[Nfbf-l] Judy's question inregards to state council meetings

[Darlene Laibl-Crowe]

Hi, Judy.
 
I cannot answer for the FRCB board but I can for FCCDHH (Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing).  We normally know the general area of our meetings at the first meeting in February which is normally in Tallahassee.  However, our locations for each meetings are not finalized until approximately a month before the meeting.  Once that is done, a public announcement is sent to each council member to share with constituents.
 
I do this promptly as soon as I receive that announcement which is normally as an attachment but I go further by including the text information into the email for those who do not open attachments.  FCCDHH’s meetings are held quarterly (February, May, August and November).  
 
As for accomodations, we have accomodations provided in advance for those who are hard of hearing, deaf and deafblind – one of those is Communications Access Realtime Transmission (CART) in which conversation of what is being said at the meeting can be read online with a chat box for comments to be made if not accessible by telephone.  
 
For those who are visually impaired/blind and deaf or hard of hearing, there is a program called the National Deaf Blind Equipment Disbursement Program to help in acquiring technology to help with communication.  This can be checked out on the icanconnect.org website and Florida Telecommunications Relay Inc can be contacted to acquire the necessary equipment for events such as these meetings.  I encourage all who have the combined vision and hearing loss to apply for these services if you have not already.  
 
Again, I can only answer for FCDHH.  I am not sure what the procedure is for FRCB.  I am sure Lenora will be able to answer soon.  
 
Darlene