[NFB-Seniors] Nebraska Senior Division May Meeting - May 11th - Special Guest, President of the NFB Krafters' Division

Fri May 1 17:00:59 UTC 2020

Hi You All 

RE: Our May meeting is on Monday, the 11th! We do have a special guest

Non-members are welcome

Topic: National Federation of the Blind

Krafters’ Division

This Division was established in 2008 by Joyce Kane and a group of
blind/visually impaired crafters.  Over the years the Division’s goal is to
share the love of crafts with other blind/visually impaired people
interested in learning anew craft or learning how to continue those crafts
enjoyed before vision loss.  The teachers are blind/visually impaired and
have learned or developed techniques that allow us to continue enjoying
crafts.

Here are a few of the classes that have been taught: crochet, knitting, loom
knitting, origami, plastic canvas, macramé bracelets, cleaning with
essential oils, etc.

Website: www.krafterskorner.org

You can check here to learn about classes, our listserv and becoming a
member($20/year).

For more information you can contact

Tammy Freitag, President

H: 402-904-5105

Email: krafters.division.president at gmail.com

***A bit about Tammy***

I have dealt with vision problems all of my life but was introduced to
crochet as a teenager.  I fell in love with all of the beautiful skenes of
yarn that my neighbor had lovingly made into Granny Squares.

I remember sitting in her floor as she patiently spent time teaching me the
basics. My Grandmother worked with me as well.  Over the years I have made a
few items but have really grown my skills now that I have retired and gotten
involved in the NFB Krafters’ Division.

In that time between learning and growing my crochet skills, I have spent my
life teaching at Church, in Schools, at Adult Training Centers and now with
the NFB Krafters’ Division. With a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in hand, I
spent 17 years teaching in Special Ed classrooms. I transitioned into the
Rehabilitation System where I taught a variety of skills from how to cut up
a whole chicken to crossing streets. Now in retirement because of health
issues, I continue to love learning new craft skills and sharing the ones I
know. I became Division President in 2018.

Outside of the Krafters’ Division, I spend much time working on committees
at my church and with the 21st Century Lions Club here in Nebraska. I am
also serving as a Board member of my local NFB chapter.

Keeping busy is a welcome thing.

Contents of this message:

*When and how to get on the call

*Agenda; Minutes and Treasurer’s; March and April  

*The NFB Pledge 

*#1 When and How to Get On the Call:

Date: May 11th

Time: 6:00 Mountain; 7:00 Central

Phone#: 1-712-451-0011

Access Code: 345154Pound

*#2 Agenda:

-First- Come to order, introductions, say our NFB pledge

-Second- Our special guest presents!

third- Secretary & Treasurers Reports

--OLD BUSINESS: 

-Membership- do make calls to past members who have not joined us during
recent meetings. And/or think of someone new to call and invite to join us
for this or next month’s meeting.

- Update on video.

-Any other old business you may bring

--NEW BUSINESS:

–Affiliate, and National NFB news

-Anything you may bring

--Finally- Brags & Drags

*#3 Our NFB Pledge: 

I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National Federation
of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind;
to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its
constitution.

**Secretary Reports:

#1 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF NEBRASKA SENIOR DIVISION SECRETARY's
REPORT

Monday, March 9, 2020

The NFBN Senior Division met by telephone conference Monday, March 9, 2020.
In President Robert Newman's absence, Vice President Barbara Loos called the
meeting to order at 7:00 PM CDT. Members present were: Vice President
Barbara Loos, Secretary Linda Mentink, Treasurer Cheryl Livingston, Board
Member Nancy Oltman, Christine Boone, Jo Boshart, Geralyn Konruff, Brad
Loos, Steve Senteney, and Jerry Whitlow. Guests present were: Stacy Cervenka
from New York and Karen Walsh from Nebraska.

Stacy Cervenka, Director of Public Policy for the American Foundation for
the Blind (AFB), was our guest speaker. AFB was founded in 1921, and they
did a large number of things, including providing materials to professionals
in the blindness field, producing books on tape and offering aids and
appliances to blind people themselves. In the past five years the
organization has done some real strategic imagining, and now they're more of
a think tank. They focus on research that organizations can use when they're
doing advocacy. Their primary focus areas right now are education,
employment, older adults with vision loss, transportation and technology.
She talked about their aging initiatives. They did an environmental scan,
and decided that they could make the most impact in transportation and
employment. The first big thing that they're doing is Project Visitor, which
is a grant that was given to them by the Volkswagen Foundation. They're
trying to learn about what transportation options are available to older
people with vision loss and if these transportation modes are adequate, how
people feel about them, if people feel like they're useful and feasible, and
if they support them in living independently in their homes and communities.
Last year they conducted several hundred online surveys with professionals
who provide services to blind seniors. This year they are conducting
hundreds of phone interviews with blind seniors themselves in urban,
suburban, ex-urban, rural, and remote areas to get a full picture of what
services they are aware of and what services professionals who serve them
are aware of. When this is all done, they will be publishing the
presentation in JVIB, posting it on several websites, such as the Volkswagen
Group of America, Mobility as a Service Team, Engineering and Innovation
California, and delivering it at a number of aging conferences and blindness
conferences. They have learned that 86% of older adults are more afraid of
entering a nursing home than they are of death because they don't want to
give up their independence or their autonomy. Vision loss is one of the main
reasons they enter nursing homes. AFB is now doing some transportation
advocacy, mainly to change the paratransit regulations to allow for people
to be able to make one stop of up to 15 minutes in duration, rather than
waiting for 90 minutes to be picked up for their return trip. This will be
introduced in the Disability Access to Transportation Act. They were not
able to get it as a regulations change at this point, but as a two-year
pilot program for 15 cities, five cities with 200,000 people or more, five
cities of with 200,000 people or less and five cities that are in very
remote areas. AFB has just founded a blindness transportation working group
of the policy teams of the NFB, ACB and AFB with these goals: staying out of
each other's lane and not counting on the same donors, support each other's
work and identify some areas where we can all pull together in the same
direction.

Regarding employment, they did a mapping of the disability employment space,
all the employment programs that are geared to blind people or cross
disabilities; they only focused on programs that people who are blind could
apply for. They divided them into nine categories, looking for gaps, and
noticed that there is no significant outreach to older adults who want to
remain in the work force. They also talk a lot about the elimination of the
homemaker goal in vocational rehabilitation, meaning that, unless a person
has a vocational goal, they cannot get VR services. Stacy would like to
start seeing is that people over the age of 55 who don't have vocational
goals can still receive VR services. She would like to see more funding for
older individuals who are blind, but we need to think about alternative ways
to fund training for older people who are blind.

They are also conducting focus groups in a hospital in Huntington, West
Virginia, with staff and sixteen blind and low vision patients. They are
coming up with a report about what the issues are that blind people face
when in the hospital and how blind people's access to and quality of medical
care can be improved. Materials will be disseminated to hospitals about best
practices and how to work with blind and low vision people. They are
embarking on designing a research study on transportation for older adults
with vision loss, focusing on people age 65 and up. The first phase will
focus on gathering information about communities and the second phase will
gather information from older people with vision loss who do not drive,
older people who do not have vision loss, but who do not drive for other
reasons and older people who do drive.

Stacy then told us about her website, blindtravelersnetwork.org. In 2018 she
won a Holeman prize from the San Fransisco Lighthouse for the Blind and
visually Impaired. she wanted to create a travel website specifically for
blind people. There are three main areas: blogs, review forms and message
boards. She encouraged us to use it and share it with our friends.

Linda recited the NFB Pledge. Robert will recite it next month.

Linda read the February, 2020, Secretary's Report. It will be made a part of
the permanent record of the organization.

Steve shared that he got a new phone and earphones, and he is hearing the
meeting much better.

Cheryl read the Treasurer's Report as follows:

Treasurer’s Report Senior Division

Monday, March 9, 2020

Beginning Balance $1164.83

Expenses

PAC for March $15.00

Deposits none

Ending Balance $1149.83

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Livingston, Treasurer

Note: Gina Finnell and Jolene Boshart paid dues which will be reported in
the April report.

It will be made a part of the financial record of the organization.

OLD BUSINESS. Barbara reported that they are making progress on the coffee
video. They've been having several meetings and writing revisions, and are
getting closer to the place where they will contact the camera guy.

Linda mentioned that she's considering playing our February guest speaker's
presentation for the Columbus Area Chapter, because five of the nine members
are dealing with vision loss.

BRAGS AND DRAGS. Barbara mentioned that it's a drag that Gina is sick and a
drag that Robert's friend died.

Jerry's drag is that her doctor said she couldn't put her second hearing aid
back in yet. She goes back to see him in a month. Her brag is that she has
learned to read Braille. She's been practicing with a deck of cards and
hopes before too long to be able to sit down and play a game of cards with
her family, which she hasn't been able to do since she lost her sight.

Cheryl has fourteen more days before retiring from the Commission.

Jo has not been able to play for her month at church since her brain bleed
last August. She is playing in March, and it's going really well.

Nancy asked Barbara how she's doing with her new computer. She's doing OK,.
She finds some things confusing, and she's not always sure whether it's JAWS
2020, Google Chrome or Windows 10 that's the issue; but she's glad she made
the switch. Things work more quickly and her email is synced to her

iPhone and her computer.

There was no further business, so the meeting adjourned at 8:41 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Mentink, Secretary

Respectfully yours,

Robert Leslie Newman

NFBN Senior Division, President

NFB Seniors Division, Second Vice President

NFBN Omaha Chapter, Secretary