[NFBC-At-Large] Presidential Release January 2021
tina.thomas90044 at gmail.com
tina.thomas90044 at gmail.com
Thu Jan 21 21:19:37 UTC 2021
Hello At-Large members:
Below is a transcript of our January Presidential Release. Please read. If
you have any questions, we can discuss them tonight at our At-Large chapter
meeting this evening.
Best,
Tina Thomas-At-Large-VP
* Presidential Release #501, January 2021 English Transcript
Please note: the following is the full transcript of the Presidential
Release on January 4, 2021.
Braille is here, Braille is here, we will sing its praise. It's a system
for the blind to get a job!
(Music playing, "Braille is Beautiful")
Braille is beautiful! Go on and live your life. Don't need a bit of
sight. In the end you'll find, Braille is beautiful! Put your fingers on
the page. Tell your friends it's all the rage. It's all going to be okay.
Braille is beautiful!
PAM ALLEN: Good evening, everyone, and welcome. We will be beginning
promptly tonight at 8:00. We're so glad that all of you are here with us.
Happy New Year.
Just a few reminders, you can send questions to our Q&A section on any of
the social media channels or to Cdanielsen at NFB.org.
Captions are available in Zoom as well as on 1CapApp. We'll have a link in
the chat.
For Spanish translation this evening, we are utilizing the Zoom
interpretation feature, and I will turn it over to Danny Martinez to share
how to access that.
We will come back to Danny in a moment after our next song, but just to
remind everybody tonight, we have in honor of Louis Braille's birthday and
world Braille day a couple polls involving Braille asking when you learned
Braille or if you're still thinking about it.
And also our other poll involving Braille asks "What do you love most about
Braille?" So please take part in our polls tonight. Thank you, everyone.
We'll start shortly.
(Music playing, "Accessible Technology")
(Music playing, "Braille Song")
Grab your stylus and your slate, come on, let's communicate.
Louie, Louie, oh, yeah, we got Braille now, yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Braille, Braille, Braille. Braille, Braille, Braille.
You can read it with your elbow, attempt it with your big toe. Don't
you do it with your tongue, though. It's Braille, Braille, Braille.
PAM ALLEN: Good evening, everybody. We'll be starting promptly at 8:00.
We're so glad that all of you are here with us this evening. Please take
part in our polls, both about Braille in celebration of world Braille day
today. Also, you can submit questions through our Q&A feature or to
Cdanielsen at NFB.org.
We are using the Zoom interpretation feature tonight for our Spanish
translation. And we will put the information in the chat so everyone can
access it.
Thank you so much, and we'll be starting shortly.
(Music playing, "Strive")
People contend that I should be content to let others lead me around,
but I say no. I say no. I say no. Everybody needs somebody to help
sometimes, but I'm in charge of me. I've got to strive, strive, strive a
little harder, reach, reach, reach a little longer, work, work, work a
little harder. Watch me, watch me, watch me, nothing is going to stop me.
I'm spreading my wings, soaring on a dream. I can do anything.
I need to strive, strive, strive, a little harder, reach, reach, reach,
a little longer, work, work, work a little harder, hope, hope, hope a little
stronger. Watch me, watch me, watch me. Nothing's going to stop me. I'm
spreading my wings, soaring on a dream. I can do anything!
(Music playing, "Live the Life")
Live the life you want, nobody can stop you. Shoot for the sun and
break on through. So you're blind, you'll be fine, we've got good news:
You can live the life you want. Yes, we know the truth.
PAM ALLEN: Good evening, everyone, and welcome. Happy New Year. We're so
glad that you could join us this evening for our presidential release.
Before we get started, just a reminder that we are doing Zoom
interpretation, Spanish interpretation, through Zoom. We have a quick
announcement concerning our Spanish interpretation, if Danny is available.
Okay. My apologies. We are having a few technical difficulties, but we
have the information in the chat. So to make sure that everyone can access,
we'll also remind everyone that we have closed captioning through the
1CapApp as well. So we are so glad that all of you are here with us
tonight. Welcome, and I encourage everyone to participate in our polls
concerning world Braille day.
It is now my pleasure to introduce for his remarks this evening, President
Mark Riccobono.
MARK RICCOBONO: Thank you very much, Pam. Happy New Year. Should we get
started?
PAM ALLEN: Sounds great.
MARK RICCOBONO: Okay. Okay. 2021.
Greetings, fellow Federationists. This is Monday, January 4, 2021. And
this is presidential release number 501.
Happy New Year, fellow Federationists, and happy world Braille day. It is
so great to be back together with each and every one of you on this release.
I have a handful of announcements to share with you today, and then I want
to spend some significant time discussing some really important priorities
of the Federation for 2021. Then of course I'll share some Federation
family news with you, and then we'll get into hopefully some time for some
questions, and of course we will have the customary endings.
First of all, special announcement from our Independence Market. For this
week of world Braille day, the week of, the Independence Market will be
offering a special deal on the Louis Braille bicentennial silver dollar. It
will be offered at a reduced price for this week only of $50 plus shipping
and handling. Buy as many as you want. This commemorative silver dollar
was minted by the United States government thanks to the work of the
National Federation of the Blind. It was minted in 2009, and the mint has
not sold it since then. You can get it from our market in honor of Louis
Braille's birthday this year. So I encourage you to take advantage of that.
Also our Independence Market staff want you to know that throughout the
month of January, there are a number of other items on sale, including
camera bags, cube clocks, egg separators, and binoculars.
Also you should know that the NFB face masks are back in stock. You can get
the masks which are a medium blue color with the NFB logo in the center.
You can get them from our market. The price is $4 per mask or three masks
for $10.
The market will be having special sales every month during this year, so you
should stay tuned for the special products promotions coming from the market
on a monthly basis.
To order, you can call the Independence Market at (410)659-9314, extension
2216, or you can email IndependenceMarket at NFB.org. We do hope our
e-commerce system will be up and running again very soon. I hope to have
information on a presidential release in the near future.
I also want to start the year by thanking each and every one of you who
helped us match our more than ever gift contribution from Freedom
Scientific. We once again matched Freedom Scientific's $50,000 before the
end of the year, and so we were able to secure that funding thanks to the
generous contributions of many of you out there. We don't have a total
dollar amount that we raised at the end of the year to match these funds,
but we're confident we matched them and then some. So thank you again to
Freedom Scientific, Vispero, their CEO and all the staff there for their
commitment to the work of the National Federation of the Blind. And thank
you to all of you who helped us match both the Vispero gifts at the end of
the year totaling $100,000.
Patti Chang, our director of outreach, wants me to remind you about our
dream maker circle. If you missed joining the dream maker circle in 2020,
2021 is a good year to get it done. Our dream maker circle is a way for you
to pledge an end-of-life gift to the legacy of the National Federation of
the Blind and to continue your commitment to our organization. Depending on
your circumstances, this can be done quite quickly, in less than 30 minutes,
and often at no cost. Feel free to reach out to Patti here at our national
office to hear about how you can best contribute to this. You can reach her
at our main number at extension 2422 or email her at pchang at NFB.org.
Now, this being January, we're getting ready for our Washington Seminar.
And our great gathering in will be happening on Monday, February 8, at 5:00
p.m. Eastern Time and all of you will be able to participate because it will
be virtualized through Zoom. So mark 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time 35 days from
now. You'll want to be part of the kick off of our 2021 Washington Seminar.
There will be a number of other meetings happening in conjunction with the
Washington Seminar and you should reach out to your state affiliate if you
want to learn about how to be involved in the meetings with members of
Congress.
Also we will have a number of meetings happening this month to get members
ready for the Washington Seminar. So watch the listserv for information
about that.
I want to talk to you about the Department of Transportation, which issued a
final rule for travelers who are traveling via air with service animals. On
December 10, 2020, the Department of Transportation released the final rule
pertaining to air travelers using service animals. It goes into effect on
January 11, 2021. The rule permits airlines to require passengers to
complete the DOT service animal air transportation form. We have done quite
a bit of advocacy on this form and the accessibility or maybe I should say
the inaccessibility of this form that DOT has proposed. On December 22,
2020, the National Federation of the Blind issued an open letter to all
airlines urging them not to require the form. It is optional for airlines.
I want to commend Raul Gallegos, President of our National Association of
Guide Dog Users for his leadership and advocacy on this issue. We're going
to continue to work on this issue. I know Raul is continuing to engage with
the Department of Transportation around this, and you should watch for
further announcements from our national division.
There will be many more events and activities to talk about on the release
going forward. We have a busy year ahead, no doubt about that. And a very
hopeful and forward-looking year.
One thing you're probably wondering about, speaking of events, is our
national convention, which is coming up in July. A lot of folks keep asking
what's happening with the national convention. We have been watching the
situation very closely, and the national board has not yet made a final
decision about the convention, but it's my belief that it is extremely,
extremely likely that we will be having a virtual convention this summer, as
disappointing as that is. We haven't made the final decision, but I think
you should mentally prepare yourself for a virtual convention, as much as we
would like to be together in person. We've been carefully monitoring all
the situations and factors, and I'm guessing that's going to be likely, but
no decision has been made yet.
I want to spend some time on this release talking to you about our
priorities for 2021 in the National Federation of the Blind. Many of you
know that I grew up in the great state of Wisconsin, where the motto of the
state is "Forward." One word. Very simple. I've adopted that as our
Federation motto for 2021. I sometimes tell people "Forward Federation."
Now, Wisconsin adopted the motto "Forward" to indicate its innovative
spirit, its intention to lead. And in the National Federation of the Blind,
innovation is one of our core personality traits. And we emphasize
leadership in our organization and the development of leaders. Sometimes
leadership means that you need to take a step back and reevaluate and reset
our goals and priorities and our focus. And that's something I want to talk
to you about tonight in terms of our 2021 priorities.
Many of you may or may not know that in the last month or so, there's been a
significant conversation, especially in social media, about sexual assault
and misconduct within the blindness community. And a lot of that
conversation has been focused on activities within the National Federation
of the Blind. And that of course is a primary concern for us as members and
leaders of this movement. We established our code of conduct three Januarys
ago, but we recognize there's a lot more work to do. 2018 was only the
beginning of our efforts to really ramp up what we need to do in this
movement. And our commitment for 2021 is to do even better, to accelerate
our progress at a significant rate.
We want the National Federation of the Blind to be a safe and healthy space
for all blind people, for our families, for our friends, and that includes
our three affiliated training centers. Between now and the national
convention, we are going to be pouring significant efforts into increasing
our safety and respect for all members within this organization. And it's
going to mean we're going to have some hard discussions about how we move
forward and also where we've been.
On December 16th I published an open letter that details some of the
immediate actions that we're thinking about and how we're going to move
forward.
I also detailed my personal regret and commitment that I haven't always done
as much as I could do. You can read that open letter in the January Braille
Monitor as well as the revision to the code of conduct that the board of
directors adopted in its fall meeting early in December.
But that's just the beginning. We're kicking off 2021 with some additional
announcements, specific actions that we're taking starting this evening, to
accelerate this work in the National Federation of the Blind. And it's
going to take each and every one of us to make this happen, to achieve what
we want in moving forward.
So first I'm really happy to announce that we have established a partnership
with RAINN. RAINN is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence
organization. And the purpose of this partnership is to assist us in
furthering a safe, inclusive, and welcoming culture free of sexual
misconduct, as part of all NFB programs and activities. You can visit
RAINN's website at RAINN.org. And by the way, you should be aware if you
need it, they have a national sexual assault help line which you can reach
at any time you need it. It's free to anybody. You can reach that by
calling 1-800-656-HOPE.
Our work with RAINN is initially going to include two important phases, and
that work is going to be kicking off this month. We're having the kickoff
meeting here in a couple of days.
Phase one is going to be to create and conduct a mandatory training program
regarding sexual violence and misconduct for staff, volunteers, and
leadership within the organization. Now, we're a big organization. We have
a lot of members. So we have to start somewhere. And in March of this
year, we're going to start with all of the boards of our state affiliates,
our national division, all of the staff at our national office, all of the
staffs at our affiliated training centers, as well as the students at those
training centers. And that will just be the beginning. We're very excited
about this relationship with RAINN and about the training, and we're eager
to find out how we're going to sustain this training going forward for the
thousands of members within our organization and those members to come.
The second thing that we're going to do most immediately with RAINN is
review and augment the NFB's code of conduct to include the strongest
possible policies, practices aimed at preventing sexual misconduct and
assault within our organization. We're relying on RAINN's expertise to
assist us in identifying the best practices and incorporating them directly
into our code of conduct. And we plan to do that very quickly before our
national convention.
We'll also be devising ongoing training and resources in collaboration with
RAINN and their expertise, their nationwide leading expertise in these
areas. Where we know blindness, they know sexual assault and violence
prevention, and we're going to be identifying through their expertise how
we're going to sustain these efforts and what we need to do after the
national convention.
I certainly expect, just on my limited dealings so far with RAINN, that this
relationship will continue well into the future and that we will continue to
innovate with their guidance how we make our organization an example of a
safe and healthy space free of sexual misconduct and assault.
That's one thing. And that effort is starting well really today. And we're
going to need all of you to help with those efforts and guide those efforts
as RAINN gives us their expertise and best practices in these difficult
subjects.
There's one other thing, though, that we're doing this evening, starting
this evening, that is an important part of this conversation. Tonight we
are launching a survivor-led task force as part of our efforts to implement
a sustainable positive culture change within the National Federation of the
Blind. We've been waiting to announce that this evening because we wanted
to make sure that we had a wide audience to talk to about this and that our
task force was ready to start receiving information as soon as possible.
Our task force, as I've said, is going to be entirely led by survivors and
is going to serve as an intermediate advisory team to the National
Federation of the Blind leaders, members, and third-party partners. And
that will be in place until we find more long-term solutions. We've set the
time line for the initial work of the task force through the national
convention, and based on its recommendations, it may continue after that or
there may be some other new sustainable system for survivors within our
organization to find support and relief.
The task force has a number of charges working with the leadership of the
National Federation of the Blind, and the task force is truly meant to
represent the voice of survivors in every aspect of this work going forward.
This task force is led by six Federation members who are survivors and who
are dedicated to making the Federation the safest and best place it can be
for all blind people. They will provide a safe space for survivors to give
input, to share information and stories, to assist in developing aspects of
our work going forward. They will also make recommendations alongside RAINN
and our other efforts to make sure that we can develop sustainable long-term
structures through the Federation both to support survivors and to have a
misconduct-free zone within our organization, throughout our organization.
I and other leaders of the organization will meet with the task force as
often as they want, and we've already agreed to meet at least on a weekly
basis. And survivors will lead this change for us at every step of the way.
As we build our relationship with RAINN and we make progress down this road,
I expect that the voice of survivors will come through because of these six
individuals and their coordination of efforts for our organization, and I
really want to extend my appreciation to them for stepping up to help lead
this effort and make sure that it is survivor led.
The task force includes these six members at the moment: Marci Carpenter of
Washington, Kathryn Webster of Virginia, Sarah Meyer of Indiana, Cheryl
Fields of Ohio, Daphne Mitchell of New Mexico, and Briley O'Connor of
Minnesota. And again, thank you to these six ladies for their tremendous
dedication and commitment to put themselves out there to coordinate this
work. It will not be easy. It will be demanding. And I have already
appreciated their guidance and expertise in really protecting the voice and
amplifying the voice of survivors within our organization.
Now, where can you find more information about this? Well, you can go right
now to NFB.org/survivors and find the initial announcement. You can second
an email to survivors at NFB.org. And at any time you can call our main number
here (410)659-9314 and dial extension 2238 to leave a voice mail, and one of
our task force members will get back to you.
You can use any of these methods to share your ideas. If you need support,
you can reach out to this group for help. If you just want to talk about
these culture change efforts and what it means for the National Federation
of the Blind and what your perspective is, reach out to them. And they will
be advising me and other Federation leaders about what else we need to do.
I certainly expect that this is only the beginning of the tremendous efforts
that they will guide us toward in 2021.
Now, these are two big and important actions, but they're not the only
actions. They're the ones we're taking to start 2021. I cannot emphasize
enough, it is going to take all of us in this movement to do this, to do it
right, to do it in a way that leads not just the blindness field but every
field. The National Federation of the Blind has taken every challenge and
has tried to exceed expectations. That's what we're going to do here. And
we're going to do it led by survivors within our organization. And I'm
really proud of those individuals who is come forward to share their stories
and who have pushed us to be better within this movement. Every chapter
meeting, convention, training, seminar, educational program, and enrichment
opportunity offered by the National Federation of the Blind needs to be safe
and welcoming to all. And that's our big goal. And we're not going to meet
it in 2021. It's going to take a longer time than that. But we're going to
charge as confidently as we can toward it during this year.
Now, we're going to have to do some other things as well, but that's
priority number one.
I also want to note that we will be continuing to work on our broader
diversity and inclusion efforts. We've hired a staff member here at the
national office to help us increase our diversity and inclusion efforts. We
will be continuing to find new ways to accelerate the pipeline of
individuals from diverse perspectives to get into elected positions within
the Federation and to help shape our organization. Our board has developed
an accessibility policy for affiliates that's consistent with our national
accessibility policy to make sure that each and every one of our affiliates
is doing everything it can to be fully inclusive to all blind people. And
we will be building training and resources to assist affiliates in
effectively implementing those accessibility practices.
We will be continuing in this effort to be led by our committee on diversity
and inclusion. You can reach the committee by sending an email to
diversity at NFB.org. The committee continues to coordinate around priorities
and find ways to open up new spaces to improve diversity within our movement
and advance those often-difficult conversations.
I talked to Sean Callaway, one of the cochairs of the committee before the
release, and he wanted me also to note for you that the committee will be
having an open meeting. Anybody can listen in, whether you're a member of
the committee or not. That open meeting will be happening in March. I'm
sure more information will be hitting our listservs and in both of these
areas of course, you don't have to be a member of the task force or
appointed to the committee on diversity and inclusion at the national level.
These issues belong to all of us. We need to help be part of the solutions,
the change, and the action that happens within our organization. So please
share your ideas, get involved, and one last note about both these
priorities: In many June releases I have talked about the priority of
membership. Both of these are membership-driven developments. They're
essential to growing this movement in a way that we want going forward. So
these are two priorities for our membership efforts for 2021, and I invite
you, ask you, encourage you to please get involved with them because we need
you.
Now, there are some other priorities that I could talk about. I've taken a
lot of time already. I do want to note that we will be continuing to expand
our right to live in the world by continuing our advocacy work in the 117
Congress which has recently been sworn in and the new administration that's
coming in 16 days. We will be aggressively seeking opportunities to advance
the Federation's agenda to empower blind people and to create opportunities
for us to take charge of our own lives, to have the equal rights in all
aspects of society. And 2021 is an important time for us to increase our
engagement in those areas. You know, we did a great job pushing voting in
2020, but it wasn't enough. We didn't have accessibility in enough places.
And 2021 is going to be an important year for getting states on board for
the next major elections! And it's not just that. It's protecting the
rights of blind parents, where we still need state laws to protect blind
parents and blind caregivers, improving services in so many areas, making
sure that the voice of blind people is included is so critical. We have
already done great work in 2020 on a number of things. We're going to
continue that in 2021.
I do want to, though, congratulate and thank the members of the Federation
who worked on getting our blind Randolph-Sheppard vendors some relief. The
most recent COVID legislation that was passed and ultimately signed by the
President included a $20 million appropriation for our blind vendors, and I
should say this relief bill, thanks to Congress and the work of our
advocates across the country, is going to provide relief to blind
entrepreneurs who have simply been sidelined because of the COVID-19
pandemic. And each of you helped make that happen, helped make it a
priority to support these entrepreneurs that were shut out of so many other
programs. So thank you on behalf of our blind merchants. And I know that
our efforts to engage in advocacy and legislation at the big levels, like
federal legislation, and in individual efforts will make a big difference in
2021.
I do want to give you a few Federation family notes to close out this
portion of the release, and I regret to have to let you know about a number
of members that we lost at the end of 2020. So I would invite you to keep
them all in your thoughts and prayers this evening. In early December, we
lost Gail Cephas to COVID-19. She was a member of the NFB of the District
of Columbia.
On December 5, Monica Meadows also passed away of pneumonia and COVID.
Monica was a member of the National Federation of the Blind of Georgia
Atlanta metro chapter. She was a member for over 15 years and had become a
lifetime member of the state affiliate about 10 years ago.
On December 6, Stuart Maclean, longtime member of the Mecklenburg chapter of
the Federation who had recently moved to Tennessee passed away.
On December 15, Jean Faulkner, a longtime member and the President of the
greater Cumberland chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland passed away. Jean was 78.
In the early part of this year, just a few days ago, we received a note from
Ryan Strunk, who is President of the NFB of Minnesota, reporting the passing
of long time Federation leader Joyce Scanlan, who passed away from heart
failure. Joyce first became active in our Minnesota affiliate in 1970. She
served as President of the affiliate from 1973-2007. She served for a long
time as a member of our national board and for many years served as our
first Vice President. Joyce led the charge to establish blindness, learning
in new dimensions, BLIND, Incorporated, and served as its executive director
from its founding in 1986 until her retirement in 2003. I think I first met
Joyce when she was national representative to the NFB of Wisconsin
convention in 1999. And her impact on me as an up-and-coming Federation
member and leader has been long lasting as I know it has been for many
people in Minnesota and beyond and certainly for the students at our
training center in Minnesota. So I would encourage you to keep her husband
Tom, also a longtime leader of the Federation, and all those who loved Joyce
and these other members of the Federation in your thoughts and prayers and
show appreciation for the tremendous legacy they have left us with.
I do have one joyful piece of news here at the end of this portion of the
release, and that is to say that Mason Sawyer East was born on December
10th, weighing 8 pounds 4 ounces and measuring 21.25 inches long. The
first-time proud parents of Mason are David and Angie East, members of the
Jefferson City Missouri chapter of the National Federation of the Blind.
I'm told everybody is doing well, and so we want to send congratulations to
the new proud parents and welcome Mason as the newest member of the National
Federation of the Blind.
Pam, I think those are the things that I had to talk about on this release.
I'm going to send it back over to you.
PAM ALLEN: Okay. Thank you so much, President Riccobono.
Before we get into our questions this evening, I wanted to share the results
of our poll. Our poll asked how old you were when you learned Braille. And
35% of our participants learned Braille between the ages of 1-10. 14%
between 11-20. 14% also between 21-30. 8% between 31-40. For those 40 and
over, 13%. And 16% are still thinking about learning Braille. So thanks to
everybody for participating in our poll tonight. We had a minor technical
glitch with our second poll, so we will save that for another opportunity.
But thanks to everyone for participating.
And I just appreciate everyone for sending in questions this evening.
Again, you can submit questions through the Q&A feature on the web, in the
app, or email Cdanielsen at NFB.org. Thank you again for everyone who is
submitting questions.
Now, our first question tonight, President Riccobono, is related to our
world Braille day. And since it is significant, we've had several questions
come up concerning our Braille certification training program. So I
wondered if you could share some information about that.
MARK RICCOBONO: Pam, it's a great question and it's a program I know we
have been leading for 14 years. I know because the kickoff meeting for our
work in the National Federation of the Blind on that project happened on
December 13th, 2006. I missed the kickoff meeting because my son Austin was
born that day. But someone who was at the meeting and really leads this
effort for us I think is best to answer this question, so I've asked her to
come on the release to do that. That's Jennifer Dunnam, manager of this
program. So Jennifer, could you give us a quick overview about the Braille
transcription certification program?
JENNIFER DUNNAM: Thanks, President Riccobono. I would be happy to.
Braille literacy is such a key predictor of success in so many arenas. So
the National Federation of the Blind has been really proud to operate the
courses that lead to certification for Braille transcribers and Braille
proofreaders. We operate these courses under a contract with the national
library service for the blind and print disabled and we've done that for
about 14 years. The courses have been offered in some form or fashion since
the 1930s or so.
Our role in the process of the certification is to take people through the
courses that teach them how to transcribe and proofread Braille, and once a
student has met all of the course requirements, then we send that name on to
NLS for certification.
So before I really talk about specifics, I want to say that the courses can
be taken by people who are sighted or people who are blind. A person who is
fluent at reading print does not need any prior knowledge of Braille when
they start because the course starts at the very beginning of Braille. The
successful student who doesn't use print will need fluency in Braille to
read the nuances of the course exercises, but above everything, the people
who successfully achieve certification are those who pay attending to the
little details and then are self-motivated and patient, because it's not
something you can really rush through, and who are really interested in
getting all the details right. Because the end goal of the certification is
to support literacy through producing Braille that is accurate and complete
so that the Braille reader has the same access to information as a print
reader who is reading the same material, whether read on paper or through a
Braille display. People say, why do we need transcribers when we have
Braille software. Well, transcribers and those who produce Braille use
these computerized tools to speed that work up, but they add value by
correcting some of the tricky errors and things that the software makes, and
especially making sure that if there's content displayed in pictures,
charts, diagrams, that all of that gets rendered in a way that's complete
and understandable if the info is being read in a tactile manner.
So there are several certificates a person could obtain. To get a
credential for transcribing print into Braille, there's the foundational
course in transcribing which is kind of the prerequisite to the rest of it.
And then once a person gets that, they could go on to become a transcriber
of math or music.
If someone is not interested in transcribing but wants to check the work of
transcribers, then they can achieve certification as a proofreader. And
after that if they have mathematical leanings, they can go to become a math
proofreader.
The course requirements are completed by email or in some cases paper mail
as well. All the course materials are free to download for anyone, whether
you're enrolled or not, but if a person meets the eligibility and wants to
enroll in the courses to work with one of our fantastic course instructors,
they should submit an application to do that. And the applications and all
the course material and a lot of other information could be found at
NFB.org/transcribers. Anybody that's got questions about the courses can
email us at transcribers at NFB.org, or call (410)659-9314, extension 2510.
Anyone who thinks they might be interested should really check it out
because Braille production is always looking for good people to do this
really rewarding work.
So thank you, Mr. President.
MARK RICCOBONO: Thank you, Jennifer. In fact, we're looking for someone to
help with this work. So if you're looking for a career opportunity in that
regard, we have an opening.
Thanks, Jennifer.
Pam, do we have other questions?
PAM ALLEN: Thank you so much, Jennifer.
Our next question is related to what you talked about a little bit earlier
the question is why don't we bring a lawsuit against the airlines regarding
accessibility of the form to bring guide dogs on planes.
MARK RICCOBONO: Well, that's always a tricky question. I don't think the
form is bad enough to bring a lawsuit over. We told them how to fix it.
With all of our lawsuits, when we find inaccessibility, we always give
entities a chance to fix it. Some people think we jump right to suing.
Doesn't happen. We invite people to fix it first.
Secondly, the law is tricky in this space as it relates to this issue. So
our advocacy strategy at this point is to encourage the airlines not to
require blind people traveling with guide dogs to use the form. But we're
optimistic that the Department of Transportation will get the form done
right, even if it takes a while.
PAM ALLEN: Okay. All right. Great. Thank you.
Our next question is related to Washington Seminar and when will information
be posted about the issues and how can people access that.
MARK RICCOBONO: The issues. Well, we're not ready to reveal the issues
yet. It's a changing land scape. We're continuing to evaluate the
situation in Congress. We have them outlined and we're planning to talk
about the issues later this week with our affiliates, but we're not quite
ready strategy wise to talk about all of the issues and what they're going
to be. We will do plenty of training with folks on the issues. I think
last year beyond the Washington Seminar issues, we had another, I don't
know, dozen plus federal issues we were working on. So strategically it's
always tricky to make sure we get the right ones in to the Washington
Seminar based on the strategy. So they will be coming out soon.
Information will be on the web. We'll be disseminating. It of there will
be trainings. It's coming. I know you're eager. You will not hit these
meetings ill prepared, trust me.
PAM ALLEN: Okay. Great.
Our next question is related to how can someone obtain a copy of the code of
conduct.
MARK RICCOBONO: Ah. Well, the code of conduct, as I noted, is in the
January monitor which is out now. You can get it there. It is on every
page of the Federation's website. NFB.org. If you go to your links list
and hit C, you'll get to the code of conduct. It's on every single page of
our website. You can't miss it. And you can go there, you can read the
code, you can also link to the form to fill out if you do have a grievance
to file. And very soon we will likely be posting an FAQ that answers some
more questions about the code of conduct process. I say very soon maybe
because we actually have it drafted but since we have on boarded RAINN to
look at the process end to end, in consulting them, we may decide not to put
up the information about the current code only because it's likely to change
over the next 6 months.
But go to NFB.org, read it, understand it. If you have questions, send an
email to code at NFB.org and our staff or a member of the code of conduct
committee would be happy to answer your questions. The code applies to all
NFB members, employees, contractors, and it applies throughout every
affiliate and national division, every member of the organization is covered
by the code.
PAM ALLEN: Okay. Great. Thank you.
Another question involves any updates for NFB-NEWSLINE.
MARK RICCOBONO: Well, we do have a couple of new publications on
NFB-NEWSLINE. I don't have those here in front of me, but we're always
adding new things to NEWSLINE. Hopefully folks have had an opportunity try
out the new version of the mobile app and give feedback on that. There
aren't any other major breaking news items for NEWSLINE right now that I
think of, but you can always check out NEWSLINE online section of our
website to get updates as well.
PAM ALLEN: Okay. Question concerning fitness accessibility. Many products
and machines are not accessible. Any updates on our work in that arena?
MARK RICCOBONO: It's a great question as I sit here with my Fitbit
wondering how many more steps I need to get to 10,000 today.
We're continuing to work on this space. We are working with some other
partners who are doing outreach to fitness facilities, and our blindness
initiatives department is taking the lead on reaching out to certain
manufacturers. As you should know, we've been trying to get a legislation
passed to create standards in this area, and we do intend to keep pushing
that in the new Congress.
We're also very hopeful now that we have a blind person who is leading the
United States Access Board, that will have another very strong voice in the
mix with the fitness facilities and the manufacturers to start building in
more and more accessibility. You're seeing it happening in more places with
audio description being included. We don't have any specific updates in
that area, but I would encourage you, if you have a product you're
interested in using, to write a letter to the manufacturer and feel free to
copy our advocacy and policy team on that letter so we can continue to track
the companies that are being outreached to. And of course our sports and
recreation division at the national level is a great resource in this area
as well.
PAM ALLEN: Okay. And we had a question concerning our monitoring of Uber
and Lyft and if we are still engaged in that process and what's happening in
that area.
MARK RICCOBONO: Yeah. Well, Uber and Lyft, we're continuing to monitor
them. At least in an informal way. We're continuing to try to negotiate
with both of these rideshare entities. And we're considering our options in
terms of going to court to really get strong enforcement with both of these
entities. They both look at the issue of equal access differently. We have
varying relationships within each of those entities. But equal access in
rideshare both from the accessibility side of the app to equal access for
individuals using guide dogs is a top priority for us. You will definitely
see more about this in 2021.
PAM ALLEN: Okay. Great. Well, thank you so much, President Riccobono.
And if there are any questions or other information that we did not have a
chance to follow up on this evening, our communications team will be
following up with everybody.
Thank you everyone who submitted questions via chat and in other forms. We
greatly appreciate it.
I will turn it back over to you, President Riccobono.
MARK RICCOBONO: Thank you, Pam.
In closing, the first presidential release of 2021 on this world Braille
day, I do want to note that we will be having an NFB BELL in-home edition
this summer again. And information about that will be coming very soon.
But I thought it was most fitting to kick off 2021 as we move forward, to
hear the voices of some of our BELL in-home edition students from 2020
giving us some of the customary endings. So I wish everybody a fantastic
year in 2021. We're going to go get it done together, and I'm looking
forward to what we're going to do together.
Let's go build the National Federation of the Blind.
SPEAKER: What's a cat's favorite color? Prrrrple.
SPEAKER: What did one plate say to the other plate? Dinner is on me!
SPEAKER: Why was the broom late for work? Because it overswept.
The preceding release was given by President Mark Riccobono of the National
Federation of the Blind.
Let's go build the National Federation of the Blind.
<https://www.nfb.org/>
* <https://www.nfb.org/donate> Donate
* <https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/join-us> Join Us
National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Phone <tel:+14106599314> 410-659-9314
Email <mailto:nfb at nfb.org> nfb at nfb.org
<https://give.org/charity-reviews/national/Blind-and-Visually-Impaired/Natio
nal-Federation-of-the-Blind-in-Baltimore-md-25>
<https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/national-federation-of-the-blind#rat
ings-and-metrics>
Connect with Us
* <https://facebook.com/NationalFederationoftheBlind/> Facebook
* <https://twitter.com/nfb_voice> Twitter
* <https://www.youtube.com/user/NationsBlind> YouTube
<https://www.nfb.org/resources/publications-and-media/imagineering-our-futur
e> Subscribe to Our E-newsletter
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community> Our Community
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community/people-who-are-blind> People Who
Are Blind
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community/people-losing-vision> People
Losing Vision
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community/parents-blind-children> Parents
of Blind Children
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community/blind-parents> Blind Parents
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community/seniors> Seniors
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community/students> Students
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community/educators> Educators
* <https://www.nfb.org/our-community/employers> Employers
* <https://www.nfb.org/get-involved> Get Involved
* <https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/join-us> Join Us
* <https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/ways-give> Ways to Give
* <https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/national-convention> National
Convention
* <https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/membership-building> Membership
Building
* <https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/twitter-chats> Twitter Chats
* <https://www.nfb.org/events-calendar> Calendar
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services> Programs & Services
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/independence-market>
Independence Market
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/free-white-cane-program>
Free White Cane Program
*
<https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/center-excellence-nonvisual-access>
Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Access
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/advocacy> Advocacy
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/nfb-newsline> NFB-NEWSLINER
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/education> Education
*
<https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/safety-support-marchingtogether>
Safety & Support: #MarchingTogether
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/scholarships-and-awards>
Scholarships and Awards
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/legal-program> Legal Program
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/braille-certification>
Braille Certification
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/research-program> Research
Program
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/knfb-reader> KNFB Reader
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/meet-blind-month> Meet the
Blind Month
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/career-mentoring> Career
Mentoring
* <https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/blind-parent-mentoring>
Blind Parent Mentoring
*
<https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/free-slate-and-stylus-program> Free
Slate and Stylus Program
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources> Resources
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/publications-and-media> Publications
and Media
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/speeches-and-reports> Speeches and
Reports
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/jacobus-tenbroek-library> Jacobus
tenBroek Library
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/blindness-statistics> Blindness
Statistics
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/braille-resources> Braille Resources
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/deafblind-resources> DeafBlind
Resources
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/guide-dog-resources> Guide Dog
Resources
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/distance-education-resources>
Distance Education Resources
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/voting-resources> Voting Resources
* <https://www.nfb.org/resources/covid-19-resources> COVID-19
Resources
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us> About Us
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/leadership> Leadership
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/state-affiliates> State Affiliates
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/national-headquarters> National
Headquarters
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/divisions-committees-and-groups>
Divisions, Committees, and Groups
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/training-centers> Training Centers
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/history-and-governance> History and
Governance
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/partners> Partners
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/press-room> Press Room
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/annual-report-and-financials> Annual
Report and Financials
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/career-opportunities> Career
Opportunities
* <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/contact-us> Contact Us
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbc-at-large_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210121/d76b02d7/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 86174 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbc-at-large_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210121/d76b02d7/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 6136 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbc-at-large_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210121/d76b02d7/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 5377 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbc-at-large_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210121/d76b02d7/attachment-0005.png>
More information about the NFBC-At-Large
mailing list