[nfbmi-talk] Fw: [NFBAffiliatePresidents] FW: [Buckeye Bulletin] Buckeye BulletinSummer Fall

[Larry Posont]

--------------------------------------------------
From: "J.W. Smith" <jwsmithnfb at frontier.com>
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2012 5:23 PM
To: "'NFB Affiliate Presidents List'" <nfbaffiliatepresidents at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [NFBAffiliatePresidents] FW: [Buckeye Bulletin] Buckeye BulletinSummer Fall

Colleagues, here is the complete Version of our Newsletter and my apologies
about the earlier one as I jumped the gun.

It is attached and in the body of this message.

Jw


Dr. J. Webster Smith
President, National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
PO Box 458 Athens, OH 45701
740-592-6326

"Changing what it means to be blind"
For more information go to nfbohio.org


-----Original Message-----
From: buckeye-bulletin at googlegroups.com
[mailto:buckeye-bulletin at googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sylvia Cooley
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 9:23 AM
To: buckeye-bulletin at googlegroups.com
Subject: [Buckeye Bulletin] Buckeye Bulletin Summer Fall

Summer Fall 2012
Buckeye Bulletin
A publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio Barbara
Pierce, Editor
237 Oak Street
Oberlin, OH 44074
bbpierce at pobox.com
(440) 775-2216
Dr. J. Webster Smith, President
(800) 396-6326 (NFBO Office)
jwsmithnfb at frontier.com
P.O. Box 458, Athens, OH 45701-0458
http://www.nfbohio.org

Voice of the Nation's Blind

The National Federation of the Blind of Ohio is a 501 (c) 3 consumer
organization comprised of blind and sighted people committed to changing
what it means to be blind. Though blindness is still all too often a tragedy
to those who face it, we know from our personal experience that with
training and opportunity it can be reduced to the level of a physical
nuisance. We work to see that blind people receive the services and training
to which they are entitled and that parents of blind children receive the
advice and support they need to help their youngsters grow up to be happy,
productive adults. We believe that first-class citizenship means that people
have both rights and responsibilities, and we are determined to see that
blind people become first-class citizens of these United States, enjoying
their rights and fulfilling their responsibilities. The most serious
problems we face have less to do with our lack of vision than with
discrimination based on the public's ignorance and misinformation about
blindness. Join us in educating Ohioans about the abilities and aspirations
of Ohio's blind citizens. We are changing what it means to be blind.
The NFB of Ohio has fourteen local chapters, one for at-large
members, and special divisions for diabetics, merchants, students, seniors,
parents of blind children, and those interested in Braille.
This semi-annual newsletter is produced in large print and on CD and is
circulated by email. For information about the National Federation of the
Blind of Ohio or to make address changes or be added to the mailing list,
call (440) 775-2216 or email <bbpierce at pobox.com>. For information about
NFB-NEWSLINE, our free digitized newspaper-reading service, call (866)
391-0841. Local NEWSLINE numbers are: 330-247-1241 (Akron), 330-409-1900
(Canton), 513-297-1521 (Cincinnati),
216-453-2090 (Cleveland), and 614-448-1673 (Columbus)

Table of Contents

>From the President's Desk 3
by J.W. Smith

Good Jobs Not Goodwill for the Blind 4
by Eric Duffy

The 66th NFB of Ohio Convention
A Facelift for Our Favorite State Gathering 7
by Sheri Albers

Navigating the Wyndham Garden Dayton South Hotel 8
by Barbara Pierce

My First NFB National Convention 10
by Emily Pennington

Helping with Emergency Preparedness 11
by Debbie Baker

Activities Calendar 12

NFB of Ohio 2012 Convention Preregistration


>From the President's Desk
by J. Webster Smith

It has been my privilege and honor to serve as the president of this
wonderful affiliate for the past four years. Before that I served as first
vice president for fourteen years (1994 to 2008), so for the past eighteen
years you have given me your trust and confidence as a leader, and I hope I
have used that trust wisely. For personal and professional reasons I have
decided not to stand for reelection this year. I believe that the time is
right for others to step forward and lead because I am pursuing other career
opportunities that I'm sure will not allow me to devote as much time to
leadership in the affiliate as I have been able to devote in the past.
Let me be clear and assure you that this organization will always be an
important part of my life, and I can't imagine not being a part of it in
some way. So I will continue to serve in whatever capacity I can for the
overall good of the affiliate. I have always believed that my presidency was
a transitional one, and we must all be prepared to deal with the new
realities that face us now. Those realities include finding a stable and
efficient economic source to fund our movement, attracting the most diverse
membership possible, strengthening existing chapters and rebuilding others,
and, finally, continuing our historical legacy as a strong and viable
affiliate.
We are blessed with experienced leaders and committed members, and it was my
joy to work with a board of directors that continually challenged me as a
leader and demonstrated its commitment to this affiliate. When I moved to
Ohio from Indiana in 1993, I had no idea that my role in this affiliate
would include these eighteen years of leadership. As many of you know, we
were one of the original seven states present at the founding of the NFB in
1940, so our Federation philosophy and heritage are deeply seated in the
very fabric of our membership. Let me thank the board, chapter and division
presidents, and all of you who have been willing to march hand in hand with
me and give me the benefit of the doubt and your trust and confidence during
my four years as president.
I also want to thank my family for their patience and enduring love and
support. They are a behind-the-scenes team, and I'm sorry that many of you
have not had the opportunity to meet my wife and daughters often. They do
not like the spotlight, but believe me, I could not have done or continue to
do what I do without their unwavering devotion and support. If I had needed
them to step up publicly, they would have been there.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Do not go where the path may lead. Go
instead where there is no path and leave a trail." It is my hope that I have
left a trail of peace, harmony, unity, and solidarity as well as one of
commitment, outreach, innovation, and inclusion. The blind and visually
impaired in the state of Ohio need this movement. One of my frustrations has
been not being able to convince more so-called successful blind and visually
impaired people to join our ranks. Be that as it may, I can tell you that
each week I received phone calls and emails letting me know of the necessity
of having this affiliate active in many situations. My point is that some
may not think they need us or want to be a part of us, but life has a way of
forcing everyone to change their minds and ideas from time to time. We need
to be there when those who don't think they need us discover how helpful we
can be. Together let's keep blazing those trails and making it possible for
those who need the Federation to find us.

Good Jobs Not Goodwill for the Blind
by Eric Duffy

Editor's note: For a couple of years now the NFB has been pushing
Congress hard to repeal the single section of the Fair Labor Standards Act
that makes an exception to paying the minimum wage. The argument at the time
the Act was made law went like this: everyone knows that disabled people
cannot work competitively. They are sitting at home enduring empty days that
stretch into empty lives. If well-intentioned charities could organize
workshops where such pitiable folk could gather, they could be given simple,
repetitive work activities that would fill their days and give them meaning,
especially if the shops could manage to pay them a pittance for their
efforts.
This was such a heart-warming concept that pretty soon the federal
government got into the act by stipulating that certain kinds of contracts
should be reserved for bidding only by these specialized employers. It
should be mentioned that for-profit companies could get into the subminimum
wage part of this plan by agreeing to hire groups of disabled workers who
could assemble widgets for them at these reduced wages.
This dandy system has now lasted for sixty-four years. The sheltered
workshops solicit funds from the general public and sometimes even pull down
grant money. In fact 46 percent of their income is from public funds. They
pay no taxes, and they solicit assembly contracts from companies made to
feel good for employing the handicapped.
Because the requirement is only that 75 percent of the line workers must be
disabled, management has mostly been the preserve of the nondisabled. These
white-collar employees, it must be pointed out, have not had any limits
placed on their salaries. Top management in these charities earn well into
six figures. The CEO of Goodwill Industries, for example, earns $500,000.
For a long time we have known that sheltered shop workers have been
short-changed by this system. If you are being paid piece-rate wages, your
income depends on how many widgets you can turn out an hour. If the guy that
delivers the material for assembly is slow or is assigned to do something
else when you run out of it, you simply sit and wait, and of course you do
not earn money during the down time. If your equipment is out-dated or
defective, you lose efficiency. If you are assigned to do work that is
particularly difficult for you to do because of your disability, you will
earn much less than others. Fifty percent of workers employed under
certificates of exemption earn less than half the minimum wage, and 25
percent earn less than a dollar an hour.
We know that all these things happen because, as we have convinced
shops employing blind workers to pay at least the minimum wage and begin
offering benefits, they have become more efficient and are still making
enough money to continue operating. But a disturbing number of sheltered
shops continue to argue that they are actually training workers who will be
able to move on to competitive employment once they have learned the skills
they are being taught. The trouble with this argument is that 95 percent of
those working under certificates of exemption never leave sheltered
employment.
This was the situation this summer when the NFB's national office
called for a boycott of Goodwill Industries across the country.
Goodwill was actively pressuring Congress not to repeal Section 14(c), and,
while many of its sheltered shops were paying the minimum wage or above,
many were not. Goodwill has the respect of the general public, so we decided
that we needed to conduct informational pickets about the situation in the
hope of broadening the boycott and encouraging the Goodwill Industries
programs that were already doing the right thing to pressure their
colleagues to tighten their operations and do the same. That was the
situation in early August, which is where NFB of Ohio First Vice President
Eric Duffy takes up the tale.

Goodwill Industries has long been a household name associated with
providing jobs and training for the disabled. It is safe to say that most
Americans are at least familiar with Goodwill-operated thrift stores. But
what very few Americans recognize is that many Goodwill Industries shops
have for many years reaped a significant amount of their income directly
from the sweat of the workers they are supposed to serve. Goodwill has done
so legally under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of
1938. In accordance with section 14(c), organizations and companies that
employ numbers of disabled employees can apply for a certificate permitting
them to pay less than the minimum wage. This is a law that the National
Federation of the Blind and other advocacy groups are determined to change.
Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio joined our
brothers and sisters around the nation on Saturday, August 25, 2012, between
the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in an informational protest to inform
the public of this legal but immoral practice on the part of Goodwill
Industries. Our Cleveland and Cuyahoga chapters joined forces to create a
strong presence at a Cleveland area Goodwill store. We also fielded protests
in Elyria and Columbus. Everyone involved agreed that the weather was
oppressively hot and that we all had other things to do with that Saturday.
However, everyone also agreed that the federal law and the widespread
practice of paying disabled workers subminimum wages must be changed. So,
armed with picket signs and one-page fliers stating our case, we went to
work.
Under current law the disabled are the only group legally paid less
than the federal minimum wage. Section 14 (c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act was passed at a time when very few disabled people were employed at all.
As a result of this single section of a law that is meant to protect
workers, entities such as Goodwill Industries are permitted to pay disabled
workers as little as pennies per hour to do jobs that nondisabled workers
are guaranteed at least a federal minimum wage for performing. These very
same employers receive lucrative federal contracts reserved for producers
who employ the disabled.
Goodwill Industries is not the only entity guilty of participating
in this legal but immoral discrimination. Other employers run what are
almost always segregated workplaces, sometimes called "sheltered workshops,"
that employ workers with various disabilities, including sensory, physical,
and cognitive or developmental disabilities.
Federal law requires that certain goods and services procured by the federal
government be purchased from these sheltered workshops in order to provide
workers with disabilities with employment, but these workers do not have the
same protections that other American workers have. Over 300,000 workers with
disabilities do not receive the federal minimum wage.
People with disabilities should have the right and most have the ability to
work in the same jobs earning the same wages as nondisabled workers. There
are many examples of individuals with significant disabilities who, when
provided the proper training and support, have acquired a competitive job
skill to earn at least the minimum wage.
Research has demonstrated that few if any workers, disabled or nondisabled,
acquire competitive job skills through performing menial tasks in sheltered,
segregated, subminimum-wage work. We must set higher expectations and
provide real training and support for all people if they are to become fully
participating members of society.
As far as we know, Goodwill Industries in Ohio pay workers at least the
minimum wage, but Goodwill Industries workers in many states are not so
lucky. That is why it is imperative that the Goodwill operations that have
found a way to treat their workers fairly must exert pressure from inside
the organization on the ones that do not.
Fifty organizations representing disabled people have joined us in urging
Goodwill Industries in the United States to do what the organization has
already done in Canada-insist that all workers be paid at least the minimum
wage. If Canada can manage to do business by doing what is right, Goodwill
Industries in the U.S. should be able to do the same.
Our work did not end at 1:00 p.m. on the 25th of August when we left
the Goodwill locations. We must eliminate this discriminatory provision of
the FLSA, and it is up to all of us to do it. On October 4, 2011,
Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Congressman Tim Bishop
(D-NY) introduced the Fair Wages for Workers With Disabilities Act of
2011 (H.R. 3086). This bill would phase out Section 14(c) of the FLSA over a
three-year period, leading to the eventual repeal of this unfair,
discriminatory, immoral provision. Call or email your member of the U.S.
House of Representatives today, and ask him or her to cosponsor this
legislation. Ask your friends, neighbors, and family members to do the same.
This is another way in which we can work together and change what it means
to be blind.


The 66th NFB of Ohio Convention
A Facelift for Our Favorite State Gathering by Sheri Albers

Editor's note: Sheri Albers chairs our Convention Arrangements
Committee. Here are her reminders about the NFB of Ohio convention November
2 to 4:

It is now August, and we are looking forward to the state convention
in Dayton. We will again be at the Wyndham Garden Dayton South Hotel,
31 Prestige Plaza Drive, Miamisburg. The convention schedule has been
substantially reorganized this year with a convention session on Friday
afternoon, so do not plan to travel to Dayton in time for the evening
activities! If you do, you will have missed a good third of the actual
convention sessions. The board meeting will begin at 11:00 a.m., and J.W.
assures us that it will last only an hour. We believe that this schedule
will enable everyone to travel early Friday morning and therefore save on
one night of hotel expense.
Our room rate is $75 a night plus tax for all rooms. Remember that
this excellent rate vanishes when our room block is released on October 12,
so make your reservation today by calling the hotel, (937) 434-8030. Tell
the reservations clerk that you are part of the NFB group, and be sure that
the hotel is aware of any special needs when making your room reservations.
For example, if you need a wheelchair-accessible room or a room close to the
elevators, let them know. The accompanying article provides some important
information about the layout of our hotel.
Please preregister for the convention because doing so gives us more
accurate information about meal counts and room setups. To encourage you to
preregister, we provide some financial saving to those who do so. The
deadline for preregistering is October 19. I urge you to take this deadline
seriously. We often hear pleas to grant the preregistration discounts to
late registrants because the member really intended to get the form and
check in by the deadline but just didn't get organized soon enough. We
provide as much time as we can, but we absolutely must enforce the cut-off
date so that we have time to process the registrations we have actually
received before leaving for the convention.
Here are some important things to remember when planning for the
convention. The first full convention event is the board of directors
meeting on Friday at 11:00 a.m. This will be your first chance to meet our
national representative, Kevan Worley, executive director of the National
Association of Blind Merchants and a successful businessman and Federation
leader in Colorado. We expect our two scholarship winners to be there as
well. They are Kyle Perkins, who will be a freshman majoring in computer and
informational science at the Ohio State University, and Kaitlin Shelton, who
is beginning at the University of Dayton in music therapy.
After a quick lunch, we will gather for the Friday afternoon
convention session. The Membership Committee will conduct a seminar
following convention recess. That evening the vendors and the
Members-at-Large will meet as will the Resolutions and Nominating
Committees.
For the second year the Ohio division of the National Association to
Promote the Use of Braille (NAPUB) will sponsor the presentation of a radio
play, this year an episode of Our Miss Brooks by the Not the Royal
Shakespeare Company, directed by Bob Pierce. The group's presentation of an
episode of Fibber McGee and Mollie was one of the highlights of last year's
convention. Admission will be $5, and it will be worth every penny.
Saturday we will have a morning convention session and the usual
NAPUB continental breakfast meeting and lunch meetings of parents, seniors,
guide dog users, and students. The students will probably bring in pizza,
but the other groups should be sure to sign up for the meal associated with
their meetings.
The parents will conduct a seminar during the afternoon, but we are
leaving the schedule open so that everyone else can take a good look at the
technology on display from noon to five. The banquet will begin at six this
year, and we will continue partying after the banquet. The Sunday morning
session will include a brief memorial service, affiliate elections, a
discussion of NFB philosophy and affiliate history, as well as a brief
business meeting. We will adjourn at noon.
We hope that you will make plans now to join us at this year's
convention. You will be sorry if you miss it, and so will we. Anyone with
questions or concerns about convention arrangements is welcome to contact me
by email at <salbers1 at cinci.rr.com> or by cell (513) 886-8697.


Navigating the Wyndham Garden Dayton South Hotel by Barbara Pierce

Editor's note: The following article is reprinted from last summer's
newsletter. The layout of the hotel has not changed in the intervening year,
so we are running it again for your convenience. Here it is:

The first thing you need to keep in mind about the Wyndham Garden is
that it is a holodome property. That is, its central architectural feature
is an atrium with recreational facilities: pool, hot tubs, pool table, and a
game room. The guest rooms on all three floors circle this atrium. The rooms
on the inside of the circle have sliding glass doors that overlook the pool
and room doors on the opposite wall that give access to the corridors that
in turn give access to the outside and lead to the public rooms of the
hotel. You cannot lock the glass sliding doors from outside the room, so you
should not leave your room that way unless someone can lock the door from
the inside after you leave.
The main entrance of the hotel is on its east wall, toward the north
end. You pass through two sets of doors to reach the lobby. Just inside the
inner doors of this main entrance, on both the left and right side, are
small board-type meeting rooms, and the front desk is on the west wall of
the lobby, not far in front of you. If you turn right (north) at the desk,
you can turn left (west) at the north end of the desk and walk toward the
ballroom, which runs north/south along the west side of the hotel. A foyer
along the length of the ballroom gives access to the various sections of the
ballroom on the west side of the foyer. If, instead of walking south along
the ballroom, you turn first right and then left, you will find the
restaurant and bar at the northwest corner of the building.
To reach the guest rooms, return to the front desk and turn left so
that you are walking south toward the atrium. On the right you will pass an
archway that gives access to the ballroom foyer about halfway down its
length. Continuing south along the carpeted corridor, you will find
sectional seating in the middle of the hall at a point when the space opens
into an art gallery. At the south end of this central seating you can angle
east or west to find corridors giving access to the wooden guest-room doors,
which have raised and Braille room numbers as required by the ADA. If you
choose to go straight south instead of angling, you will reach the
northernmost of the two elevators. Turning left or right at the elevator
will take you straight east or west to doors giving access to stairwells.
The one on the east side is door 1, and the one on the west end is door 4.
At the ground-floor level these stairwells, as well as doors 2 and 3 at the
far ends of the corridors, each contain a door to the outside, a door to the
atrium, the door you just walked through, and a door to the connecting
guest-room corridor. The stairs to the upper floors are also in this
uncarpeted area. By the way, your room key will open the outside doors,
which are kept locked. You will find the box for inserting the key card to
the right of the door on the outside. The grassy dog relief area is just
outside door 4. A trash receptacle will be available outside that door.
To grasp the guest-room layout, think of the hotel as an arrow with
the corridor leading from the front desk to the elevator already mentioned
as the shaft of the arrow. The arrowhead is the guest-room area with the
pool atrium in the center of the arrowhead. Parallel corridors make a
circuit around the arrowhead with a flattened tip, that is, not coming to a
point. The south elevator actually faces south and is located at the extreme
southern end of the hotel. The innermost of the parallel  corridors circles
the atrium with a chest-high wall separating the hallway from the drop to
the atrium.
The outside wall of this corridor contains the glass sliding doors to the
rooms. Most of the ground-floor rooms are located only on the outside wall
of the hotel, though near the northern elevator the wheelchair-accessible
rooms are located on both sides of the outer hallway. If you need an
accessible room, be sure to mention that fact when you make your
reservation.
If you take the time to study this description, it should give you a
place to begin learning the layout of the convention hotel. Remember that we
plan to be at this facility for the next three years, so you will have
plenty of time to become familiar with it.


My First NFB National Convention
by Emily Pennington

Editor's note: Emily Pennington will be a first-year student this fall at
Xavier University in Cincinnati. She is an extraordinarily poised and bright
young woman. She attended her first national convention this summer as a
national scholarship winner. Not only do these lucky thirty scholars get a
trip to the convention and scholarship awards of at least $4,000, but they
spend the week with individual mentors drawn from Federation leaders whose
job is to see that they get to meet the people they want to and take full
advantage of the convention experience. Here is Emily's description of her
experience:

When I got the call from Cathy Jackson telling me that I was one of the
thirty NFB national scholarship winners, I was incredulous. After all, I was
about to graduate from high school, and it is rare for people my age to win
something so prestigious. I was prepared not to get it this year and to keep
on applying. When my family and I found out that I had won, we were excited
and proud because it was such a great honor.
At the same time I was extremely nervous. After all, my family and I had
attended a few state conventions when I was younger, and we knew some people
who were in the NFB, but our lives were so busy that we had never been to a
national convention. It was safe to say that we have always been on the
fringes of NFB life.
Before I left, my family and I prepared as much as possible. My suitcase was
full of nice clothes, and I had the convention agenda, hotel description,
and restaurant menus on my BrailleNote Apex. I also made a point of
contacting the mentors I would have during the week.
Just talking to them reassured me. They all told me that I would have the
time of my life at convention; in fact, Kim Williams from Tennessee
described it as "a vacation after which you come home exhausted but feeling
fulfilled." With those words I felt much more ready to go.
I will admit that the first part of convention was very emotional for me. I
hadn't really been home all summer, I had just said goodbye to my family and
my boyfriend at the airport, and I felt a little overwhelmed exploring the
hotel and meeting everyone. Even so, the experience was unforgettable. One
of my favorite aspects of convention was how grown-up and independent I
truly had to be. I tried each day to look my best because the scholarship
winners attended several formal events, and I wanted to make a good
impression on those who could see me.
I was also in charge of feeding myself; the hotel had several restaurants,
and as a scholarship winner I got an allotted amount of money for that
purpose. I had to keep a tally on how much I spent each day and make sure I
ate well enough so I wouldn't get one of my vicious migraines. Even when my
father came down to Dallas for something work-related so that he could go to
the banquet, I was so scheduled that our paths didn't cross much.
In addition to the increased independence, I loved learning more about the
NFB by attending things like the resolutions committee meeting and general
sessions. I was expecting it to be formal, and there was protocol to be
followed, but those major gatherings made me feel like I was really in a
community. I enjoyed listening to great speakers like Scott LaBarre and of
course President Maurer, forming more concrete viewpoints on the issues they
talked about and the resolutions that could be controversial.
I learned a lot from my mentors too. Whenever I compared notes with
different scholarship winners and convention veterans on who my mentors
were, they all told me that I had struck gold, and I really had. I got a
chance to get to know some of the greats like Cathy Jackson, Pam Allen,
Garrick Scott, Ever Lee Hairston, and Carla McQuillan; they all had such
different personalities, and getting to hear some of their stories was
really intriguing. The scholarship winners and I all agreed that we wished
we had had more time with our mentors.
I came to the NFB convention because I was a scholarship winner, but I left
with way more than money and a wonderful bag of Kurzweil goodies.
That week taught me just how independent I can be, which is very important
since I will soon embark on my college career. I want not only to succeed
academically but also to become as independent and successful as my mentors
have been. I left Dallas feeling way more like an adult than I have since I
turned eighteen. Kim Williams was right; I came home exhausted, but feeling
very fulfilled.


Helping with Emergency Preparedness
by Debbie Baker

Editor's note: The Springfield chapter has found an interesting and unusual
community service activity. Debbie Baker describes it in the following
article. This is what she says:

Eight members of the NFB of Springfield participated in a mock disaster
shelter exercise on Tuesday, August 7, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
at Tecumseh Middle School in New Carlisle, Ohio. We were transported to the
school in vans owned by United Senior Services of Springfield and ushered to
classrooms, where we received instructions about the roles we were to assume
during the emergency preparedness exercise.
Members from other disability groups and ethnic minorities also participated
as people seeking shelter.  The exercise was sponsored and coordinated by
the Clark County Emergency Management Agency under the direction of Kenneth
Johnson.
When we were briefed after entering a classroom, we were given a number that
was then announced when it was time for each individual to report to shelter
staff. At the time we received our numbers, we were assigned a role to play
when speaking with the staff, who interviewed us and filled out the
necessary paperwork to keep track of everyone and the reason each
participant had sought shelter.
For example, my role was to tell shelter staff that my service dog needed
food and water because I had none. I also carried an empty medicine bottle
and was told to inform staff that my medication needed to be refrigerated.
The scenario assigned to another chapter member was that she had lost her
long cane during the disaster and needed a replacement. Still other NFB
members were not given specific roles but were instead to play themselves.
One, for example, needed dialysis three times a week. Another was to be
carefully monitored because in the past he had suffered both a heart attack
and a stroke. Shelter staff members were required to read the shelter rules
to each interviewee. These included things like no smoking except in
designated areas outside the shelter, no alcohol on the premises, show
respect to all shelter staff and fellow participants, etc.
Some people said that their roles included simulating hysteria or hostility
as might actually happen following a disaster. Ken Johnson asked some of us
to try out the army cots so that we would be familiar with the probable
sleeping accommodations.
During the 4:00 wrap-up and feedback session, volunteer Red Cross members
and medical professionals reported that, in the event of an actual
emergency, they would have been dangerously shorthanded for accommodating
individual intake interviews, meeting medical needs, etc. Participants
commented that, if they had been told, for example, that they would have
cribs and diapers to accommodate their infants, they had not been informed
whether anyone was following through and how soon they could expect the
cribs and diapers. Most who remained for the feedback discussion agreed that
the exercise had been worthwhile and that simulations should be planned and
executed regularly to work out the kinks.

Activities Calendar
October, Meet the Blind Month
October 15, White Cane Safety Day
October 21, 5K Run/Walk Benefit, Columbus, Ohio November 1, beginning of the
Braille Readers Are Leaders contest November 2-4, National Federation of the
Blind of Ohio annual convention, Wyndham Garden Dayton South Hotel in
Miamisburg November 29 and 30, National board of directors meeting December
1, Deadline for expressing interest in Washington seminar


National Federation of the Blind of Ohio 2012 Convention Preregistration
Wyndham Garden Dayton South Hotel
31 Prestige Plaza Drive, Miamisburg November 2nd - November 4th
Please complete and return this form by October 19, even if someone
else is reserving a room for you. Mail the completed form and check made
payable to NFB of Ohio for registration and meal reservations to P.O. Box
458, Athens, OH  45701-0458.  Preconvention rates are dependent on receipt
of payment before the convention.  If you are preregistering and buying
tickets for others, on the back of this form please list their names as they
should appear on name tags. All costs will be higher if you register at the
convention. Ticketed activities are listed below. Indicate the number of
reservations for each event.

Saturday NAPUB Breakfast: $12 ($15 at the door) ________
$_______________
how many?

Saturday boxed lunch: $15 ($18 at the door)      Mark the number of
lunches ordered for each activity: _____Parent(s)  _____Senior(s)
_____ Ohio Association Of Guide Dog Users $_______________

Banquet: $25 _____meat     $22 _____ vegetarian            ($30 at
the door)       ($27 at the door)
$_______________


Convention registration prior to convention: $10 _________
$_______________
          ($15 at the door) how many?


Total check enclosed:
$_______________ Registrations or meal
orders without payment will not be valid.  NAME: (for name tag)
______________________________________________________  ADDRESS:
_______________________________________________________________
CITY/STATE/ZIP:
_________________________________________________________  TELEPHONE:
____________________EMAIL:__________________________________  I wish to make
a donation (always appreciated) of $____________ to the National Federation
of the Blind of Ohio. My check is enclosed. (Make check payable to the NFB
of Ohio.)




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NFBAffiliatePresidents mailing list
NFBAffiliatePresidents at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbaffiliatepresidents_nfbnet.org 
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