[nfbwatlk] OTC students at WCB conventions
Mike Freeman
k7uij at panix.com
Sun Sep 7 16:35:38 UTC 2014
Good morning, everyone.
I believe Ivan's analysis (below) is impeccable. However, I do not believe
the validity of the law in terms of membership in the Federation has been
tested in the courts. I contend that the law does not apply in this case
because agencies for the blind do not supervise or have any control over the
National Federation of the Blind (or the American Council of the Blind, for
that matter) as organizations. As I see it, the constitutional rights of
free speech and free assembly would be violated were the law interpreted as
Ivan indicates. But, as I say, I'm not sure this has ever been tested in
Federal court.
Of course, this deals with legalities as opposed to appearances. But Federal
employees are under a number of constraints which, if tested in the courts,
I believe would be thrown out as unconstitutional. This is merely my
opinion, however.
It certainly was politic for Fred Schroeder to vacate his position on the
NFB board of Directors when he became commissioner of RSA in the Clinton
administration. But it would have been interesting to see how this would
have played out in the courts.
As with everything else in the arena of advocacy, one picks ones battles.
Mike Freeman
-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of IEWeich via
nfbwatlk
Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2014 8:56 AM
To: Cindy Bennett; NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] OTC students at WCB conventions
If I recall, a person who is a government official (policy maker or
executive) of an organization with a mission to serve consumers of a
particular group(s) cannot serve a significant leadership position in a
consumer organization served by the same agency. Simply altering her duties
might not be enough. She may have to step down from a position.
I would question if this is ethical in State Service. I think Fred
Schroeder had a similar issue at the federal level.
Might I suggest a question to the State Personnel Office or State Ethics
Officer. If the answer is too vague, not clear, or otherwise unsatisfactory
I would consider calling the U. S Office of Special Counsel since DSB is
receiving federal funds.
Ivan.E Weich
Sent from my iPhone
> On Sep 6, 2014, at 22:25, Cindy Bennett via nfbwatlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I am not an employee of DSB, but I think I know the policy.
>
> DSB will support a client, which would include a student in the OTC,
> to go to one or the other of the state conventions. I think they may
> even support a client in going to a national convention as well.
>
> I am not sure how clients are informed of the consumer organization
> conventions other than that I know that Marci went to the OTC during
> their seminar class on Thursday to talk about the convention, and I
> believe that the WCB will give a similar presentation next week. I
> know that Marci took down some contacts and gaged interest from some
> clients. But I am unsure whether the availability of financial
> assistance from DSB was made obvious.
>
> I do know that our presentations can be a lot more flattering if we go
> in with an agenda ahead of time with events on said agenda that will
> attract new members such as social events and technology training.
>
> Like with many services, one has to ask their counselor and say they
> are interested in checking out a consumer organization. It takes some
> initiative. And I just don't know if the mechanisms currently in place
> to inform clients about them are really sufficient.
>
> Regarding staff, DSB is supportive of staff going to professional
> conferences, which can include the consumer conventions, but anyone
> who is an officer in said organization cannot be sponsored by the
> agency. One interesting development will be whether Julie is supported
> by DSB to go to WCB conventions since she is the 1st Vice President
> of WCB. However, her attendance will be pretty necessary given her
> director position. Who knows? That information is hardly appropriate
> to ask for. Perhaps she will have to alter her official officer roles.
> But that will be interesting as some other employees have hit walls
> when attempting to get financial assistance to attend consumer events
> based on their officer status.
>
> I reapplied for services recently because I am starting school in a
> few weeks. It is well known at DSB that Mike is my partner, so when my
> counselor sifted through the paperwork with me, she asked if I was in
> the NFB. I said yes, and she said, "Well, you won't need that form."
> so it was refreshing to know that there is a flyer that is included in
> new client paperwork. However, it has been 2 and a half weeks since my
> intake, and I have yet to receive the paperwork in an alternative
> format; they did not have braille during the appointment so I asked
> that it be sent to me electronically. I am unsure of whether they
> offer large print.
>
> In any case, I should have taken the flyer just to see what is on it.
> Perhaps if we can't remember what is on it, maybe it is time to make a
> new one?
>
> My personal observations would be the following:
>
> Strictly speaking, there seem to be more employees of DSB who are
> active in the WCB. As in any situation, people are influenced by those
> around them. The OTC offers a unique situation where the
> professional-student role can sometimes be blurred. Given that I
> graduated from a training center, I know this quite well. I would
> never say that any employee of the OTC is ever unprofessional, but I
> would say that a fulltime student is spending a great deal of time
> with their instructors. And when we don't have a lot of
> representation, students tend to not know about the NFB, or have very
> narrow opinions based on what they have heard from others. Even still,
> when professionals remain so, what is familiar to them versus what is
> not familiar to them can make a difference. I would note the amount of
> notice we are given when asked to present at the OTC.
>
> I can't imagine that Julie would change any policy related to DSB
> supporting clients to attend the convention of one consumer
> organization. But I think we need to be more proactive than we have
> been about being more present at the OTC.
>
> I hope that we can continue to improve our relationship with DSB.
> Moving to Washington was quite a transition for me. Regarding the NFB,
> I had never witnessed such politics. As a 19-year-old, I organized a
> pretty grassroots, no budget student seminar in NC. And I got
> immediate support from NC DSB because there was nothing else
> blindness-related going on for young people. NC DSB would say that
> they had to give out flyers for both organizations, but because we
> were the most active, our flyers were always better, always came with
> candy, and our events immediately gained the interests of
> professionals attempting to get their clients out in the community
> because they were the only thing going on. So we got financial support
> in bringing students in the form of vans and drivers. I have gaged
> little such support. I also think that we need to work harder as an
> affiliate, but DSB in Washington seems a lot more reluctant to
> willingly support us. And I think the politics are really unfortunate.
> Grass roots events work on a pendulum; there are amazing things you
> can do low budget or free, but we really need the support of agencies
> whether it be DSB or TVI's to reach the people. I have literally
> witnessed the change in attitude of some people when they find out I
> am in the NFB. It honestly boggles my mind since I was introduced to
> the NFB under such different circumstances. I have literally had
> people joke with me that they don't like me anymore or can't be
> friends with me anymore. And they have just met me!
>
> Although not particularly relevant to the subject at hand, the
> politics is one reason I am particularly excited about the prospect of
> BELL. It has a curriculum created by educators of blind people. It is
> being run in over 20 other states so it can't be ignored. And it's
> educational nature provides a platform where parents will want to send
> their kids, and TVI's will want to include it in IEP's which could
> warrant potential school system support in getting kids to the
> program.
>
> Cindy
>
>> On 9/6/14, debby phillips via nfbwatlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi all, I'm asking for informational purposes only at this point, but
>> are OTC students given a choice about which convention they will go
>> to, ours or the WCB convention? And are their rooms paid for by the
>> state or by the organization whose convention they attend? Can
>> students go to both? What kind of ability do we have to present NFB
>> and our philosophy at OTC? How will this change when Julie Brannon
>> becomes manager? Just questions that are
>> filtering through my brain on this Saturday night. Debby
>>
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>
>
> --
> Cindy Bennett
> Graduate Student, University of Washington Human Centered Design and
> Engineering
>
> Treasurer of the Greater Seattle Chapter and of the National
> Federation of the Blind of Washington Affiliates of the National
> Federation of the Blind
>
> clb5590 at gmail.com
>
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