[Nfbsf] Tomorrow's Meeting

[Daveed Mandell]

Hello, everyone: I have some concerns related to two pieces of legislation of the NFB is working on. I like the spirit of the legislation but I have some problems with it. First of all, why do we ask for minimum standards relating to the accessibility of medical equipment and home appliances? Why didn’t we just omit the word minimum? This is been a problem with the United States. That our accessibility standards are indeed minimal and often lag behind those of Europe and other countries. I think the NFB needs to look much more closely at accessibility standards of the rest of the world. We have Fred Schroeder who is president of the world blind union in our midst which we are very lucky to have. I would like to see Fred expound on accessibility standards and where the United States finds itself compared to the rest ofsay, the industrialized world. The other concern I have is with the affordable technology act. Aren’t we calling for a three-year tax credit of just $2000? So if someone needs to buy or wants to buy a braille note taker the cost something like 6000 or $7000, how is that person going to obtain that piece of assistive technology? Why aren’t we aiming hire as much as say $10,000 tax credit?  Why don’t we request that assistive technology be heavily subsidized for all people with disabilities because of it’s incredibly expensive costs? Why don’t we asking for a pension for all people with disabilities such as available in many other countries, to offset the cost of living with a disability? Why are Americans so afraid to do these things? Why must we couch this in terms of tax credits? I have lived in countries where all kinds of basic goods, not just for blind people, who is subsidized to allow the poor to live more decently. Why do Americans think that we always have to mask such assistance in terms of tax credits when most poor people don’t even pay taxes? I suppose I lived overseas so long, that I’ve adopted the mindset that most Americans don’t understand. But I think it’s worth discussing. See you tomorrow evening! Best regards to all, David.Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 7, 2019, at 1:59 PM, Christina Daniels via NFBSF <nfbsf at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Hi Folks,



A few notes about our meeting tomorrow night:



  1.

  We’ll talk a bit about the upcoming Washington Seminar, the NFB
  priorities for seminar, and how to get involved in talking to our
  Congresspeople at the local level. We’ll discuss visiting the local offices
  of our representatives. This is a great way to get involved if you are not
  going to Washington Seminar.
  2.

  We’ll talk about a new committee that’s formatting in our chapter. We’re
  putting together a committee to welcome new members, educate about the NFB,
  work on outreach, and more.
  3.

  It’s 2019, and dues are due in February. You may of course pay your dues
  tomorrow. For 2019, our dues are $10 for the entire year.
  4.

  If you want to donate money towards food for February, please bring it
  tomorrow. You may also use your dues payment as your food donation.
  5.

  February will be elections. We elect half the positions each year. In
  2019, Secretary, Treasurer and Board Position #2 are up for election. I
  will talk more about how the election process works and we’ll discuss any
  questions, you may have.



Thank you to Ed for talking care of food for January!



If there is anything else you’d like added to the agenda, please let me
know,



See you tomorrow!



Christina
_______________________________________________
NFBSF mailing list
NFBSF at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbsf_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBSF:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbsf_nfbnet.org/daveedmandell%40gmail.com