[NFBNJ] Action requested: procuring student testimonies

[joe ruffalo]

Greetings to all!
Once again, we have the opportunity to have our voices heard.
Please read through the message, submit your testimony and continue to raise 
expectations to live the life we want.
Make your voices heard!

Do not wait for someone else to provide testimony, get to it!
Let’s exceed the number of testimonies requested.

Warmly,
Joe

**

From: Elizabeth Rouse
Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2019 1:19 PM
To: Jonathan Zobek ; Kathryn Webster, National Student President ; Trisha 
Kulkarni ; joe ruffalo
Subject: Action requested: procuring student testimonies
Good afternoon Joe and Jonathan,
I am writing to request for you and your student membership’s participation
in a very important initiative for the National Association of Blind
Students. As of Friday, AIM High, or H.R. 5312, was dropped in the House of
Representatives! This bill works to create guidelines for accessibility
standards in higher education, and now we need to share our stories with
Congress so that they know the importance of this bill to the success of
blind students everywhere!

We would really appreciate your state’s contribution by asking students to
write short testimonies about a time each student faced an accessibility
challenge with educational materials and what the passage of AIM High would
mean to him/her. Students can submit statements through this Google form
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf68TacBetKMAHZcMhGJLmYgeWDIjjpSm9Sz1OUwYKxzsIEAg/viewform?usp=sf_link>.
Our goal is to get at least 3 testimonies from every state by December 23,
a week from tomorrow. We will be sharing these stories with your
representatives on social media, by email, and in person. Here is an
example from NABS Secretary Mausam Mehta.

“Last August, I was really excited to dive into the prerequisite coursework
for my perspective program at the University of Virginia. As a sophomore,
pursuing a degree in business and economics, I quickly discovered
significant access barriers, primarily in the form of inaccessible
instructional systems in accounting that I could not use independently with
my assistive technology. This forced me to rely on a sighted counterpart to
input my work, frustrating me to not be able to fully take charge of my
academic aspirations. Unfortunately, this issue is not unique to
accounting. Inaccessible materials are a preventable reality for blind
students, and right now, our representatives have the power to take an
important step in reducing these barriers across the country. I strongly
urge Congress to pass AIM High (HR5312) to ensure that blind students, like
myself, can be competitive applicants for top programs without the
lingering question of access slowing us down.”

Please reach out to me directly at elizabethrouse.nfb at gmail.com with any
questions.

Thank you so much for your investment in our movement!
Elizabeth
-- 
Elizabeth Rouse
Chair | Fundraising Committee
Board Member | National Association of Blind Students
A proud division of the National Federation of the Blind
www.nabslink.org
elizabethrouse.nfb at gmail.com
563-210-1854 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20191216/90247a21/attachment.html>