[Njabs-talk] Minutes for NJABS Conference Call on Sunday January 16, 2011

[Benjamin Vercellone]

NJABS Minutes for Sunday, January 16, 2011

Members present:

Evelyn Valdez - President.

Shafeka Hashash - Vice President.

Ben Vercellone - Secretary/Treasurer.

Greg Rivera - board member.

Melissa Hurff - board member.

Randy Clark.

Jessica Scannell.

Marie Lomax.

Sarah Weinstein.

Liz Morgan.

8:04 PM: Evelyn introduces the first conference call of 2011.

8:05 PM: Melissa recites the NFB pledge.

8:07 PM: Shafeka says that last week's call was postponed.There were not 
enough people.We really want this call to have as many ideas and people 
as possible.We have received a grant which will help us to conduct our 
student convention this May.We are open to every idea now.This 
convention is one day for now, but it could be longer later. It is a 
pilot for now, but maybe will even be 3 days long in the future. We plan 
on holding it on May 21. High schoolers will be winding down. College 
students will be done. People will not be on vacation quite yet. We need 
people's ideas. We don't even want to use the word seminar because that 
word is boring. We want this to be engaging and relevant to people our 
age. Maybe we could have a session on how to go out at night and talk 
about issues of being social, like asking people out on a date. Also, 
issues of confidence are important.For example, if you trip and fall, 
are you crushed for the rest of the day? This event is for teens and 
young adults and by teens and young adults.

8:11 PM: Evelyn says we could have an advocacy piece.Maybe a mock 
trial.We would have to pick the case. She was thinking of the case that 
just happened in Missouri with the child who was taken away from her 
family by a nurse. The mother was blind. It was a huge case. The little 
girl was not with her mom for about 23 days. The NFB of Missouri paid 
lawyers. Maybe also think of something that has happened to you. We will 
probably have to recruit people for different positions. Not all the 
people have to be adults. It may be a little scripted, and we can 
improvise from there.

Sarah says we could talk about finding a real job after college.This is 
a big challenge, and we could talk about how to do more networking or 
how else to find the first job.

Marie says we could have a session on fashion and how to dress, and talk 
about how teens and young adults are dressing. Parents are definitely 
not the experts. We want to gear it toward the every day.

Liz faced a big issue in her school, and brought it up. Her high school 
would not allow her to take the PSAT. They didn't have the 
accommodations to Braille it, and they refused for her to take it. 
Imagine if this went to court. Her teacher is also giving her pity 
grades. The teacher is lowering the bar and doing a disservice. Liz is 
also not allowed to carry her laptop around, and therefore cannot do all 
of her work easily. Sighted people should not be so surprised when we 
succeed.

We are thinking of having the student seminar as a lead activity. It 
would be a lead event. The LEAD mentors are not running it. This is not 
an adult convention. If the staff want to take part, they can, like 
maybe Sherlock with technology. Non-LEAD students can go with lead 
people for transportation. Since it's a lead event, this would take care 
of transportation. We are planning to have this event in Hackensack NJ, 
at Bergen Academy. This is Shafeka's high school. It is a very big 
location. We are not using a hotel. We can use the school for free. Lead 
students could come for free. Non-LEAD students would pay.

Someone mentioned getting blind kids interacted into sports.

Greg talked about broadcast. He may get involved. He heard of a blind 
broadcaster who works with Jazz. Maybe he can come to this event and speak.

This is our seminar. If you don't see something you would have wanted to 
see, this is not anyone else's fault.

LEAD has tried to do scenarios, like with dating, but they have not 
always acted realistically. We may pick 2 people and ask how would you 
ask this girl out. We tend to see blind kids more open and more acting 
like themselves with other blind kids. But most of the world is not 
blind. We need to be comfortable with everyone. We encounter different 
scenarios as we grow up. Some blind people are scared to reach out 
because we think sighted people will think we're weird because we're 
blind. We are scared to reach out first. But the sighted person says, 
"How will I reach out to him? He's blind." Sometimes a person is too shy 
to ask someone out. For example, a guy might not be sure how to ask a 
girl out, but he will say yes if a girl asks him. This may not have to 
do with blindness.

We need more ideas for the guys. How about shaving? Some of us learned 
this valuable skill very quickly. How about if you want to have a 
goatee? That may be your barber's job. Maybe men could cover what looks 
good for us.

An idea was for us to discuss why some kids aren't using canes. We could 
talk about a social stigma. You can have your opinion and discuss it. A 
lot of low vision kids say it's ok, they can see a little bit. What 
would be the benefit of using a cane? You are allowed to have your view.

We want to incorporate the elements of lead, which are leadership, 
education, advocacy, and determination. A lot of the people there are 
going to be former or current LEAD students, or ones to come. Young 
people can hang around, like children in elementary school. Students 
from lead, what have you learned?Apply it more to the social part. We 
want this to be very hands-on. Nothing can be sitting down. We are 
trying to make it as interesting as possible.

We began to wind down. If anyone has more ideas, you are encouraged to 
email Shafeka with your ideas. She can be reached at either of the 
following email addresses:

hashgirl2 at aol.com <mailto:hashgirl2 at aol.com>

shafekah at gmail.com <mailto:shafekah at gmail.com>

Liz had another suggestion, which was to maybe have a game like family 
feud but about blindness.

8:57 PM: Evelyn turned it to Melissa. The NFB has been fighting for the 
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act. Pedestrians, whether blind or 
sighted, have trouble hearing sound from the new electric and hybrid 
automobiles. There are good statistics, and there needs to be more sound 
in cars. The NFB has been fighting for 2 or 3 years. President Obama 
signed the Bill this year on January 4. At the Washington Seminar, NFB 
members will go out to see congressmen and senators. We want to thank 
those in our government who signed this bill. The car companies now have 
a certain amount of days to put sound into cars.

Evelyn came back from a trip pertaining to the Imagination Fund Race for 
Independence. Evelyn says we need to raise $2500. We all need to help 
out. If you are not part of the NJ student soldiers, which is our NJ 
student group for the Race for Independence, email Evelyn and she will 
sign you up. Email her at:

Evelyn at njabs.org <mailto:Evelyn at njabs.org>

The Race for Independence is raising money for the car that the blind 
can drive. Evelyn drove the simulator on her trip. Driving the car is 
tough. The Blind Driver Challenge event at Daytona is on Jan 29. 2 
people are candidates to driving the ford escape. They are Anil Louis 
and Mark Ricobono. Evelyn will post the answer on the list when she 
knows. Our commitment for the Race for Independence is $2500. That money 
comes from people raising money for the imagination fund. That is where 
we got the money from for the grant we received that we plan to use for 
our event.

We mentioned that Pennies for pages is wrapping up. Evelyn explained a 
scenario. She signed up, but did not read what she planned to read, and 
now one of the NABS board members asked her to sponsor him. Liz read 
3000 pages, and had 4 sponsors.

We will not have another conference call until February.We look forward 
to your emails with all your ideas.

9:06 PM: Call ended.

Respectfully submitted,

Benjamin Vercellone

NJABS, Secretary/treasurer.