[NYABS] Fwd: I changed some of the wording. Could you please resend this to New York?

[NYABS Division]

Sent to the members of NYABS on behalf of Amy Albin
Justin Young
President, NYABS

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amy Albin <amyralbin at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2020 18:35:49 -0400
Subject: I changed some of the wording. Could you please resend this
to New York?
To: jty727 at gmail.com

Hello Students, this is important and time-sensitive!

I have 2 time-sensitive messages for you. The first is an invitation
for something this Sunday night, and the second is a way you can take
time-sensitive action to make technology more affordable for blind
Americans!


Here is the first message.


Hey NABSters!
Are you interested in creating tangible resources? Do you love the
idea of speaking out for important legislation and helping to bring it
to reality? Well that’s the name of the game for the legislative and
self advocacy committee. Join us this coming Sunday, June 21, at 8 PM
Eastern for our monthly committee call!, and get in on all the action.
The Zoom info is as follows:
https://zoom.us/j/4678833687
One-tap mobile:
+1 (646) 876-9923,,,4678833687#
Hope to see you there!



Mausam Mehta
Co-chair | Legislative and Self-Advocacy Committee
Secretary | National Association of blind students
A proud division of the National Federation of the blind
mausam.mehta.nfb at gmail.com
|
www.nabslink.org
_______________________________________________


I hope you all can come! Here is the second message, and I hope you
will participate and share with other blind students.


I hope that you are continuing to do well during this COVID-19 pandemic. NABS
needs your help to pass important legislation to make access
technology more affordable for blind people, including students.

We need students in your state to contact both Senators and their
individual Representative. This means that each student would contact
three offices. We need as many students as possible to make these
contacts because we need more legislators to sign onto the bill. We
want this legislation to be included in the next Covid-19 relief
package. This means that we need to contact
them right away so that they can learn about the bill, make decisions,
and have their name added to it as soon as possible.

After 4 business days if you do not hear from a certain representative
or senator, please contact that representative again to follow up.
Continue to do this every 4 business days until the representative
cosponsors the bill. Persistence is key! If your
representative/senator is already sponsoring/cosponsoring the bill,
please thank them and ask them to urge their colleagues to cosponsor
the bill. If they are not on the list of cosponsors, please ask for
cosponsorship (see links below to see who is cosponsoring).

To find out who the staff contact for ATAA is for the people who
represent you, please e-mail Jesa Medders   at jmedders at nfb.org or
simply find the general e-mail address for your representatives. To do
this and to make your follow-up phone calls, call the Capitol
Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your representative and their
e-mail address. To find out who represents you:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

To see who is already cosponsoring the bill, these 2 links
S. 815 Cosponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/815/cosponsors?q%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22s815%22%5D%7D&s4&r1&overviewclosed#tabs
H. R. 2086 Cosponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2086/cosponsors?q%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr2086%22%5D%7D&s6&r1&overviewclosed#tabs


Below my signature is a draft email that you all can use to ask your
Senators and Representative to cosponsor the bill.

Could you please send such an email right away, as well as help me get
in touch with all other blind students in your state?

Thank you in advance!

Amy Albin
amyralbin at gmail.com
973-223-8044

Subject: Email to Legislative Staff Members

To: staff contact
Cc: Kaloc, Jeff JKaloc at nfb.org, Trisha Kulkarni trishak.nfb at gmail.com,
Kathryn Webster nabs.president at gmail.com, and Team Lead (Justin
Salisbury President at Alumni.ECU.edu or Justin Young jty727 at gmail.com)
Subject: Please Cosponsor S. 815/H.R. 2086

Dear ###,

I am one of your constituents from City, State. I write to
respectfully request that my Senator/Congressman/Congresswoman
co-sponsor the Access Technology Affordability Act (ATAA) (S. 815/H.R.
2086). I want this to be included in the next Covid-19 relief package.

<give some background on yourself in order to establish rapport>

The cost of critically needed access technology is out of reach for
most blind Americans. By providing a refundable tax credit for
qualifying purchases, Congress will stimulate individual procurement
of this technology and promote affordability of these tools. The
COVID-19 pandemic has forced many Americans to become much more
dependent upon technology, which has exacerbated the challenges that
blind students, job seekers, and employees were already facing.

This bill already has bicameral bipartisan support, with a total of
101 cosponsors! I wish
to see my Senator/Congresswoman/Congressman sign on as a cosponsor.

Will Senator/Congresswoman/Congressman #### please cosponsor this bill?

I have copied Jeff Kaloc jkaloc at nfb.org with the National Federation
of the Blind national office. He is available to answer any detailed
questions you might have.

Thank you in advance,

Your Name
Your Address (where you vote)
Your Contact Info