[NFBSATX] Meeting Minutes for the month of June 19, 2021 San Antonio Chapter

[Amelia Pellicciotti]

National Federation of the blind, San Antonio Chapter
Amelia Pellicciotti, Secretary
June 19, 2021

Meeting comes to order at 11:35 a.m.
It was suggested that the meeting be recorded by one of the members in
attendance for information gathering purposes. Amelia asked if
everyone gave their consent to be recorded. All members verbally
indicated consent by saying yes.
 For anouncements, Wendy reminded the group that national convention
is coming up shortly.
go to nfb.org/convention
The convention  lasts from July 6, to July 10, and there are several
streaming venues.   A stand up comedy event will take place  before
the convention on July 5.
 The agendas are available on several platforms including NFB newsline
and the NFB website.
you can connect with other convention attendies on the crowd compass
app, and all of the zoom links, calendars and the exhibit hall will
all conveniently be in one place.
Your convention experience Also includes described audio tours of four
sights around Maryland.
Next, We purchased a zoom license for the chapter for 1 year
The fundraiser ends tomorrow, on June 20  at noon, so if you would
still like to buy tickets there is one day to go.
The winner has a chance at an air fryer or an echo show 8.
We have sold 118 tickets and we had a $50 donation.
 Since Several members do not use paypal,  we created  cash app and
venmo accounts.
 The User ID is the exact same on every single one of them, it is sanantonionfb.
we discussed last month having a mobile clinicc sponsored with another
blindness organization, but many folks have already been vaccinated,
and there is not enough interest.
instead, we are going to have a blood drive in honor of the late Roman
Ramirez. It will take place at the donor Pavilion. The blood drive is
tentatively scheduled for our October meeting. In the past,  the donor
staff provided a pizza party and loned us a meeting space.
Frank Carrillo would like to add that blood is needed very severely
and Texas is facing a critical shortage due to the pandemic.
Wendy anounced that Jose Martinez recommended Amelia for a spot on the
Mayor's disability access advisory committee with the city of San
Antonio.
Wendy attended a Webinar with the San antonio police force about how
to train officers to better communicate with disabled persons. Since
Members from the San Antonio police force pointed out that they were
not able to get in contact with any blindness organization yet for
guidance and training, Wendy offered assistance through our Chapter.
We have not heard back from the police department as of yet. Norma
Crosby suggested the NFB courtesy rules would be a good starting point
for officers in training.
Next, Wendy Walker and the rest of the board had a meeting with
Disability Rights Texas on June 13 to discuss any accessibility
barriers our members have had with HUD and transportation, the public
utility, or any municipal or federal program related to our access
rights during the Winter storm and Covid 19 disaster. Disability
rights Texas are a group of attorneys which specialize in issues
related to housing or transportation, where disaster planning was not
put into place to assist or accomodate our members.
Wendy is going to post a link on all of our platforms with a short
survey from disability Rights Texas. They may contact you to follow up
about your experiences, and will try to mediate with the housing
authority or other entities first to resolve any problems with
inequitable  disaster planning. On an individual basis, Wendy states
she is willing to provide contact info for disability rights Texas to
members who are struggling with access to government resources.
Next, Wendy will have everyone on the list in alphabetical order
introduce themselves. Wendy asked our members to please tell us a bit
about themselves, and what careers or hobbies that they each take part
in.
Heather Albright introduced herself, she lives in Helotes and is going
to school in the fall.
Heather is deaf blind.
Kimberly Christianson is next for intro, she was a member of the
Loanstar Chapter and in the Florida asociation of blind students, she
is deaf blind, and is a mom of a four year old girl. Kimberly and
Harper completed bell accademy yesterday, they are attending
convention.
Kimberly is hoping to go to New Orleans next year.
Frank Carrillo is next for introductions, he is the vice president of
San Antonio Chapter. He is a foodie, Frank has been blind since 2012,
and  He is a plummer.
Atreyu is next, for introductions
Atreyu Dunson, is 28 years old. Atreyu attended Chris Cole, as well as
finished at San Antonio College and started at UTSA in the spring.
Next is Margaret Howel, she is a teacher of the visually impaired she
has a literary braille certification, and is a teacher of hearing
impaired students.
Margaret does have glaucoma.
Margaret enjoys teaching.
Next, Michael Guahardo is the supervisor of the assistive technology
department at the San Antonio Lighthouse for the blind, he does
training and evaluations, he has been asociated with the NFB for many
years.
Michael is working on his master's in organizational communications.
Michael is looking forward to self-publishing a trilogy of novels. He
enjoys technology carioke and reading.
Next, Jeremy Mesqueda is from San Antonio, is a father of two with a
six and nine year old. He would like to learn about blindness services
and cane training. He is a chef, and is learning how to cook without
sight.
Rubin Rincon just moved to San Antonio from Galveston a month ago. He
did a semester at grad school online with UTSA in the childhood and
early education program.
Rubin taught music to elementary school for eight years, and taught
spanish at private school for 4 years.
Amelia Pellicciotti introduced herself. She is studying Cyber Security
at Northwest Vista College, and loves to read, play dungeons and
dragons and try all kinds of new technology and operating systems.
Jenny Salinas is a native San Antonian, she had juvenile  rumatoid
arthritis and it effected her eyesight.
Jenny was able to finish highschool and college, Jenny performs as a
blind person on stage in the theater.
She worked for Southwest Airlines,
Jenny is working on cane skills,
Jenny would like to encourage members that there are always more
opportunities to learn and that new things are available. She would
also like to encourage blind people to seek mentoring in a chosen
field
Harry Staley is 44 he has a nine month old, he is learning to care for
his daughter by using  nonvisual techniques.
Harry received a job as a data scientist with the Department of defense.
Harry is the treasurer of the texas asociation of blind students, and
he is on the board for the national devision of computer science.
Wendy introduced herself, she is also a cyber security student.
She would like to share that there are many workshops on accessible
technology, but information can be learned by sharing and talking with
others.
She used to be a blind vendor in California.
Wendy believes that resources such as email lists are invaluable, for
tools such as technology such as jaws and learning the office suite.
Finally, Amelia suggested that official business stop and that the
recording can conclude, so that members can chat about tips more
informally.
The meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m. and materials such as the meeting
chat and recording will be sent out the following week.