[Njabs-talk] Minutes for Sunday's Conference Call

[Rania]

Thanks for the minutes!
I would have attended but I got home from clinic and I fell asleep! Giving a
total of 10 massages over too days really does take a lot out of you as I
found out!
Rania,

-----Original Message-----
From: njabs-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:njabs-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Benjamin Vercellone
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 4:19 AM
To: NJ Talk
Subject: [Njabs-talk] Minutes for Sunday's Conference Call

Hello it's ben here with the minutes.
I went into great detail.
     See below.

Njabs Conference Call of February 21, 2010

Members present:

Sean Kief.

Evelyn Valdez - president.

Shafeka Hashash -- Madam VP.

Ben Vercellone -- Secretary -- Treasurer.

Melissa Hurff -- Board member.

Danny Romero

Jason and Jeremy Capadi.

Jessica Scannell.

Brian Mackey.

Quintina Singleton.

Marie Lomax.

Missy Lomax.

Sherlok Washington -- guest speaker.

Harrison Hoyes -- guest speaker.

One other person at least whose name I do not remember -- I am so sorry.

8:00 - Evelyn said there would be updates on Washington Seminar and 
March for Independence.

8:01 - Evelyn thanked the Board.

8:01-8:02 -- Melissa recited the NFB Pledge

8:02 - Evelyn talked more about the Washington Seminar. She mentioned 
the members. NJ did very well. She thanked everybody who was involved 
and sent out thank you letters.

8:03 race for independence

Evelyn talked about the Car that will be developed for blind people by 
Virginia Tech. She talked about the upcoming March for independence and 
the 2011 Race for independence, which will concern the car built for the 
blind to drive. There are gloves the driver wears with sensors. To the 
right of the steering wheel is a tactual display. These are the 
technologies we have to raise money for. To learn more or sign up for 
the Race for Independence, go to www.raceforindependence.org 
<http://www.raceforindependence.org>. If you already have a March for 
Independence account, then you can simply use the same user name and 
password for the Race for Independence. You also can link to this new 
site from the March for Independence web site.

There were 2 people who went to universities who spoke to us. Sherlock 
Washington spoke first. He works with Technology and is his own boss. 
The other man was Harrison hoyes.

8:06 Sherlock began.

He gave his introduction. He was Diagnosed at age 7 with RP. As he got 
older, his eyesight got worse. He lost the majority of his vision as a 
junior in High School. He had to decide what he was going to do for the 
rest of his life. He was always interested in technology. There was a 
resource in his High school. He searched, and found 3 colleges and was 
accepted to each one. He said that when you are choosing a college, it 
is important to get a feel of the college. Open houses are beneficial. 
He learned about these schools by checking them out. Rider was 
conveniently laid out. Rutgers has many more people per class like 60 or 
70 people. He chose rider. He only had a type writer, a cc TV, and a 
tape recorder. There was no adaptive technology then like today. He 
needed people to sit by him and tell him what was on the screen when he 
was programming. In 1983, they knew that assistive technology was 
coming. He said to find a school that you know has a good department 
with the support you will need. After being there and choosing rider, he 
needed to share with the professors what his needs were. He needed to 
make sure he could perform and get material and take exams on time. A 
lot of us think we can get by and don't want to bring attention to 
ourselves. Don't just try to get around the system because it hurts you. 
Be up front with everything. Our career will be more successful then.

He had a professor there who was not very willing to cooperate. He was a 
freshman in one computer class, and the professor wrote on the 
blackboard and he was recording, and there was no valuable information 
given for him to notate. Sherlock told him he was recording his class 
and needed him to be more descriptive. He told the professor what he 
needed him to do. The professor said he had been doing it this way for a 
long time and didn't think he could change. Sherlock went to the dean 
and explained about him. A few weeks later, this professor explained 
things much better and it was because of Sherlock advocating for 
himself. People say they can't do it and you should not accept that answer.

If you or your parents are paying for your courses, you have every right 
to equal access. Don't think that this person will be mad at you. He got 
a passing grade and professor said he did well and would pass the class 
He said he had advice for Sherlock. If he was in Sherlock's position, 
this would be extremely difficult. He said that Sherlock didn't need a 
college degree. But he wanted to go to a four year college and get a 
bachelors degree. The professor Said he would be destined to fail. 4 
years later, he graduated, and was featured on the front page of THE 
newspaper. He said that this professor helped him. The point was that if 
Sherlock took what he had said, and went with it, he may not have 
completed four years. When people tell us negative things, we need to 
remember. Can't accept it and need to work harder. We need to put in 
extra time to achieve and accomplish goals. He had the challenge of 
finding a job after college. When you get out of school, they are 
looking for a lot of work experience. He said so much on his resume. 
Lots of people looked at his resume, and they called him up and said 
they thought he needed credentials. They wanted an interview. HE told 
them he was blind. The phone would go dead then. Then the guy would say 
thanks. He said he would learn of people's schedules and call Sherlock 
back. he didn't. There were no ADA rules then. Employers had no idea how 
they would handle it. They were squeamish. They said he needed to do 
something different. He decided he wouldn't tell them he was blind over 
the phone. When he walked in for the interview, the people said he 
didn't tell them he was visually impaired. He would have to say blind 
for them because they were afraid. The interview would not focus on his 
accomplishments but on how he would get to work every day, go to the 
bathroom, climb stairs, and more. It is different today because of the 
ADA. Sherlock knew someone on the board.  He wanted a few blind people 
for telemarketing. Sometimes the ideal job will not come the first time 
Sometimes you need to jump on any job that presents itself. He went to 
telemarketing. After four months, he got 80 people to buy from that 
company again. He saw his success in this job, and worked with them for 
about a year or so. Then one of his coworkers said they needed a 
salesperson. He accepted the position and walked in and the person saw 
he was blind for the first time. He welcomed him. A year and a half 
later, he got a third job for more money. Blindness didn't make a 
difference any more. The person went before the disability now instead 
of the other way around. Whatever professions we choose, we need to make 
sure we are the best. SW Unlimited is his own company.

8:28 Shafeka reminded him of the time.

8:29 He told us he started his own business. He had to go out on his 
own, but now he had enough confidence. He told us to pursue and go after 
all of our goals. He says he knows us from LEAD mostly and that we will 
be able to achieve our goals. He said that was it and thanked us.

8:30 Sherlock left the call.

8:30 Shafeka introduced Harrison.

8:30 Harrison came in.

He was diagnosed with RP in High School. He was struggling with that. He 
didn't call himself blind or visually impaired until much later in life. 
He went through high school and college struggling. There were people in 
similar situations he said. He recommended us to be open with our 
blindness especially with our professors. He went to a small college 
with 2000 people. The majority of note taking was written down on the 
board. His notes came from the professors talking and from text books. 
We have a need to be open about our visual impairment and a need to 
assistive technology. We need to be able to perform to the best of our 
ability. He was hired for a financial advising job then. He Works in 
public schools setting up retirement plans or funds. He had told his 
boss that he couldn't drive because he had RP. The boss asked if that 
was going to be a problem. He said no He took a lot of public 
transportation. That worked for a while. It became more difficult for 
him to get places. Then he went to Blind Incorporated. He encouraged us 
to attend a blindness training center. Through the NFB he was put in 
touch with a Blind financial adviser in Iowa. He went to see him on a 
bus. He saw how this man was doing with his job. This man said he knew 
someone who ran a group in NJ who might be able to give him an 
opportunity. When he came to NJ a year ago, he interviewed with them and 
has been working with them for a year about now. He uses assistive 
technology and so far so good. He took a slightly different approach 
from Sherlock. He saw someone doing the same job without sight, and 
learned from him.

8:37 Shafeka asked him to explain his job

8:38 he explained his job. There is a day to day routine. He has a list 
of clients he needs to reach out to each day.

1000 clients. He helps them know how they can take advantage of what's 
going on in the stock market. Almost his entire job is over the 
telephone. This is in an office that's not constantly changing. That is 
more of the norm now. He wants to get his masters and MDA later.

8:40 Shafeka asked if people had questions.

8:40 Evelyn thanked him and asked if anyone had questions for him.

She says he has attended a central LEAD event recently.

Jess asked if he had a tough time working with different kinds of people 
in the work place. His office has been very accepting. When he first 
arrived, most of the people had never met a blind or visually impaired 
person. At first everyone was asking if he could do this or go to the 
bathroom. It was challenging in the beginning. He thinks they will 
understand over time that he can do what he wants to do. He said most 
people were very nice and accepting in the business place.

8:44 Shafeka thanked him.

He talked about maybe making another lead event.

8:45 Evelyn gave the emails to the people.

Sherlock Washington can be reached at sherlock at swunlimited.com

You can reach Harrison Hoyes by email at harrisonhoyes at hotmail.com

Evelyn said to email her or shafeka for other questions.

She thanked Melissa for reading the pledge.

She wished us well.

The call ended at about 8:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted by,

Ben Vercellone


-- 
John 6:53-54
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh
of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will
raise him up on the last day.

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