[NFBMO] Blind Equality Achievement Month Highlights for the Week of October 9, 2022

[Daniel Garcia]

Dear Friends:
October 1 starts our Blind Equality Achievement Month, and the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri is in the spirit. The layout of these standing meeting emails is going to read a little different for the month.

In each email you will find 4 different categories of topics. The first category is Blind individuals in our NFBMO affiliate. Next we focus on our advocacy efforts to improve equality for the blind.  Then we have a highlight on Achievements that have occurred over the years. Last, as consistent as usual, there will be a list of the standing meetings for each week  as well as  announcements concerning any upcoming Blind Equality Achievement Month events.

The information included in these emails can also be found on our www.nfbmo.org<http://www.nfbmo.org> website and on Facebook. You are encouraged to share this information with friends and family.

There are several ways a person can view these topics for our Blind Equality Achievement Month. The National Federation of the Blind of Missouri Communications team is striving to focus on who is in our beloved federation family, how equality is happening, presenting how achievements are celebrated in the National Federation of the Blind, and  is providing each of you with options on how you can attend one of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri's standing meetings. Let's go spread the word on how the NFB has created a world where blind people can live the lives we want.

Note that if you use screen reading software, you can navigate by heading. Please consult the training manual for your software for instructions on how to do this.

Blind / Individuals who are blind

This week we are highlighting Mr. Dennis Miller the Show Me chapter president. Dennis also serves on the Missouri Affiliate board of directors. Mr. Miller works full-time as a teacher of English as a second language. Dennis is a prime example of following our tag line in the National Federation of the Blind and is living the life he wants.

As someone who as only known Dennis for a few years now, I would have to say he has done much work in the federation. Since legislative season is approaching soon we wanted to make sure and let our legislative director for the NFB of Missouri know how much we appreciate all the things he does.

Equality

When it comes to equality, one of the biggest ways to make this happen is accessible voting  for all. Voting is one of our more important civic duties as Americans and we urge you to exercise this right in the upcoming November mid-term elections. This week the NFB of Missouri will be sending out a press release encouraging blind people and other people with print disabilities to use ballot marking devices; it will be posted in this mailing list for all Missouri Federationists to read.

Achievements

Our newest legislative action, the BRIGHT Act became a reality this year! We are so excited about this achievement we had to share this information with you. Below is a press release we issued on August 8; it generated some media coverage including a short interview with our Public Relations Chair.

For Immediate Release

Governor Parson Signs Legislation That Will Improve Education for Blind Students
Blind Missourians Praise the Passage of the BRITE Act

Kansas City, Missouri (August 8, 2022): Governor Parson recently signed into law SB681 which modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education. Included in this legislation is the BRITE (Blind Students' Rights to Independence, Training, and Education) ACT which was originally introduced by Representative Brenda Shields as HB2150. The BRITE Act consolidates and clarifies the obligations of elementary and secondary schools in Missouri to provide instruction and services to each blind student and makes it clear that none of these services may be denied to a legally blind student simply because they may have some remaining vision.

"In April of 2021, we convened a work group that was made up  of stakeholders to address concerns that had been raised, strengthen the bill text, and garner support for the BRITE Act to be introduced in 2022 by Representative Brenda Shields," said Shelia Wright, President of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri.  "We are excited that this collaborative effort with educators led to the passage of this law which will improve the quality of education for blind Missouri students. We know that given the proper training, blind people can compete in terms of equality with sighted people in today's labor market. This law ensures that blind Missouri students will have the tools they need to obtain employment and live rewarding and productive lives."

Month / weekly Events

Below is a listing of NFB of Missouri standing meetings for the week of October 9, 2022. For meetings that are not held in the affiliate Zoom platform, you will need to contact the chapter president, division president, committee chair, or group chair to get the call-in information. If you are scheduling any ad hoc meetings for the week of October 16, please let me know by Saturday, October 15.

Monday
Show Me Chapter, 6:30 pm.

Tuesday
Jefferson City Chapter, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm.

Wednesday
Governmental Affairs Committee, 8 pm, affiliate Zoom platform.

Friday
Missouri Cane Drivers, 8 pm.

Saturday
Columbia Chapter, 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm.
Kansas City Chapter, 1:30 pm - 3:30pm.

Regards,

Daniel

Daniel Garcia, Corresponding Secretary
National Federation of the Blind of Missouri
dangarcia3 at hotmail.com
(816) 621-0902
www.nfb.org
www.nfbmo.org
Live the life you want


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/attachments/20221009/ca35f06e/attachment.html>