[Ohio-Talk] NFB President’s Notebook - week of 09/03/2019

Tue Sep 3 21:36:45 UTC 2019

From: President, National Federation of the Blind 
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2019 5:27 PM
To: President, National Federation of the Blind <OfficeOfThePresident at nfb.org>
Subject: NFB President’s Notebook - week of 09/03/2019

President’s Notebook

National Federation of the Blind

Mark A. Riccobono

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

410-659-9314

Dear Fellow Federationists,

I am hoping that each of you had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. As the Riccobono children were sent off to school today with excitement in their voices, I am reminded that each of us is engaged daily in learning. Leadership is a journey and building our affiliates is a process of continuous improvement. I hope you approach it like the Riccobono children approach the new school year. I am certainly prepared to help do my part to make your affiliate-building successful. Do not hesitate to call on me for assistance; I am here to support your work. Furthermore, I appreciate that you continue to advance my own thinking about what we should do with the resources we have in our movement.

We require talent and expertise at all levels of our organization. I encourage you to promote career opportunities at our national office. They can be found at https://www.nfb.org/about-us/career-opportunities. We are currently seeking a new manager of governmental affairs and will soon put up a posting for a social media coordinator. We are always seeking talent. Please continue to invite people you know to apply. Your word-of-mouth advertising of our career opportunities is the best tool we have for promoting the Federation team.

I wish to put in one more plug for affiliate leaders to respond to my short survey regarding a presidents’ gathering. I am going to start planning based on what I have received. If you have not responded by the end of this week, I will not have the benefit of your perspective. Please put your voice in the mix. I want to build training that is useful to you.

Finally, note that I will be making the presidential release on Thursday, so it will be ready for Saturday chapter meetings. If you have feedback for me about the release and what would be most helpful to chapter development, I would love to hear from you.

News:

Amazon Employment Discrimination Case Filed:
We have filed a suit in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Amazon.com for employment discrimination. Maryann Murad, a blind member and co-complainant, tried to apply for a virtual customer service position with Amazon but could not complete the inaccessible online assessment on Amazon’s proprietary customer service platform, which is incompatible with Voiceover, the Apple text-to-speech screen-reading software. We tried to work with Amazon to resolve the issue, but we were unsuccessful. More information can be found in the press release on our website <https://nfb.org/about-us/press-room/blind-woman-files-employment-discrimination-suit-against-amazoncom> . 

Labor Day:

As many celebrated a long weekend, the National Federation of the Blind continued to fight against the federal law that creates a second-class workforce. Read the recent blog post, “Shout Out to the Forgotten Laborers <https://www.nfb.org/blog/shout-out-forgotten-laborers> .” Additionally, we commend those who are committed to fair wages for all, such as Microsoft who will not work with any supplier that participates in subminimum wages <https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2019/07/12/the-power-of-inclusion-extending-our-learnings-from-the-supported-employment-program/> . 

Open-House Gathering—Calls for Prospective Members:

Share this event information with contacts who are interested in the National Federation of the Blind but are not members yet: On Wednesday, September 18, 2019, at 8:00 p.m., we are hosting another call for blind people to learn more about the benefits of membership. Take advantage of this opportunity to hear from active members and leaders on the myths and uncertainties of the Federation. Sign up by emailing membership at nfb.org <mailto:membership at nfb.org>  or calling 410-659-9314, extension 2509. 

Meet the Blind Month—Web and Technology:
We celebrate Meet the Blind Month every October, with members conducting outreach activities across the country. If you are still looking for ideas for the month, a recommendation is to focus on web and technology accessibility. Here are some ideas: demonstrate accessibility and the tools used for daily activities using an iPhone or computer at a public library, a local event, or a school; or plan a presentation to a local business such as a bank. If you aren’t comfortable with a technology demonstration, plan an event in your local community to talk about blindness and the NFB philosophy. There is still time to order materials from the Independence Market such as Braille alphabet cards. Send your date, location, and a brief description of the event details to  <mailto:web at nfb.org> web at nfb.org. Please use #MeetTheBlind in social media.

Complete WebAIM Screen-Reader-User Survey:
WebAIM, a web accessibility solutions provider, conducts an annual survey to help inform development choices for those creating accessible web content and web standards. There are thirty-three brief questions that will take approximately ten to fifteen minutes to complete. It is the most comprehensive collection of data on these topics and is also referenced by many in the industry when discussing trends and making decisions in the field of web accessibility.   <https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey8/> Take the survey now! 

Imagineering Our Future:
Our monthly e-newsletter is a great way for members, supporters, volunteers, and contributors to stay up-to-date with what is happening and learn about the awesome work we do every day. Please encourage those who are friends and family of the Federation to sign up for our newsletter and to follow up on the action items in each month’s issue. This is especially helpful if you can encourage our local chapter and state affiliate donors to do so. It helps us keep in regular touch with them. Sign up at https://nfb.org/resources/publications-and-media/imagineering-our-future.

Live Streaming Conventions:
A number of our affiliates have been live streaming their affiliate conventions. Sometimes these streams are operated by third parties which do not reflect the brand of the Federation and which leverage our name for their own benefit. In the interest of keeping a unified brand with consistent delivery of content, we are exploring supporting affiliates with the backbone components of streaming. This might include our operating a stream around the clock to provide Federation content—something some of you have long advocated for us to do.

If you have a fall convention and if you currently have been doing streaming, would you want to use such a service from the national organization? If you have not been offering streaming, would you want to invest in streaming for this fall? Please reply by the end of the week if possible. You can send your reply to Ross Kirschner at rkirschner at nfb.org <mailto:rkirschner at nfb.org> .

Keep in mind that there will be some work on your end to make streaming work properly. However, we believe a national infrastructure could better serve our organization as a whole.

Most importantly, I urge you to vet use of any third-party streaming vendors through our national organization before doing further work with them.

Dates to Keep in Mind:

*	September 18, 2019: Open-House Gathering; email membership at nfb.org <mailto:membership at nfb.org>  to sign up
*	September 24, 2019: Accessibility Boutique on Website Accessibility Basics; email KZimnik at nfb.org <mailto:KZimnik at nfb.org>  to sign up
*	February 10, 2020: Great Gathering-In; Washington Seminar begins
*	March 26-27, 2020: Jacobus tenBroek Law Symposium, Baltimore, Maryland
*	June 30-July 5, 2020: NFB National Convention, Houston, Texas

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

200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230

(410) 659-9314 | officeofthepresident at nfb.org <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>  

 <https://nfb.org/> 

                          <http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>      <https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>      <https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind> 

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want. 