[Nfbk] Meet the Blind Month activity

Tue Sep 24 17:06:20 UTC 2013

I like the idea, but I would suggest that we try and talk with managers instead of just any employee.  Every retail place I ever worked at showed new employees a video that taught them the proper way to deal with disabled shoppers (the one's I saw were actually not that bad) average employee's have to follow the guidelines of those videos regardless of what we suggest, managers on the other hand can actually change policies in some stores and would be able to bring up our suggestions during team meetings.  I also think we'd have a better chance of managers actually doing something with the materials in the bag instead of just throwing stuff in the trash after they get the candy out of it.
Katie
________________________________
From: Nfbk <nfbk-bounces at nfbnet.org> on behalf of Hellena Keaton <hellena.keaton at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 11:38 AM
To: NFB of Kentucky Internet Mailing List
Cc: NFB of Kentucky Internet Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Nfbk] Meet the Blind Month activity

I think this is a great idea-count me in!  I do a lot of shopping with store employees therefore I feel as though I have helpful information to share.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 23, 2013, at 12:27 PM, "Melanie Peskoe" <mpeskoe at twc.com<mailto:mpeskoe at twc.com>> wrote:

Hello fellow Federationists,
I have a great MTBM activity idea that I'd like to run by you for feedback. Chapter members could meet one Saturday morning at the mall and split up in pairs of two to three people. Each group could go to a designated list of stores and talk with an employee about the NFB and  give them bag of "goodies". In the bag they would find candy, an alphabet card, maybe a few business cards for the chapter and a kernel book. I thought everyone, young or old, likes to find their name spelled out in braille. Also, with chapter contact information on business cards they could give them out to blind customers or friends/family who may be blind. Here's my question - is there a document that may list helpful tips about retail staff should work with blind customers? I know we have the Courtesy Rules of Blindness, but I'm thinking more specifically related to shopping. If we don't have anything like this already, maybe we could compile a list of tips for store employees about how to assist blind patrons. What would you include on this list?

We could also take this idea into grocery stores or other big box stores.  I would think the success of this activity would depend on showing up at a slow time during their business hours and not taking too much of the employee's time. Maybe we could develop a short script or opening line such as "Hello, my name is Melanie and I'm from the National Federation of the Blind of Greater Louisville. We wanted to share some information with you and give you some candy to brighten your day. Have you ever encountered a customer who uses a long white cane or a guide dog, or is otherwise visually impaired? Here is a handout with some tips on the best ways you can be helpful. Would you mind sharing this with your coworkers please?" How does something like that sound?

What do you all think about this idea? Have any of you done anything like this and if so how did it go?
Regards,
Melanie

Melanie Peskoe, President
National Federation of the Blind of Greater Louisville
502.262.1403
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