvard.edu
Mon Dec 28 06:16:15 UTC 2015


Also, I interjected personal stories about myself or people I know who would be directly affected by the law. 

Best regards
Derek Manners

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 27, 2015, at 11:27 PM, justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Keep the facts straight, but do them in your own words; it should sound and
> be authentic.
> Justin
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vejas
> Vasiliauskas via nabs-l
> Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2015 11:59 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
> 
> 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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