[Nfbwv-talk] President Riccobono's Notebook for September 26, 2015

Mon Oct 26 20:16:40 UTC 2015

September 26, 2015

President's Notebook

National Federation of the Blind

Mark A. Riccobono

officeofthepresident at nfb.org <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org> 

(410) 659-9314

Dear Fellow Federationists,

We are coming to the end of Meet the Blind Month. This weekend we have
eleven affiliate conventions. This means there will be lots of strong
Federation activity to close out the month of October. Last week I brought
together a working group of Federation members and staff to discuss our
activities around blind parents and parental rights concerns. We will be
rewriting our model state legislation to reflect what we have learned over
the past year and to serve as a cornerstone for our activities in this area.
If you are undertaking activities related to blind parents in your state
and/or if you assist blind parents with difficult situations, please let me
know so we can track what is happening across the country. If you find that
there are specific resources that would be helpful in your work at the local
level, please let me know so we can incorporate those ideas into our plan. 

Correction: Two weeks ago I noted that information about chapters should be
sent to Susan Skaarer and gave an incorrect email address. Her correct
address is sskaarer at nfb.org.

Critical actions this week:

NFB BELL Program Application Deadline Extended:
Does your affiliate want to tap into the knowledge and experience of your
membership to nurture future Federationists in Braille, nonvisual skills,
and Federation philosophy? Then your affiliate should consider hosting an
NFB BELL Academy in your state. If your affiliate is new to the NFB BELL
program and would like to offer a program for the summer of 2016, please
apply at https://nfb.org/bell-program-online-application soon! The deadline
for new NFB BELL program applications has been extended to November 6, 2015.
Please contact Carlton Walker, manager of Braille education programs, at
410-659-9314, ext. 2225, or at cwalker at nfb.org <mailto:cwalker at nfb.org> ,
with any questions or concerns.

NFB BELL Seminar: December 10-13, 2015:
What's that sound I hear? BELL Ringers! If you are planning to conduct an
NFB BELL program the summer of 2016 (for the first time or as a veteran
state), please make plans to attend our NFB BELL Seminar Thursday, December
10 through Sunday, December 13, 2015. 

Representatives of veteran and new states must attend. In order to attend,
EACH attendee must complete a registration form
(https://nfb.org/bell-seminar-registration-form) as soon as possible, but no
later than November 13, 2015. Food and lodging will be provided by the NFB.
Additionally, the NFB will pay travel expenses for up to two representatives
from each new state and for one representative from each veteran state.
Please note that the state coordinator MUST attend this seminar. Please
contact Carlton Walker, manager of Braille education programs, at
410-659-9314, extension 2225, or at cwalker at nfb.org <mailto:cwalker at nfb.org>
, with any questions or concerns.

Funding for Students to Attend NFB Washington Seminar 2016: 
The NFB Student Division is managing a grant program to build student
leaders and help them participate in the Washington Seminar in 2016. Please
encourage outstanding and emerging student leaders in your affiliate to
apply if they are in need of partial support to attend Washington Seminar.
As always, I am certain your recommendations as affiliate Presidents will
carry weight. The application can be found at
http://goo.gl/forms/m5rhwqFU8Z. All other questions should be directed to
Sean Whalen at smwhalenpsp at gmail.com <mailto:smwhalenpsp at gmail.com> .

News:

Kernel Book Audio Recordings:
Anna Kresmer in our Jacobus tenBroek Library reports that we now have audio
recordings of all thirty of the Kernel Books available for streaming or
download on the NFB website at https://nfb.org/kernel-books. For each of the
books, visitors can choose to either listen to an individual story online or
download an entire audio book as a compressed zip file. The completion of
this digitization project was made possible by the generous assistance of
Federationists Ellen Ringlein, Tina Hansen, and Lorinda Riddle.

Division News:
The National Federation of the Blind Community Service Division is proud to
announce to our Federation family the official launch of our website at
www.nfbcommunityservice.org <http://www.nfbcommunityservice.org/> . Check
out this new web resource from the Federation.

Video:
The Live the Life You Want music video was released last week. It can be
viewed on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/58borW9VLTA. 

NEWSLINE Funding Shortfall in Maine
Due to lack of funding, NFB-NEWSLINE(r) may be terminated in Maine,
effective November 13, 2015. Termination of this service will drastically
limit the ability of print-disabled Maine residents to easily and
independently obtain in-depth information about breaking news, weather
emergencies, international affairs, job listings, and community events. For
the past several years, Maine's NFB-NEWSLINE(r) service has been sponsored
by private funding sources. The service requires approximately $30,000
annually to maintain in Maine. If funding is not found on or before November
13, 2015, blind and print-disabled Maine residents will no longer have
access to NFB-NEWSLINE(r).

Reminders:

Web Accessibility Training Day: 
The Web Accessibility Training Day is fast approaching. Were you considering
attending? We have the perfect argument for you: the agenda for the November
4 event is now available at
<http://nfb.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=4501&qid=965898>
https://nfb.org/web-accessibility-day. Wendy Chisholm, strategist at
Microsoft and co-author of Universal Design for Web Applications, will be
the keynote speaker. A long history of mediating between the technology and
the policy sides of web accessibility make Wendy a speaker of great interest
to anyone trying to bridge those same gaps; and it helps that she is an
<http://nfb.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=4502&qid=965898>
outstanding speaker. We're delighted to have her share some of her
experiences. But wait, there's more-much more, so please do take a look at
the session list. We are bringing together some great minds to help
attendees work through every aspect of web accessibility. In response to
long-standing and loud requests, we are adding an option to register to be a
remote attendee. We will be live streaming the event, but seats for virtual
attendees are strictly limited, so
<http://nfb.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=4503&qid=965898>
sign up soon.

Dates to keep in mind:

*        Fall conventions <https://nfb.org/state-conventions> 

*        November 4, 2015: Web Accessibility Training Day
<https://nfb.org/web-accessibility-day> 

*        November 5-7, 2015: NFB STEM2U Arizona

*        November 6, 2015: New (extended) deadline to register 

*        November 13, 2015: Deadline to register for NFB BELL seminar,
registration form <https://nfb.org/bell-seminar-registration-form> 

*        December 10-13, 2015: BELL Seminar

*        March 3-5, 2016: NFB STEM2U San Francisco

*        May 17-20, 2016: BLAST, Chicago

*        May 19-21, 2016: NFB STEM2U Minneapolis

*        June 19-25, 2016: NFB EQ (first iteration)

*        July 31-August 6, 2016 (second iteration) 

*        August, 2016: WBU-ICEVI General Assembly 

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.

Mark A. Riccobono, President

National Federation of the Blind

200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place

Baltimore, Maryland 21230

Phone: (410) 659-9314

Fax: (410) 659-5129

Email: officeofthepresident at nfb.org <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org> 

Twitter: @Riccobono and @NFB_Voice

Web:  <http://www.nfb.org/> www.nfb.org

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