[NFB_of_Georgia] A Year in Advocacy (2024 Edition) | Armando Vias

Thu Jan 2 13:09:50 UTC 2025

Thank you for sharing.

Anil

From: NFB_of_Georgia <nfb_of_georgia-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Armando Vias via NFB_of_Georgia
Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2024 5:19 PM
To: Dorothy Griffin via NFB_of_Georgia <nfb_of_georgia at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Armando Vias <armando at armandovias.com>
Subject: [NFB_of_Georgia] A Year in Advocacy (2024 Edition) | Armando Vias

https://armandovias.com/blog/2024-a-year-in-advocacy<https://armandovias.com/blog/2024-a-year-in-advocacy>
A Year in Advocacy (2024 Edition)

As 2024 comes to a close, and 2025 begins, I’m proud to say that while I’ve made progress in advocating for people with disabilities in my local community, there’s so much work to do in 2025 in order to make the community accessible and inclusive for everyone.

Introduction

As 2024 comes to a close, and 2025 begins, I’m proud to say that while I’ve made progress in advocating for people with disabilities in my local community, there’s so much work to do in 2025 in order to make the community accessible and inclusive for everyone.

In this post, I’ll be going over what I’ve done in 2024, with links and posts included so you can look back at the content.

________________________________
New Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan (January)

Starting in January, I heard on 13 WMAZ<https://www.13wmaz.com> that the Warner Robins City Council was going to vote to approve the American’s With Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan for 2024 and beyond.

The good news is that they’ve voted to approve the plan at one of their City Council meetings. You can learn more by reading 13 WMAZ’s article on the approval of the transition plan.<https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/warner-robins/warner-robins-council-approves-plan-ada-renovations/93-abaadc06-ec57-4157-b7d0-8e92b1f27f2b>

Also, during this time, I wrote a letter to the ADA Coordinator for the city regarding getting the ADA Transition Plan in alternative formats.<https://armandovias.com/advocacy/letters/mga/ada-transition-plan-letter>

While they couldn’t post the ADA Transition Plan in alternative formats, I was happy that they’ve posted it on their website. Note that they’ve updated their website to a new system.

While I was researching for the right link to update the below post from January, I was disappointed to find that the whole PDF was inaccessible. I’ll be writing an email soon to get it corrected. In the meantime, for screen-reader users, one of the workarounds that I figured out was to use Google Chrome, where Google’s AI will make the PDF document accessible for you to view. It’s not perfect, but it’s worth it for now.

________________________________
My First Time Attending A City Council Meeting (February)

On February 20, 2024, a friend took me to my first City Council meeting, where I spoke during the citizen comments after they went through the agenda.<https://armandovias.com/advocacy/update/pt-update-02-28-2024>

While I admit that I was nervous the first time that I spoke, I talked about the lack of affordable and reliable public transportation. At that time:

  *   Warner Robins had a population of 80,000 and growing.
  *   Houston County had a population of about 167,000 people.

I then go over what people with disabilities are having to rely on as their mode of transportation, such as the high costs of Lyft and Uber, depending on how far they travel.

I didn’t come with just a problem. I came with solutions! I’ve also extended my offer to collaborate with the City/County on getting public transportation implemented.

Three months later, I found out that I was on one of the local news channels, and nobody didn’t reach out to me to let me know that I was on the news. I was bored one night and began researching public transportation in Warner Robins. That’s where I stumbled across this article from WGXA (ABC16/FOX24) about me bringing up the issue of the lack of public transportation.<https://wgxa.tv/newsletter-daily/an-urgent-call-for-affordable-public-transit-in-warner-robins-and-houston-county>

________________________________
New City of Warner Robins And New Houston Home Journal Websites (April)

In April, I wrote a letter to the Houston Home Journal<https://hhjonline.com> regarding their new website that they released. I was probably the first to stumble on the new website.

As I always do with any new website, I check to make sure that it’s accessible with screen-reading software. At the time, it was not completely accessible. Hence, a letter was sent to them to report the accessibility issues,<https://armandovias.com/advocacy/letters/mga/hhj-accessibility-letter> along with the solutions to the issues that I’ve described.

The good news is that they’ve fixed these issues, and they now have an option for someone to report any accessibility issues in their contact form.

Also, I began live streaming website reviews from an accessibility perspective. I reviewed:

  *   The Houston Home Journal Website<https://armandovias.com/events/hhj-website-ar>
  *   The New City of Warner Robins, Georgia Website<https://armandovias.com/events/cwrgawsareview>

as of now, the City of Warner Robins was able to fix the links to all social media, located at the bottom of their website.<https://www.wrga.gov>

________________________________
Bringing Up My Voting Experience In The Houston Home Journal (May)

In May, I was turned away from voting the first time during early voting due to the Adaptive Machines not working correctly. However, later that day, I was able to vote privately and independently after they fixed it a second time when they’ve realized that they’ve made a mistake.

After the whole ordeal, I went to my first Board of Elections Meeting where I explained my situation. I stressed that I wanted to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.

I then reached out to Houston Home Journal to make sure that the community knows about this issue<https://hhjonline.com/blind-advocate-armando-vias-reflects-on-accessibility-in-voting/> and to make sure that people with disabilities know their rights when it comes to voting.

Fast forward to the Presidential Election, I was able to vote privately and independently. It went way faster this time. Yes, they had technical issues in the beginning. However, they fixed it right away.

________________________________
My Second Time At A City Council Meeting Plus My First Time At A Political Convention (August/September)
[Image removed by sender. Armando at Fellowship Bible Baptist Church getting ready for the Warner Robins City Council In The Community And Town Hall Meeting]

On August 19, I attended my second Warner Robins City Council meeting.<https://armandovias.com/advocacy/update/wr-pt-update-august-2024> However, this time, it was out in the community at Fellowship Bible Baptist Church.<https://www.fbbchome.org>

Also, this meeting was different. It was a town hall where citizens can ask questions after the meeting.

I was able to ask two questions regarding:

  *   An update regarding public transportation
  *   Creating a disability committee, where people with disabilities can come together and speak about their issues that they’re experiencing in the city

They’ll be reaching out to me, hopefully soon.

My First Political Convention
[Image removed by sender. Armando with Mayor Andre Dickens of Atlanta at Georgia Tech Hotel And Conference Center]

Since I wanted to get more involve and giving a voice to people with disabilities and to educate others, I went to my first political convention.

At the convention, I was able to meet new people and learn more about what’s going on before the November Presidential Election. And yes, I was able to meet Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.

Since there’s no public transportation in my area, when I got the opportunity, I went and rode MARTA for the first time.

________________________________
Writing To MARTA Customer Service (September)

In September, I wrote a letter to MARTA Customer Service regarding my experience.<https://armandovias.com/advocacy/letters/outside-mga/marta> Yes, I also advocate outside of my area. Hence, that letter was posted to my website.

In that letter, I suggested MARTA to partner with AIRA,<https://aira.io> a visual-interpreting service that helps blind people get tasks done such as navigating a public transit system. I didn’t mention that the platforms were not accessible to people who are blind. The only clue is that the cane goes over the edge of the platform.

________________________________
Two Letters Sent Regarding Transportation Systems (October)

I wrote two letters in October regarding implementing a transportation system. One letter was sent to an Entertainment Complex,<https://armandovias.com/advocacy/letters/mga/rigbys-letter> while another letter was written to three (3) mayors plus the Chairman of the Houston County Board of Commissioners.<https://armandovias.com/advocacy/letters/mga/hcga-pt>

These letters were in response to me going to Tennessee for a family vacation and getting information from up there regarding The Island In Pigeon Forge’s Transit System<https://islandinpigeonforge.com/> and The Pigeon Forge Mass Transit System<http://cityofpigeonforge.com/trolley.aspx> that expands three counties.

While my letter regarding adding a transit system to one of the Entertainment Complexes in my area, my letter regarding getting public transportation in Houston County was read by two mayors:

  *   The Mayor in Centerville, Georgia
  *   The Mayor in Perry, Georgia

________________________________
Coming To A Close: My Goal For 2025 And Beyond

There’s a lot of work to do. However, I’ll keep fighting for what’s right in my local community.

My goal for 2025 and onward is to reach out to more businesses, and even sit down in person, to make sure that their services are accessible to the widest audience as possible. I know that I have to work on that, but it’s rewarding at the end to see a business include someone, regardless of their abilities.

Since politics affects people with disabilities, I’ll be more involved in the local, state, and even the national level to make sure that the policies that our officials pass doesn’t hurt the disability community in the long run, including our neighbors in the LGBTQ+ community.

I hope that 2025 will be the year where accessible, affordable, and reliable public transportation is finally available and in service in Houston County, including parts of Byron, Centerville, Perry and Warner Robins. Other places include Bonaire and Cathleen.

Before I go, feel free to comment your thoughts below, and subscribe for the latest up-to-date content via email. And, if you can, share this post with your friends and family on your social media, and even in an email, a text message, or by copying the link and pasting it somewhere that’s shareable.

I hope that 2025 brings you happiness and peace.

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