[Ohio-Talk] BECOMING THE LEADERS WE DESERVE
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Wed May 20 14:47:44 UTC 2020
I enjoyed the leadership meeting, too.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Patricia McPherson via Ohio-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2020 9:43 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Patricia McPherson <patrinkle at icloud.com>; baconev at yahoo.com; jgashel0923 at gmail.com; ncrosby at nfbtx.org
Subject: Re: [Ohio-Talk] BECOMING THE LEADERS WE DESERVE
Thank you for a great leadership call tonight. Thanks for the information in this email, it was very interesting. Let’s grow the Federation and make Ohio strong!
Pat
> On May 19, 2020, at 12:15 PM, Richard Payne via Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> Norma Beathard was born on January 25, 1956, in Conroe, Texas. She was
> the first of five children born to Robbie and Joseph Beathard. Norma
> was born legally blind because her mother contracted rubella during
> her pregnancy; however, Norma's blindness remained undetected until
> she began walking. At that time her parents began to notice that she
> seemed to bump into things that a sighted child should see, and they
> had her vision tested. A determination was made that she was blind
> when she was two years old. Years of surgery followed with no improvement.
>
> Norma was an active child. She joined her siblings in most of the
> games they played, and her blindness was not a real obstacle when she
> was small. But she couldn't read the blackboard when she started
> school, and she experienced a number of problems related to her vision as she grew older.
>
> Norma always attended school in rural communities, a circumstance
> which she describes as "both a blessing and a curse." Because no one
> in her life knew anything about blindness skills, she wasn't able to
> learn Braille or cane travel. She used large print books, which were
> bulky and heavy for a tiny girl. Since her vision was extremely
> limited, she had to read with her nose practically touching the pages
> of her books, even though the print was enlarged. Despite the lack of
> training in blindness skills, Norma feels that she received a quality
> education because she had caring teachers who always found ways of
> making it easier for her to learn. She was fortunate to have the same
> teacher from her first grade year through her third grade year, and
> that teacher was determined that Norma would be included in everything
> the class did. Her name was Jean Todd, and she spent countless hours
> offering Norma one-on-one instruction. Other teachers with similar attitudes were a part of Norma's life throughout her K-12 experience.
>
> Professionals in the field of work with the blind were not as helpful.
> When Norma asked for Braille training, she was told by a
> rehabilitation professional that she was wasting his time, and she was
> made to feel guilty because, according to him, she was depriving a
> "real" blind person of the opportunity to learn by making this
> frivolous request. Eventually she was able to convince him that he
> should provide her with training, and he traveled to her small town
> and spent two hours with her. This was woefully inadequate, but it did
> allow her to learn the alphabet, Braille numbers, and some punctuation
> symbols. Her experience with inadequate Braille training has made
> Norma a strong advocate for providing Braille education to children with low vision.
>
> After completing her education, Norma found herself living in a small
> community with no opportunities for a blind person. She knew she had
> to leave her rural home if she was to become successful. Her father
> was opposed to her leaving, but her mother understood that a different
> environment would provide Norma with a better chance of living the
> life she wanted to live. So she took the unusual step of going against
> the wishes of Norma's father; drove Norma to the bus station in
> Lufkin, Texas; and purchased a ticket to a better life for her
> daughter. Norma traveled to Austin that day, and although she had no
> idea what she would do to become successful, she was confident that she would be able to make a life for herself.
>
> Norma began her working life as an employee at the Travis Association
> for the Blind. That employment did not last long because Norma found
> that she couldn't live on the $1.05 an hour that the sheltered
> workshop was paying its trainees, and her questions about how to make
> a higher wage went unanswered. In fact, it became clear that she was
> unlikely to be paid the federal minimum wage anytime soon, so Norma began to look for other work.
> She also married during this time and began a family. Her first son
> was born on March 10, 1976, and her second son was born on March 10,
> 1978. Once her children were out of diapers, Norma started work at the
> Texas School for the Blind. She worked as a dorm parent at the school from 1979 to 1982.
>
> After a divorce Norma found the National Federation of the Blind and
> became an active member in 1983. By 1985 she was living in Houston,
> and she was an important part of the National Federation of the Blind of Texas leadership.
> She didn't hold elective office in the Federation, but she worked hard
> to help the affiliate president and other leaders to carry out the
> organization's mission. She became president of the Houston Chapter in
> 1989, and she continued in that role for eight years.
>
> When Norma joined the Federation, she met Glenn Crosby. Glenn was
> serving as president of the National Federation of the Blind of Texas,
> and as the two worked closely together, a personal relationship
> developed. They were married on April 15, 1989. Each of them had two
> children, and the two families have blended into a harmonious group.
> Glenn and Norma are now the proud grandparents of seven grandchildren,
> ranging in age from three to twenty.
>
> Four years before they married, Glenn asked Norma to begin managing
> the office for his food service business, and they became professional partners.
> The Crosbys owned five food service locations during the late 1980s
> and early 1990s, but they sold all but two of the locations and were
> operating those two locations when they retired in 2013.
>
> Though both Norma and Glenn grew up in Texas, they decided they wanted
> a change in 2001, and they spent about a year in South Dakota. Then
> they spent several months in Ajijic, Mexico. Ajijic is near
> Guadalajara, and, while they enjoyed their time there, they needed to
> be closer to home for business reasons. So in 2005 they moved to
> Ruston, Louisiana. Shortly after arriving in Ruston, Norma was elected
> to serve as president of the North Central Chapter of the NFB of
> Louisiana. She remained in that position until January of 2009, when
> she and Glenn made the decision to move back to their native Texas.
> They now live in Alvin, near Houston, on four acres of land and have a few cows.
>
> In 2012, Norma was chosen to serve as the first president of the Lone
> Star Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Texas. Then,
> at the affiliate's 2014 convention, she was elected to serve as the
> state president. While Norma believes strongly that it is not
> necessary to hold an office in order to be an effective leader, she is
> honored to serve as both the president of the NFB of Texas
> <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/state-affiliates/texas> and, since her
> election at the 2015 National Convention, as a member of the
> organization's national board of directors.
>
>
>
> Everette Bacon
> Rehabilitation Professional
>
> Everette Bacon was born in Huntington Beach, California. At the age of
> five he was diagnosed with cone-rod dystrophy, a condition which had
> run in his family on his mother's side for thirteen generations,
> causing rapid-onset blindness primarily in female family members.
> Despite the diagnosis, Everette's family took the advice of teachers
> and medical experts, believing (or, more accurately, hoping) that
> since Everette was male and his vision was not deteriorating rapidly
> like that of other family members, he was unlikely to go blind. As a
> result, Everette did not learn Braille or other alternative techniques
> during his school years. Looking back, Everette says, his mother and
> other family members wish that they had encouraged him to learn Braille and other blindness skills.
>
> When Everette was around eighteen his entire family moved to Texas.
> Everette pursued a degree in church music at Dallas Baptist
> University. He jokes that he was pushed toward music because "you
> know, blind people sing." His first job was teaching a seventh grade choir, but he found it not to his liking.
> Searching for other employment in order to earn money to help his wife
> through medical school, Everette ultimately accepted a management
> position with Blockbuster Video in 1997. He was very successful in
> this position, winning several awards and steady promotions. By 2004,
> he was managing ten stores in the Houston area.
>
> Everette's eye condition began to worsen, and instead of giving up, he
> adapted by using alternative techniques. "I started carrying a cane,
> mainly for identity, but I was using it when I felt I needed it." "I
> was never embarrassed or ashamed about becoming blind, because I grew
> up around blind people, adapting was something you just became accustomed to doing."
> However, when he asked for reasonable accommodations from his
> employer, instead of granting these accommodations, Blockbuster
> terminated his employment despite his outstanding record. The company
> even went so far as to describe Everette's conduct as "fraudulent,"
> implying that he had deceived the company about his capabilities, even
> though he had previously been praised and awarded for his work.
>
> This experience traumatized Everette and his family. His wife, mother,
> and other family members sent angry emails to everyone they could;
> urging readers to avoid shopping at Blockbuster based on
> discrimination against the blind. One of these emails found its way to
> Scott LaBarre, the president of the National Federation of the Blind
> of Colorado and a successful disability rights attorney. Scott took
> Everette's case, and ultimately Everette received a settlement from
> Blockbuster. More importantly, though, he learned about the National
> Federation of the Blind and the many battles the organization has
> fought in the effort to advance and protect the civil rights of blind
> people. "I had heard of the Federation and been told that they were
> militant," Everette says, "but my experience taught me the importance
> of our advocacy." There are so many reasons to be proud of whom we are
> as blind people, and the Federation has paved the way for our climb to the top of the mountain of civil rights!
>
> In 2004, Everette and his wife, Dr. Angela Peters, moved to Salt Lake
> City, Utah. Everette became involved in the Utah affiliate and
> developed what he describes as life-changing relationships with
> dedicated Federationists like Nick Schmitroth, Karl Smith, and Deja
> Powell. These friends helped Everette improve his blindness skills and
> grow in the movement. Everette was also looking for new employment
> opportunities in Utah and heard about a job opening as a Blindness
> Skills Teacher at the Utah Division of Services for the Blind and
> Visually Impaired. Everette remembers speaking with Ray Martin about
> the fact that he knew nothing about teaching blind people, Martin told
> him that being blind was the most important qualification. The agency
> supported Everette in his pursuit of a master's degree in
> rehabilitation. He went from teaching technology to supervising the
> technology staff, and now serves as the agency's field services coordinator, overseeing all of the agency's technology and employment services, supervising a staff of nine.
>
> Everette began advocating for Utah's blind residents with an effort to
> encourage a prominent local cinema chain to incorporate audio
> description technology into its theaters, so that blind people who
> wanted to experience movies with audio description could do so. An
> avid movie fan with an extensive collection dating from his
> Blockbuster days, he believes that audio description can enable blind
> people to connect more easily with their sighted peers when discussing
> entertainment. "One of the most valuable lessons I have learned from
> the NFB is the understanding that blending in to society is an
> important skill. Being able to relate to our sighted colleagues about
> movies, television, politics, and sports are excellent paths to
> opportunities that help change common misconceptions about blindness."
>
> In 2012, Everette was elected president of the National Federation of
> the Blind of Utah. He is proud of the affiliate's successful advocacy
> for a state "mini-508" law requiring accessibility of new state
> websites and procurement of accessible electronic and information
> technology; subject to fines when agencies fail to comply. His
> advocacy for accessibility made him an outstanding candidate to serve
> as the Federation's representative on the Disability Advisory
> Committee to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He was
> nominated for appointment to this committee by President Riccobono and
> duly appointed to serve by the FCC in 2015. Everette is chair of the
> Utah Library Advisory Board. He also sits on the Utah Assistive
> Technology Council and the Library of Congress' National Library
> Service for the Blind's Audio Equipment Advisory Committee (Western
> Region). He was unanimously elected to the Board of Directors of the
> National Federation of the Blind at the organization's 2015
> convention. He and Angela and their two dogs live in Salt Lake City, but Everette still roots for his beloved Dallas Cowboys.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> James R. Gashel
> Secretary
> Advocate, Ambassador, Executive, and Father
>
>
> Jim Gashel was born in 1946 and grew up in Iowa. After his early
> introduction to the National Federation of the Blind as Kenneth
> Jernigan's student at the Iowa Commission for the Blind during the
> 1960s, he has been devoted to serving the blind community in various
> capacities. A 1969 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa with
> work toward a master's degree in public administration at the
> University of Iowa, Jim started his career teaching speech and English
> for one year in Pipestone, Minnesota. He then accepted a position as
> assistant director at the Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines.
> With that move, he found his calling is working with the blind and
> finding ways of solving the problems that face them as individuals and as a minority.
>
> On January 1, 1974, Jim joined the staff of the National Federation of
> the Blind as chief of the Washington office, where he became one of
> the best known advocates for the blind in the United States; combining
> his commitment to blind people with his interest in the political
> process. As the Federation's scope and influence evolved, so did his
> roles and responsibilities. In his professional career of almost
> thirty-four years with the Federation, he held the positions of chief
> of the Washington office, director of government affairs, and
> executive director for strategic initiatives. Jim's Federation work
> has led to significant changes in virtually every law directly
> affecting blind Americans: the Social Security Act, the Rehabilitation
> Act, the Randolph-Sheppard Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act,
> the Copyright Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
> and the Help America Vote Act. In addition to championing these
> causes, Jim has won the love and respect of the thousands of blind men
> and women across America who have directly benefited from his informed
> and effective personal advocacy. No matter what his position, through
> his drive and devotion to Federationism, Jim has earned the informal title of the organization's non-lawyer lawyer.
>
> With his first wife Arlene, Jim is the father of three adult children
> and the grandfather of nine. His daughter Andrea and her husband
> Jeremiah Beasley have four children, daughter Valerie and husband Sam
> Costanza have three, and his son Eric and wife Miranda have two.
>
> During Jim's service at the NFB, he received the Commissioner's Award
> for Outstanding Leadership in Rehabilitation Services to the Disabled,
> the highest honor presented by the commissioner of the United States
> Rehabilitation Services Administration. He is also a recipient of the
> secretary of labor's Outstanding American Award. In 2001 Jim and his
> second wife, Dr. Betsy Zaborowski, jointly received the NFB's highest
> honor, the Jacobus tenBroek Award, honoring them for their
> achievements through decades of leadership in work with the blind.
>
> In November 2007, Jim and Betsy moved from Baltimore to Denver,
> Colorado, but Betsy soon died after a recurrence of the condition
> retinal blastoma, which had caused her blindness from childhood. In
> September 2012, Jim married Susan Kern, now Susan Gashel. Their
> marriage occurred a few months after Susan had returned to Colorado
> after retiring as an assistant attorney general in the state of
> Hawaii. Beyond continuing Jim's active work on behalf of the blind
> through involvement in the Federation, and Susan's work to uphold
> rights and opportunities for blind Randolph-Sheppard vendors, Jim and
> Susan are passionate about downhill skiing and all the Rocky Mountains
> have to offer near where they lived for a time in the Vail Valley of Colorado. They now live in Hawaii.
>
> Beyond his volunteer activities, Jim served as vice president of
> business development and product evangelist for KNFB Reader, LLC,
> until his retirement in December 2017. While serving as the
> Federation's executive director for strategic initiatives, he led the
> public introduction and launch of the Kurzweil-National Federation of
> the Blind Reader, the world's first truly portable text-to-speech
> reading device for the blind. As part of this effort he raised and
> administered the funds necessary to support pre-release beta testing,
> product announcement, and public promotional efforts to bring the
> product to market in 2006. Jim's work with our KNFB reading technology
> brought him full circle in his career since, after first meeting Ray
> Kurzweil in April 1975, he also organized and raised the funds
> necessary to test and launch the original Kurzweil Reading Machine, released in 1977 as the world's first text-to-speech reading system for the blind.
>
> Jim was elected to the NFB's national board of directors in 2008 to
> fill an unexpired term and was reelected in 2009. He was then
> subsequently elected to the position of national secretary, a position he has held since 2010.
> Serving in each of these capacities, he brings to the board both
> expertise and contacts in the blindness field and an abiding
> commitment to the work of the NFB. In accepting his 2001 Jacobus
> tenBroek Award, Jim offered comments that remain relevant today and
> reflect his approach to our mission. "All I would ask is that all of
> you remember that it's all of our responsibilities to go out and work
> for the movement. We can't all go out and climb a mountain like Erik
> [Weihenmayer] did, and we can't all do the wonderful things that every
> one of you do all the time, or raise five or six million dollars like
> Betsy did, but we can all work for this movement. We all have a place in it." Jim's place is absolutely unique.
>
>
>
> National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
>
>
>
> Extend an invitation for you to join a powerful presentation on:
> "BECOMING THE LEADERS WE DESERVE".
>
>
>
> May 19, 2020
>
> 7:00 P.M. EDT.
>
>
>
> The most effective and inspiring leaders are defined by their core values.
> Their behavior reflects and reinforces those values. Good leaders
> operate from a deeply held set of moral or ethical principles at the
> core of their commitment to make a change.
>
>
>
> So, come and learn from three dynamic and influential leaders in the
> National Federation of the blind, Norma Crosby, Business-Minded,
> Self-Taught Entrepreneur, Everette Bacon, Member of the National Board
> of Directors and Utah Affiliate President and James Gashel, Secretary
> of the National Board of Directors and Vice President of Business
> Development at K-NFB Reading Technology Inc.
>
>
>
> Richard Payne is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
>
> The meeting will be held on May 19 at 7 PM EDT.
>
> This meeting is open to all so please join us.
>
> Topic: BECOMING THE LEADERS WE DESERVE!
>
> Join Zoom Meeting
>
> https://zoom.us/j/4081850851
>
> Meeting ID: 408 185 0851
>
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