[NFBC-Info] NFBC-Info Digest, Vol 254, Issue 3

Fri Jul 31 14:28:09 UTC 2026

I have my sisters gender reveal part

 To attend on Saturday, but if I am not busy I will try to make part of this meetingSent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

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Today's Topics:

  1. Invitation to PYML Monthly Zoom Meeting (Florentino Becerra)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:39:18 -0700
From: Florentino Becerra <becerra.florentino at gmail.com>
To: nfbc-info at nfbnet.org
Subject: [NFBC-Info] Invitation to PYML Monthly Zoom Meeting
Message-ID:
    <CAGLXajwggE17FRaj8Bx2FAo0mQpPTCAOrEa_p5iqR4iw7itN7g at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

Greetings!

Please see below a announcement from the Poder y Movimiento Latino chapter
for a Zoom meeting they are inviting interested folks to join. Membership
is not mandatory, all are welcomed!

Thank you.

--- Begin message ---

Hello,

This is a kind reminder about the upcoming Zoom meeting for  Poder y
Movimiento Latino this Saturday, Aug. 1st, at 10 am. Pacific Coast Time.
Find the Zoom link below.

Hola,
Este es un amable recordatorio sobre la próxima reunión de Zoom de Poder y
Movimiento Latino para Sabado, 1 de Augusto a las 10:00 am.  Encuentre el
enlace de Zoom a continuación

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81419703449

Meeting ID: 814 1970 3449
---
One tap mobile
+16694449171,,81419703449# US
+12532158782,,81419703449# US (Tacoma)

NFB Poder y Movimiento Latino

Saturday, August 1:
Agenda
1. Discussion Item: Updates from NFB National Convention.
2. . Action Item: Treasurers Report, requesting a member to run for this
position in October.
3. . Discussion Item:  Angelica Aldana has submitted recommendations for
PYML to pursue to enhance our organization.
4. Presentation Item: If you have ever wanted to learn how to play an
instrument, Join PYML this Saturday, when  Carlos Rios, will be discussing
learning guitar basics as a blind person. He currently teaches guitar at
the Braille Institute in Los Angeles.
5. Presentation item:, Ismael Hererra, Spanish speaking Blind and Low
Vision Director at EmpowerTech will discuss digital accessibility for
Latino’s and how he is able to teach both Windows PC  and Apple platforms.
Hoping one of you will also inquire how blind individuals can qualify to
join their program?
Everyday we hear that education and workplaces are moving toward using (AI
) Artificial Intelligence.
Our goal at PYML is to graduate more Latinos and to get them into good
paying jobs.
Let’s ask him how he perceives AI will help or hurt Blind Latinos in
education and the workplace?
Does his company train blind Latinos in any AI applications such as Chat
GBT or others?
Are there trainings or applications that he prefers or recommends
specifically for Blind Latinos?
6. Discussion Item: Should PYML consider creating a job employment bank,
where all members can contribute if they hear about open positions and
where those seeking a  job can also search?

Below is Ismael Hererra’s biography for you to read prior to his
presentation, so that you have a better comprehension of his work.

Biography: Ismael Hererra Spanish speaking Blind and Low Vision Director at
EmpowerTech
Blind and Low Vision Director, EmpowerTech
I'm the Blind and Low Vision Director at EmpowerTech, and my career rests
on a simple conviction: the right technology, taught the right way, opens
doors that would otherwise stay closed.
Assistive technology is my second career. I spent ten years in my first
before stepping away when my daughter was born. A year and a half later, my
son arrived, and I made a deliberate change — I chose a path that would let
me raise my two children on my own and bring them with me wherever the work
took me. They grew up alongside my career, in offices, classrooms, and
training rooms. The biggest joy of my life has been raising my two kids on
my own, by the grace of God.
My introduction to the field came while I was still a student, when I
became my own student — learning the tools firsthand before teaching them
to anyone else. I joined the Foundation for the Junior Blind just as
Windows 95 was coming into use with JAWS, a moment when screen reader
technology was reshaping what was possible for blind users. I went on to
run a call center that trained people with disabilities for employment at
the LiveWire call center in the City of Long Beach, connecting training
directly to real jobs.
I later relocated to San Antonio, Texas, where I moved into education
management, overseeing operations across three Christian private schools
and two charter schools. In 2010, I returned to Southern California to come
to the aid of both of my aging parents — and it was there that I stepped
into my current role at EmpowerTech.
That same period brought the change that has mattered most to me
personally. In December 2012, I remarried. Maria Del Carmen has been my
friend, my girlfriend, and my wife, and she remains the steadiest presence
in my life.
As Blind and Low Vision Director, I build partnerships across K–12 school
systems, the Department of Rehabilitation, and federal partners including
the Department of Defense. At EmpowerTech, we provide assistive technology
training in Windows screen readers, macOS, iOS, and braille devices — and
we were the first vendor to offer both Mac and iOS training, at a point
when much of the field still treated Apple products as an afterthought for
blind users. Through the assessment process, I also began recommending
MacBook Pros, iPhones, and iPads matched to each consumer's actual needs
rather than to whatever device happened to be the default. I work directly
with regional center consumers who are blind and have an intellectual
disability — a population often underserved by traditional assistive
technology instruction.
Alongside my direct service work with people across a wide range of
disabilities, I've been brought in as a collaborator on accessible product
development — contributing to the Uber and Lyft applications and to the
user interface design of home automation devices. That work reaches well
beyond any single training room: the accessibility decisions made in a
mainstream app affect millions of people who will never meet the ones who
advocated for them.
In 2019, I lost my own eyesight to glaucoma. What had been my professional
expertise became my daily reality, and I met it the way I've met every
other turn in my life: as a challenge to be worked through rather than a
stopping point. That experience now informs every training session,
partnership, consumer, and design conversation I take part in.

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End of NFBC-Info Digest, Vol 254, Issue 3
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