[NFBOH-Cleveland] New Member Orientation Agenda

[Suzanne Turner]

NFB OF Ohio-Cleveland Chapter

Presents

 

New Member Orientation Teleconference Call

 

May 14, 2018

5:00 - 6:30 PM (EDT)

 

CALL: (712) 775-7031

Code: 240281423

 

Note! This call will be recorded for future listeners.

 

The Federation's positive belief system about Blindness.

 

Members of the Federation realized the simple truth, many years ago that
blind people are just people who cannot see-we are not broken sighted
people. Blind people are as different as sighted people are; that is, we are
a cross-section of the broader society and, therefore, are not all alike as
some assume. Blindness is a physical characteristic, but it is not the
characteristic that defines us or our future. It is low expectations and
misconceptions, not blindness itself, that stand between blind people and
our dreams.

Given proper training and opportunity, blind people can and do live the
lives we want. It is respectable to be blind, and, with the right tools and
techniques, blindness may be reduced to the level of a nuisance or
inconvenience. To combat the low expectations, misconceptions, and
stereotypes that are the true barriers to achieving our dreams, the blind
have organized for the same reasons other minorities have-to make positive
social change through collective action. The Federation philosophy provides
an overall framework for thinking about blindness, what it means, and what
it doesn't mean. However, it is not intended to be rigid or dogmatic. As we
just said, blind people are individuals, and we may disagree on any number
of things, including how to handle a given situation as blind people. What
our philosophy does do is give us a positive way of thinking about our
blindness, rather than the negative ways in which we have often been
conditioned to think about it by society. Rather than saying that we as
blind people can't do something, we try to find ways that we can, and to
challenge each other, in a loving way, to always push the envelope and
expand the limits of our independence. As you read further, you'll discover
that, to the extent we need to formulate specific positions about blindness
and the policies related to it, we use a democratic process to arrive at
these positions.

The National Federation of the Blind also provides encouragement and support
to families with blind children and to people who are losing vision or have
become blind later in life, by bringing them into a network of tens of
thousands of blind people who are living full lives and who can serve as
mentors and role models. Together, with love, hope, and determination, the
members of the National Federation of the Blind transform dreams into
reality.

 

Agenda

 

5:00 PM: Welcome 

Suzanne HartfieldTurner, President of NFBOH-Cleveland Chapter 

 

5:05 PM: History of the National Federation of the Blind

Barbara Pierce, President Emerita of NFB Ohio

 

5:15 PM: Program and Services

Lou Ann Blake, Deputy Director of The NFB Jernigan Institute,

 

5:25 PM: Legislative Initiatives and Advocacy

John Pare, NFB Executive director for Advocacy and Policy,

 

5:35 PM: Diversity and Inclusion

Ron Brown, 2nd Vice President of the NFB National Board of Directors

 

5:45 PM: Q and A

 

6:00 PM: Membership and Service

Dr. Carolyn Peters, Chairperson of the NFB Ohio Membership Committee

 

6:10 PM: Experiential Reflections 

Richard Payne, President of the NFB Ohio Affiliate

 

6:20 PM: Q&A

 

Comments and Remarks

Suzanne HartfieldTurner

 

To learn more about the NFB visit:

WWW.NFB.ORG <http://WWW.NFB.ORG>  

 

The NFB Pledge

 

I pledge to participate actively in the effort of the National Federation of
the Blind, 

to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; 

to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its
constitution.

 

////////////

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfboh-cleveland_nfbnet.org/attachments/20180514/1893cd66/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION AGENDA.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 24691 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfboh-cleveland_nfbnet.org/attachments/20180514/1893cd66/attachment.docx>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: Untitled attachment 00783.txt
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfboh-cleveland_nfbnet.org/attachments/20180514/1893cd66/attachment.txt>