[NFBV-Announce] News you can use. May 28th

Sun May 28 23:33:04 UTC 2023

Career Opportunities.

Please see below a job posting for a paralegal-reader to work with two blind
attorneys at the Department of Justice. Though the position supports work in
the section that has cases in the Western Region, meaning California and
other West Coast locations, the position is in the DC area. 

Please distribute to those who you think may be interested.

Vacancy Announcement -  Paralegal Specialist (Special Assistant), Civil
Trial Section, Western Region

The Tax Division is advertising for a Paralegal Specialist (Special
Assistant) for the Civil Trial Section, Western Region.  Interested
applicants are encouraged to apply.  More information about the position and
the application procedures can be found at
https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/725960500  (merit
promotion/special hiring authorities ) and
https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/725961500 (open to the public). 

Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 12, 2023. 

Ronza Othman, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

Things to do and places to go.

Port Warwick Summer Concert Series Kick Off

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The
<https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017JP5nrIDt2WO-rFvvhvvdsUEOyIilcNFlYjGnpuK5h8
e3tHlDJPduMCppwJFuxw15NBOKgu12_ErXUEW6SfAg4HAwN3XWsPmIymOOTwDVQuElS_aly0SeNP
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W8fmpaJ3tgSgctiOcXZy8CjNPSjXXg==> 2023 Port Warwick Summer Concert Series
begins May 24, and runs every Wednesday through Aug. 30, from 6 - 9 p.m. at
William Styron Square in Newport News.

These concerts are free, family-friendly, and open to all.
<https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017JP5nrIDt2WO-rFvvhvvdsUEOyIilcNFlYjGnpuK5h8
e3tHlDJPduE_xVyI8Vq2WoE1TxO_NHXefqV5Y5I-VplXKbLpT9ZDG2Q43y8BmPHCD0IEwGs1AiYj
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pP9aCL8h0g==&ch=d34C4N120h2wJR42CSCdZAOtW8fmpaJ3tgSgctiOcXZy8CjNPSjXXg==>
View the entire summer schedule of bands. Bring your lawn chairs or
blankets, tents are reserved for sponsors. Pack a picnic or select from food
trucks: Big

Daddy's BBQ, Boyd's Tasty Dogs, Pop's Kettle Corn, Kona Ice, and Scratch
Bakery

or take out from one of the many Port Warwick restaurants, and BYOB. 

This Wednesday
<https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017JP5nrIDt2WO-rFvvhvvdsUEOyIilcNFlYjGnpuK5h8
e3tHlDJPduHT_sVzQG3PujD982lrtJB1aijknMVC-IMDG3A9Vx_wrxjLTnoJ3WJn5L4j-4FkirFs
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DZhFpP9aCL8h0g==&ch=d34C4N120h2wJR42CSCdZAOtW8fmpaJ3tgSgctiOcXZy8CjNPSjXXg==
> BrassWind kicks off the summer with a big horn band sound, Motown, and
R&B.

Weather Policy: Concerts are rain or shine. Should weather conditions cause
a cancelation a decision will be made by 5:30 p.m. and posted on the
<https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017JP5nrIDt2WO-rFvvhvvdsUEOyIilcNFlYjGnpuK5h8
e3tHlDJPduMCppwJFuxw15NBOKgu12_ErXUEW6SfAg4HAwN3XWsPmIymOOTwDVQuElS_aly0SeNP
j7x-x0t7PoOq2MqSdgMuTKA6DcEmNB0xZKhIhKeVbVa7Z0O_IV4J9HDwVuaH_gA==&c=8N39l0jm
G8pPF-KVeHTKaIhifNPlbha_s4db3InvDZhFpP9aCL8h0g==&ch=d34C4N120h2wJR42CSCdZAOt
W8fmpaJ3tgSgctiOcXZy8CjNPSjXXg==> website and
<https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017JP5nrIDt2WO-rFvvhvvdsUEOyIilcNFlYjGnpuK5h8
e3tHlDJPduMCppwJFuxw1G02LmmBWj6I27SZyzj7SV-KH7mImbUav-SsKvHJ2m_w_NtoBvmQvrur
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G8pPF-KVeHTKaIhifNPlbha_s4db3InvDZhFpP9aCL8h0g==&ch=d34C4N120h2wJR42CSCdZAOt
W8fmpaJ3tgSgctiOcXZy8CjNPSjXXg==> Facebook page.

Articles.

Thought I'd share this great article.... 

For blind Naval Academy midshipman, an outlook on graduation unlike any
other

By  

REBECCA RITZEL 

THE CAPITAL, ANNAPOLIS, MD. . May 26, 2023 

  _____  

Midshipman Alberto Destarac was to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy
Friday, May 26, 2023, even though he is going legally blind from a health
condition. (Facebook) 

(Tribune News Service) - Like any responsible college student coping with a
chronic health condition, Alberto Destarac emailed his professors last
August to let them know he may need extra accommodations. 

But for Destarac's professors at the U.S. Naval Academy, a school that ties
graduate rates to the survival of the fittest, the emails were a shock. 

"So, I'm going to be going blind this semester,'" Destarac recalled writing
as he relaxed with his parents at City Dock during Commissioning Week and
reflected on a yearlong roller coaster of diagnostic testing, tough
decisions and unprecedented perseverance. Although Destarac, 23, is not
being commissioned to serve in the U.S. military, given long-standing
policies disallowing blind Americans, he will receive his degree and become,
as far as he knows, the academy's first blind graduate. 

"The academy works on this whole principle that no one who enters has any
medical problems," Destarac said. "They couldn't really kick me out, but I
had to prove that I could stay." 

Over the past nine months, Destarac not only proved he could stay, he
distinguished himself academically, socially and physically. On Monday, he
received the first John Johnson Award for Mental Toughness, an honor
bestowed in memory of a Naval Academy senior who died in a 2020 drowning
accident. 

"John Johnson consistently achieved excellence in every aspect of the USNA
mission," Commandant of Midshipmen J.P. McCollough wrote in a February memo
establishing the award. Lt. Ryan Tran, an engineering instructor and Cdr.
Andrew Ledford, a professor in the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law
at the academy, both thought of Destarac when they saw the memo. Johnson's
family established the award, which comes with an engraved sword and Luminox
Navy SEAL watch. 

For Dr. Luis and Aida Destarac, devoted Catholics who immigrated from
Guatemala to Texas 30 years ago, the award ceremony was bittersweet, filling
them with pride, but also forcing them to confront the reality that due to a
rare degenerative optic nerve condition, their son has no need for a fancy
Swiss watch. 

"We are very emotional," Dr. Destarac said. "He has demonstrated a lot of
determination. He is like a superman. A superhero." 

"I wish I could donate my eyes to you," Aida said, her own brown eyes
welling up with tears as she reached across the table to a son who can no
longer see her. 

The midshipman first noticed his left-eye vision was blurry in March 2022.
He sought testing at Walter Reed Medical Center, and was initially
misdiagnosed with optic neuritis. Steroid shots brought no improvement. But
over the summer, while he was deployed on a training mission, his right eye
also began failing. The realization of how serious the problem was came a
bit later, at a particularly poignant moment; Destarac was flying to London
for a family wedding, and kept waving to his girlfriend, fellow midshipman
Maura Dawson, after she dropped him off at the airport. When Dawson called
later, they were both in tears. 

"I had walked away, and you kept waving," she said. 

"That was a big realization: I couldn't see that well," Destarac recalled.
"That was tough." 

The official diagnosis was confirmed by genetic testing in August: Destarec
had Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, otherwise known as Leber's syndrome.
One of his mother's cousin's sons has the same condition, which afflicts
about one in every 50,000 people, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The
disease affects central vision as if there's a blank space when patients
look straight ahead. Although some Leber's patients retain peripheral
vision, 95% are legally blind by age 50. 

Military medical specialists told Destarac his vision was deteriorating
quickly. Some even advised him to leave the academy, "see the sights" while
he still could, and rethink how to finish college once he had adapted to
vision loss. Another option was to immediately transfer, and given that he
was leaving for medical reasons, he'd be exempt from repaying his Naval
Academy tuition. 

Other schools, Destarac knew, "were going to have a lot more accommodations"
for disabled students. 

"The third option was to try and ride it out," Destarac said, but if his
grades started slipping, and he was kicked out of the academy for failing
academically, he would have to pay back his tuition. 

Destarac chose to ride it out. He sent his fall professors that
I'm-going-blind email and agreed to check in with his battalion officer six
weeks into the semester. 

"Six weeks in, my grades were really good," Destarac said. "I got the best
grades ever this semester and last." 

Tran and Ledworth don't take credit for Destarac's success, but they do
believe "it took a team effort to lift him across the finish line," Tran
said. 

When Destarac joined Tran's Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering class
last fall, the instructor immediately went to his department chair for help
supporting Destarac. Any special technology devices had to be approved by
the provost, as did extensions. Dr. Destarac, a pulmonologist, worked all of
his connections back home at the University of Texas at Tyler and found two
options to help his son: a pair of magnifying goggles that made Destarac
look like he was playing 3D video games in class (he wasn't) and a CCTV
magnifying camera that enlarged documents. He was also given double time to
complete his exams, and even the provost took a turn serving as an exam
proctor. 

"It was a collective effort," Tran said. 

If there was an award for good attendance at office hours, known as "Extra
Instruction" at the Naval Academy, Destarac would win hands down. Often,
Tran and his colleagues would use the time to make giant large-print
photocopies of important charts and graphs to help him memorize everything
from diagrams of ships to principles of thermodynamics. 

What Tran said he'll remember most about Alberto isn't his worsening
blindness, but his never changing good attitude. "He was so positive in
class," the lieutenant said. "He didn't just want to pass, he wanted to do
well, and that's what he did. I didn't just teach him; I'm still processing
what he taught me." 

Despite Destarac's outstanding grades, the U.S. Navy held to a long-standing
policy of not accepting a blind service member because he would not be
"globally deployable." Destarac said heknew flying helicopters was out, but
his Plan B is to become a lawyer, and he would love to have joined the
Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps. 

"I could definitely do a lot there," Destarac said. 

His immigrant parents are especially disappointed that their son won't be
commissioned. "It's so strange," Dr. Destarac said. "Why not, when he has a
real interest in serving the country?" 

Wars these days are not fought "soldier to soldier," Dr. Destarac said,
"They are fought computer to computer." 

The doctor isn't alone in feeling that his blind son still has much to offer
the U.S. Armed Forces. Since 1991, the Baltimore-based National Federation
of the Blind has been lobbying to have the armed forces recruit blind
service members. Christopher J. Danielsen, a blind lawyer and self-described
"Army brat" who serves as director of public affairs for the federation,
said Destarac is a poster student for changing the policy. 

"It is something that we have long advocated needs to be changed," Danielsen
said. "Because there are a lot of talented people who could be serving." 

A resolution passed by the federation in 1991 states that failing to
"exploit fully the resource of qualified blind persons ... would constitute
discriminatory treatment and a denial of their opportunity fully to exercise
their rights and responsibilities as first-class citizens." 

February's Ship Selection night, when seniors receive their first military
assignments, was particularly crushing for Destarac. But he has since
rebounded and was excited to celebrate with friends and family at a
graduation party on Thursday. His immediate plan is to "take a gap a year"
and learn how to be a blind person, from experimenting with technology to
considering getting a service dog. 

"I don't know how to live on my own," he said. Walking around downtown
Annapolis. Destarac cuts an imposing man-in-uniform figure; a 6-foot, 6-inch
former swimmer who needs his father's help navigating sidewalks. 

"I need to master these things," Destarac said. So, he'll relearn how to
walk, take the LSAT, or Law School Admission Test, and go to law school. 

"I think it's something I can do pretty well in," he said. "I'm super
excited for the next challenge." 

(c)2023 The Capital (Annapolis, Md.) 

Visually impaired Accessible technology - BingNews - Wednesday, May 24, 2023
at 9:36 AM

Mastercard rolls out its first inclusive credit card for visually impaired
consumers in the U.S.

Mastercard Inc. will roll out its first U.S. credit card for visually
impaired consumers, done in partnership with Citizens Financial Group. 

C Mastercard 

Citizens' new private-client credit card will feature a square notch on the
side of the card meant to signify to blind and partially sighted customers
that the card is a credit card, the company said Wednesday. Citizens
ultimately intends to roll out the accessible cards across its broader
portfolio, including debit cards, which will feature round notches, and
prepaid cards, which will have triangular notches. 

Load Error

Linda Kirkpatrick, Mastercard's North America president, said she expects
the card to help the 12 million people in the U.S. who are either blind or
partially sighted. 

"It's something you don't necessarily think about when you're not visually
impaired, but this unlocks a lot of potential for those in that scenario,"
she told MarketWatch, as the notches will allow consumers to distinguish
between their cards.

Mastercard began working on the Touch Card technology in 2019, and while
it's done some limited programs internationally, the Citizens card marks the
first time it's implemented a globally consistent standard. 

All cardholders of the new Citizens product will receive cards with the
designated notch, not just customers who are blind or partially sighted.

See also: Mastercard expands relationship with Citizens in exclusive
arrangement
<https://www.marketwatch.com/story/exclusive-mastercard-expands-relationship
-with-citizens-in-exclusive-arrangement-11674133427?mod=search_headline&mod=
article_inline> 

Brendan Coughlin, Citizens' head of consumer banking, said at a media
presentation that Citizens started the Touch Card rollout with its Private
Client World Elite Mastercard simply because the card is new to the market. 

"There wasn't a dramatic strategic reason why private client versus the
non-private client versus the debit card," he said. "The idea is to get into
the whole portfolio and this just happened to be the first product that we
were otherwise innovating on." 

Continue Reading
<https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/mastercard-rolls-out-its-first-in
clusive-credit-card-for-visually-impaired-consumers-in-the-us/ar-AA1bCpuj>
Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. 

http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss
<http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=646e12dcc5194979
99b7befc7c894c62&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.msn.com%2fen-us%2fmoney%2fcompanies%2
fmastercard-rolls-out-its-first-inclusive-credit-card-for-visually-impaired-
consumers-in-the-us%2far-AA1bCpuj&c=4158725818791693254&mkt=en-us>
&aid=&tid=646e12dcc519497999b7befc7c894c62&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.msn.com%2fe
n-us%2fmoney%2fcompanies%2fmastercard-rolls-out-its-first-inclusive-credit-c
ard-for-visually-impaired-consumers-in-the-us%2far-AA1bCpuj&c=41587258187916
93254&mkt=en-us

     David Goldfield 

Assistive Technology Specialist

Goods and services.

Peace,

Jacki Bruce

Corresponding Secretary, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia

RISE/Silver Bells Outreach Coordinator

 <mailto:jackibruce6 at gmail.com> mailto:jackibruce6 at gmail.com
 <tel:(757)291-1789> tel:(757)291-1789
 <http://www.nfb.org/> www.nfb.org
 <http://www.nfbv.org/> www.nfbv.org

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Live the life you want.

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends
who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation's blind. Every day we work
together to help blind people live the lives they want

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