[nfbwatlk] OTC students at WCB conventions
Daniel Frye
danielfrye at earthlink.net
Sun Sep 7 20:26:06 UTC 2014
Colleagues:
I suggest that my friends in Washington State carefully consider
any plans to challenge Julie's simultaneous service as an agency
leader and consumer leader. There is fundamentally no problem
with holding both positions, unless it can be demonstrated that
the incumbent is behaving unfairly. I, for instance, am the
Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and
Visually Impaired, but I am also a high-profile leader and member
of our affiliate. So long as I act objectively in my
professional role, no conflict or problem exists with my personal
and professional obligations. I've also been terribly mistreated
and falsely accused of impartial treatment of blind people by
hostile members of the National ACB organization when I was the
national manager of the Randolph-Sheppard Program with the
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), US Department of
Education. Ultimately they had no success at harming me, because
I always behaved appropriately, but it created some hardship for
me.
Some among our ranks may wish that another candidate had been
selected for this position, but we ought not let this
disappointment govern how we behave in terms of trying to limit
her right to be a member of whatever consumer organization she
prefers. Strictly adhering to principle requires compliance when
it is both to our perceived favor or disadvantage. Our right to
associate freely is an American political right that we should
endeavor to preserve and protect.
Finally, based on what I know of Julie, she'll be a perfectly
benign OTC administrator. If members of our Washington affiliate
have concerns about the OTC program at DSB, I respectfully
suggest that you lift your game and insist on different and
improved programming, via constructive means. Julie will have to
respond to your advocacy.
With Kind Regards,
Daniel B. Frye, JD
(410) 241-7006 (Personal Mobile)
(973) 951-1156 (Work Mobile)
(973) 648-2324 (Office)
(973) 928-1055 (Home)
----- Original Message -----
From: IEWeich via nfbwatlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
To: Cindy Bennett <clb5590 at gmail.com>,NFB of Washington Talk
Mailing List <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 08:55:59 -0700
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] OTC students at WCB conventions
If I recall, a person who is a government official (policy maker
or executive) of an organization with a mission to serve
consumers of a particular group(s) cannot serve a significant
leadership position in a consumer organization served by the same
agency. Simply altering her duties might not be enough. She may
have to step down from a position.
I would question if this is ethical in State Service. I think
Fred Schroeder had a similar issue at the federal level.
Might I suggest a question to the State Personnel Office or
State Ethics Officer. If the answer is too vague, not clear, or
otherwise unsatisfactory I would consider calling the U. S
Office of Special Counsel since DSB is receiving federal funds.
Ivan.E Weich
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 6, 2014, at 22:25, Cindy Bennett via nfbwatlk
<nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
Hi,
I am not an employee of DSB, but I think I know the policy.
DSB will support a client, which would include a student in the
OTC,
to go to one or the other of the state conventions. I think
they may
even support a client in going to a national convention as well.
I am not sure how clients are informed of the consumer
organization
conventions other than that I know that Marci went to the OTC
during
their seminar class on Thursday to talk about the convention,
and I
believe that the WCB will give a similar presentation next week.
I
know that Marci took down some contacts and gaged interest from
some
clients. But I am unsure whether the availability of financial
assistance from DSB was made obvious.
I do know that our presentations can be a lot more flattering if
we go
in with an agenda ahead of time with events on said agenda that
will
attract new members such as social events and technology
training.
Like with many services, one has to ask their counselor and say
they
are interested in checking out a consumer organization. It
takes some
initiative. And I just don't know if the mechanisms currently
in place
to inform clients about them are really sufficient.
Regarding staff, DSB is supportive of staff going to
professional
conferences, which can include the consumer conventions, but
anyone
who is an officer in said organization cannot be sponsored by
the
agency. One interesting development will be whether Julie is
supported
by DSB to go to WCB conventions since she is the 1st Vice
President
of WCB. However, her attendance will be pretty necessary given
her
director position. Who knows? That information is hardly
appropriate
to ask for. Perhaps she will have to alter her official officer
roles.
But that will be interesting as some other employees have hit
walls
when attempting to get financial assistance to attend consumer
events
based on their officer status.
I reapplied for services recently because I am starting school
in a
few weeks. It is well known at DSB that Mike is my partner, so
when my
counselor sifted through the paperwork with me, she asked if I
was in
the NFB. I said yes, and she said, "Well, you won't need that
form."
so it was refreshing to know that there is a flyer that is
included in
new client paperwork. However, it has been 2 and a half weeks
since my
intake, and I have yet to receive the paperwork in an
alternative
format; they did not have braille during the appointment so I
asked
that it be sent to me electronically. I am unsure of whether
they
offer large print.
In any case, I should have taken the flyer just to see what is
on it.
Perhaps if we can't remember what is on it, maybe it is time to
make a
new one?
My personal observations would be the following:
Strictly speaking, there seem to be more employees of DSB who
are
active in the WCB. As in any situation, people are influenced
by those
around them. The OTC offers a unique situation where the
professional-student role can sometimes be blurred. Given that
I
graduated from a training center, I know this quite well. I
would
never say that any employee of the OTC is ever unprofessional,
but I
would say that a fulltime student is spending a great deal of
time
with their instructors. And when we don't have a lot of
representation, students tend to not know about the NFB, or have
very
narrow opinions based on what they have heard from others. Even
still,
when professionals remain so, what is familiar to them versus
what is
not familiar to them can make a difference. I would note the
amount of
notice we are given when asked to present at the OTC.
I can't imagine that Julie would change any policy related to
DSB
supporting clients to attend the convention of one consumer
organization. But I think we need to be more proactive than we
have
been about being more present at the OTC.
I hope that we can continue to improve our relationship with
DSB.
Moving to Washington was quite a transition for me. Regarding
the NFB,
I had never witnessed such politics. As a 19-year-old, I
organized a
pretty grassroots, no budget student seminar in NC. And I got
immediate support from NC DSB because there was nothing else
blindness-related going on for young people. NC DSB would say
that
they had to give out flyers for both organizations, but because
we
were the most active, our flyers were always better, always came
with
candy, and our events immediately gained the interests of
professionals attempting to get their clients out in the
community
because they were the only thing going on. So we got financial
support
in bringing students in the form of vans and drivers. I have
gaged
little such support. I also think that we need to work harder
as an
affiliate, but DSB in Washington seems a lot more reluctant to
willingly support us. And I think the politics are really
unfortunate.
Grass roots events work on a pendulum; there are amazing things
you
can do low budget or free, but we really need the support of
agencies
whether it be DSB or TVI's to reach the people. I have
literally
witnessed the change in attitude of some people when they find
out I
am in the NFB. It honestly boggles my mind since I was
introduced to
the NFB under such different circumstances. I have literally
had
people joke with me that they don't like me anymore or can't be
friends with me anymore. And they have just met me!
Although not particularly relevant to the subject at hand, the
politics is one reason I am particularly excited about the
prospect of
BELL. It has a curriculum created by educators of blind people.
It is
being run in over 20 other states so it can't be ignored. And
it's
educational nature provides a platform where parents will want
to send
their kids, and TVI's will want to include it in IEP's which
could
warrant potential school system support in getting kids to the
program.
Cindy
On 9/6/14, debby phillips via nfbwatlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
Hi all, I'm asking for informational purposes only at this
point,
but are OTC students given a choice about which convention they
will go to, ours or the WCB convention? And are their rooms paid
for by the state or by the organization whose convention they
attend? Can students go to both? What kind of ability do we have
to present NFB and our philosophy at OTC? How will this change
when Julie Brannon becomes manager? Just questions that are
filtering through my brain on this Saturday night. Debby
_______________________________________________
nfbwatlk mailing list
nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for
nfbwatlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/clb5590%40g
mail.com
--
Cindy Bennett
Graduate Student, University of Washington
Human Centered Design and Engineering
Treasurer of the Greater Seattle Chapter and of the National
Federation of the Blind of Washington
Affiliates of the National Federation of the Blind
clb5590 at gmail.com
_______________________________________________
nfbwatlk mailing list
nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account
info for nfbwatlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/ieweich%40y
ahoo.com
_______________________________________________
nfbwatlk mailing list
nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
for nfbwatlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/danielfrye%
40earthlink.net
More information about the NFBWATlk
mailing list