[Nd-talk] Notes from Presidential Notebook 8/7/2018

[Milton Ota]

Congratulations to Ron Brown and the Indianapolis Thunder for their third
World Series championship title in a row!

 

FOR INFORMATION ONLY:

The Secret Is Out:
On July 26, the United States AbilityOne Commission announced that the
American Foundation for the Blind was being appointed as a central nonprofit
under the program. This action was taken completely under cover without
public comment and without any disclosure even to the other central
nonprofits. Read my yet-to-be-answered letter to the AbilityOne Commission
<https://nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/pdf/ballard_third_cna_designation_0803
2018.pdf>  challenging the lack of consultation with the organized blind
movement.

 


News:


Share the Love:
The National Federation of the Blind is partnering with Kellogg's Rice
Krispies Treats to create Braille and audio "Love Notes" so parents can
share messages of love and encouragement with blind children. The Love Notes
are an accessible version of the writable wrapper on Rice Krispies Treats,
which allows parents to include messages in their children's lunch boxes.
The new, accessible Love Notes are available in two forms: Braille stickers
and re-recordable audio boxes. The Braille stickers are heart shaped to
match the space on Rice Krispies Treats writable wrappers for written notes.
Each Braille sticker sheet includes eight uplifting messages for parents to
share with their children, such as "you've got this" and "love you lots."
The re-recordable audio box holds a Rice Krispies Treat and, when opened,
plays a ten-second, pre-recorded message. The audio box messages can be
re-recorded over a thousand times. A video has been produced to promote this
partnership, featuring two of our members, Eme and Tabby Mitchell. The plan
is to distribute over 6,000 sheets of Braille stickers and co-branded
NFB/Kellogg's Rice Krispy Treats alphabet cards, as well as over 1,500
re-recordable audio boxes. A print/Braille welcome letter will go out in
every delivery to reinforce the importance of Braille and ensure everyone
gets the same welcome. The National Federation of the Blind will be
prominently featured on the website about this program, including a link to
subscribe to our Imagineering Our Future newsletter. Our participation in
this initiative reflects our commitment to helping parents raise blind
children who are prepared to be confident, happy, and productive members of
society, as well as our emphasis on Braille literacy and accessibility. 

 

To check out the website and order Love Notes for your child, visit
ricekrispies.com/lovenotes
<https://www.ricekrispies.com/en_US/love-notes.html> .

 

AV START Act: 
I had an op-ed published in
<http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/399503-the-senate-must-ac
t-legislation-so-americans-can-reap-the> The Hill last week supporting the
AV START Act and urging the Senate to act on it. Neil Romano, chairman of
the National Council on Disability and speaker at this year's convention,
had an opinion piece in
<http://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/399752-its-time-for-people-with-dis
abilities-to-get-paid-their-fair-share> The Hill later in the week. 

 

Advocacy Update:
On the legislative front, we continue to gain momentum on the Access
Technology Affordability Act. We are up to eighty cosponsors in the House of
Representatives, and ten cosponsors in the Senate. In addition, we know that
the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) is actively working to estimate the
annual cost of the bill, more colloquially referred to in Congress as the
bill's "score."  Getting the JCT to officially score the bill is a
significant accomplishment on our part. We need you to build upon this
momentum by calling or emailing your senators and representatives in order
to obtain as many cosponsors as possible. Our Advocacy and Policy team will
be distributing more information on this topic later this week.

 


Dates to Keep in Mind:


*	October 11-12, 2018: Tactile Graphics Symposium

This program is to be held at the Jernigan Institute and if you are
interested in attending this seminar, let me know and I'll see if there is
funding available for airfare and lodging available at the Jernigan
Institute.

 

 

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