[NFBofAlaska] FW: [BlindTlk] post-convention updates from the NAGDU board

Sat Jul 16 20:47:34 UTC 2022

Hello,

I am sending this note to the list so that those who have guide dogs can get
information on how much this division does to assist and support guide dog
users. If you did not come to convention this year, I invite you to consider
attending next year in Houston, Texas. For more information, please write to
me at lucas.bonnie at gmail.com. 

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindTlk <blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Raul Gallegos -
NAGDU via BlindTlk
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2022 9:27 AM
To: Blind Talk List <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; NFB Talk List
<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Raul Gallegos - NAGDU <rgallegos at nagdu.org>
Subject: [BlindTlk] post-convention updates from the NAGDU board

Hello from the National Association of Guide Dog Users, I hope that everyone
is having a great summer and staying safe. This email is to share a few
updates concerning NAGDU at national convention. Instead of responding to
individual messages that have been posted over the past week, I will
summarize things as best as I can.

The NAGDU Board of Directors. I'd like to introduce the new board as it
stands after elections at convention. To contact the board, you can email
board at nagdu.org. To contact an individual member, use the first initial plus
the last name @nagdu.org, as in rgallegos at nagdu.org or scook at nagdu.org.

President Raul Gallegos, Texas

Vice President Paul Sandoval, Colorado

Secretary Stacie Gallegos, Texas

Treasurer Jessica Snyder, Ohio

Board Member Al Elia, New York

Board Member Brianna Murray, New Jersey

Board Member Steve Cook, South Carolina

Dog Relief Area. This year at convention, NAGDU took a more proactive role
concerning the dog relief area. Because we hired an outside company to
maintain it, we also held a 50/50 raffle to help fund this expense. 
Furthermore, we accepted and are accepting donations to help pay for this
cost. The outside pooper scooper company was in charge of cleaning the area
located in the valet parking area of the Marriott. I had a chance to meet
them, and was able to explain a few things concerning what to expect and a
few other logistical things concerning how we have maintained the dog relief
area in the past. Since this is the first time we have done this, we are
looking for feedback from those who attended in person concerning their
experiences.

Resolutions. This year, NAGDU submitted two resolutions, which passed. 
The resolutions were written by Vice President Paul Sandoval with Stacie and
Raul Gallegos contributing. Both resolutions were concerned with the
continued denials by Uber and Lyft drivers when a blind person with a guide
dog wants to travel. NAGDU will be working with our national organization to
move forward with this. One nice surprise, was that a Lyft representative
was able to join us during the business meeting and was able to answer a lot
of questions and take feedback to give back to Lyft.

Seminar and Business Meetings. Our seminar and business meetings were
successful and were packed with a lot of information. The topic for the
seminar was, awareness is everybody's business, and it focused on learning
best methods of self-advocating and knowing what your rights and
responsibilities are as a guide dog user. The business meeting was equally
packed with information. As already mentioned, we heard from a Lyft
representative, and we also heard the latest in legal updates from Tim Elder
and Al Elia. In addition to the NAGDU yearly report, we also heard from
various state guide dog user divisions and committees.

The Zoom Broadcast. There has been a lot of chatter on the main NAGDU list
about the quality of the Zoom broadcast during the seminar and business
meetings. I realize and acknowledge that there were issues with people not
being able to hear and a few technical issues concerning the screen reader
voice which made things even more difficult to hear. This year, as in past
years, we used a laptop computer to broadcast. As what tends to happen,
things beyond our control changed at the last minute. 
To my knowledge, only NAGDU, and maybe one or two other divisions of the NFB
offered a virtual meeting experience. This is something that we are not
obligated to do, but are very much interested in doing while we have the
resources. With this in mind, we will take better steps with the technical
issues. One solution is to hire the hotel to do the technical setup, so all
we need to do is show up, plug in our equipment, and start broadcasting. As
you can imagine, this option is not our first choice since it is quite
expensive. Another option is to have a dedicated person handle the technical
aspect of broadcasting the meeting. 
Preferably someone who is already at convention and doesn't mind
volunteering their expertise to make it a better experience. This is what we
tried this year, and while the fine folks who assisted with this are truly
technical and know what they are doing, things happened which were out of
their control. My thanks go out to Paul Sandoval and Steve Cook for
everything they did on the technical side considering the challenges. If you
are going to come to convention in the future and would like to volunteer
your technical and audio expertise to make things even better, we will be
open to considering your assistance.

In closing, we would like to hear from you concerning your experience with
the NAGDU meetings and with the dog relief area. If you visit
https://nagdu.org/national-convention you will find two survey links. 
One survey is for the NAGDU meetings, and one is for the dog relief area.
This survey will be open until Friday, July 22. We welcome all constructive
feedback and we will use this feedback to improve things wherever
appropriate. If you need assistance with filling out the survey, please
email board at nagdu.org and we will be happy to help.

-- 

Respectfully,
*Raul A. Gallegos* / President
National Association of Guide Dog Users, /NAGDU/
346.439.7444 | RGallegos at nagdu.org <mailto:rgallegos at nagdu.org> Subscribe to
the NAGDU Public Events Calendar Here
<https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/nagdu.org_7eopjofhnd4968m46rcmgrc
k0s%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics>
Schedule a 30-minute Zoom meeting with me here
<https://app.greminders.com/c/rgatechsolutions/nagdu/>
Join NAGDU on Facebook <https://m.facebook.com/groups/nagdu> | Follow NAGDU
on Twitter <https://twitter.com/nagdu> "Blindness is a characteristic, not a
handicap." -- Dr. Kenneth Jernigan

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