[nfbwatlk] OTC students at WCB conventions

Daniel Frye danielfrye at earthlink.net
Sun Sep 7 20:26:06 UTC 2014


Colleagues:

I suggest that my friends in Washington State carefully consider 
any plans to challenge Julie's simultaneous service as an agency 
leader and consumer leader.  There is fundamentally no problem 
with holding both positions, unless it can be demonstrated that 
the incumbent is behaving unfairly.  I, for instance, am the 
Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and 
Visually Impaired, but I am also a high-profile leader and member 
of our affiliate.  So long as I act objectively in my 
professional role, no conflict or problem exists with my personal 
and professional obligations.  I've also been terribly mistreated 
and falsely accused of impartial treatment of blind people by 
hostile members of the National ACB organization when I was the 
national manager of the Randolph-Sheppard Program with the 
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), US Department of 
Education.  Ultimately they had no success at harming me, because 
I always behaved appropriately, but it created some hardship for 
me.

Some among our ranks may wish that another candidate had been 
selected for this position, but we ought not let this 
disappointment govern how we behave in terms of trying to limit 
her right to be a member of whatever consumer organization she 
prefers.  Strictly adhering to principle requires compliance when 
it is both to our perceived favor or disadvantage.  Our right to 
associate freely is an American political right that we should 
endeavor to preserve and protect.

Finally, based on what I know of Julie, she'll be a perfectly 
benign OTC administrator.  If members of our Washington affiliate 
have concerns about the OTC program at DSB, I respectfully 
suggest that you lift your game and insist on different and 
improved programming, via constructive means.  Julie will have to 
respond to your advocacy.

With Kind Regards,

Daniel B.  Frye, JD
(410) 241-7006 (Personal Mobile)
(973) 951-1156 (Work Mobile)
(973) 648-2324 (Office)
(973) 928-1055 (Home)

 ----- Original Message -----
From: IEWeich via nfbwatlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
To: Cindy Bennett <clb5590 at gmail.com>,NFB of Washington Talk 
Mailing List <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 08:55:59 -0700
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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