NFB GAzette
The
Quarterly newsletter of the
National Federation of the Blind of
“Mentoring the Blind Leaders of Tomorrow”
Mr. Anil Lewis – President
Gazette First Quarter 2008
The NFB gazette is available in alternative format upon
request. Letters to the president,
address changes, Subscription requests, orders for NFB literature, articles for
the newsletter, and letters to the editor should be sent to:
NFB
of Georgia
315
West Ponce de Leon Avenue
Suite
603
Decatur,
Georgia 30030
Voice:
404-371-1000
Toll
Free: 866-316-3242
FAX:
404-371-1002
E-mail:
THEBLIND @ NFBGA . ORG
Web
Address: WWW.NFBGA.ORG
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The NFB of Georgia is a 501-C (3) non-profit volunteer
organization of blind people speaking for ourselves. We capitalize on the donated services and
professional talents of our members. All
funds donated to the NFB of Georgia go toward the provision of education &
advocacy services, leadership development, technology acquisition &
training, community outreach, and the production and dissemination of
literature and technical assistance materials.
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IN
THIS ISSUE:
Quarterly
Board Meeting and Chapter Development Training
Here are
a few excerpts from our January board meeting
NFB of
Georgia State Convention
Black
Tie – White Cane Appreciation Banquet
First
Cell Phone that Reads to the Blind
Jacobus
tenBroek Disability Law Symposium
NASA to
Unveil Braille Book with Cosmic Images
Words from the President
I proudly serve as President of the National Federation of the
Blind of Georgia, and I am blessed to be supported by a Membership of dedicated
individuals Committed to the mission of the Federation to achieve
equality, opportunity, and security for the blind.
Over the years, we
have been committed to the development of the minds of blind youth and the
development of opportunities for the blind.
On a national level, we assisted in the coordination of our first ever
Youth Slam, which made it possible for 15 Georgia blind students to join with
200 other blind students from around the country to study Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). On a local level, we continued our
Blindness Education, Training, and Advocacy (BETA) project, which is a program
where members of the NFB of Georgia work in conjunction with education
professionals to provide supplemental education to blind students through
seminars and interactive presentations that increases their self-esteem,
promotes a positive perception of themselves as blind individuals, and builds
their overall confidence. We continue to
support our six local chapters throughout the state in order to promote our
philosophy of independence in local communities.
Last year we hosted
our annual convention, which was attended by approximately 3,000 blind people,
their families, friends, blindness professionals, and other interested persons.
This was a historical convention because of our first ever March for
Independence, a symbolic demonstration of independence and the power of
collective action attended by 1,000 marchers.
The symbolism was enhanced with Ambassador Andrew Young serving as our
honorary Chairperson, and the active participation of his wife, Mrs. Carolyn
Young, and Civil Rights icon, Congressman John Lewis. And although we
thoroughly enjoyed hosting our Federation Family, it required a lot of time,
energy, and effort. This year, without
the awesome responsibility, we return to strengthening our affiliate and
developing the projects and programs that will positively affect the lives of
all blind Georgians.
Nationally, we will
build on our Youth Slam success through our youth Leadership program, which
will continue to provide learning opportunities for our youth Slam
participants. We will also be conducting
a junior Youth Slam for younger blind students.
Locally, we will expand on our efforts by strengthening our Georgians
Empowered through Mentoring Success (GEMS) program, which supports the
development of mentoring pairs of successful blind adults with blind
youth.
In 2008, we will also
be assisting blind adults to effectively use technology to access information
and improve their quality of life by offering non-visual technology access
training. Furthermore, we will be
addressing the 75 percent unemployment rate of working age blind adults by
initiating the NFBGA Job Club. Moreover,
we will be conducting chapter development activities to bring the resources of
the NFB to more local Georgia communities.
I look forward to a
year of hard work toward fulfilling our goal to obtain true independence, and
full participation as productive members of society.
NFB Washington
The Washington
Seminar is an annual event of the National Federation of the Blind to introduce
the agenda of blind Americans--the priority issues requiring congressional
attention over the coming year. The issues are selected from official positions
of the Federation. This year, as in the
many years past, a delegation of members of the National Federation of the
Blind of Georgia traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the Washington
seminar. Our members, along with the
other 500 federationists from across the country, addressed concerns in the
following areas:
Issue 1: Enhancing Pedestrian Safety: Ensuring the
Blind Can Continue to Travel Safely and Independently (Quiet Cars)
Issue 2: Preserving Talking Books for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped (Full Funding for NLS Digital Conversion)
Issue 3: Increasing the Earnings Limit: A Common Sense
Work Incentive for Blind Social Security Beneficiaries (Social Security)
This years NFB
Washington Seminar was a tremendous opportunity to gain specific knowledge of
the legislative process, and actual practical training and experience in
educating our public officials. We would
like to thank all the Georgia legislators for taking time to meet with the
members of our delegation, and a special thanks to Congressman John Lewis for
introducing the Social Security legislation.
For more information about each issue, and copies of the fact sheets,
visit: http://www.nfb.org/
Don’t Forget To Vote
The NFB,
through the active support of the passage of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA),
has worked hard to ensure the implementation of technology that allows blind
people to cast an independent, private vote.
We realize that if you don’t use it, you loose it. Therefore we are encouraging all our members,
and the blind community at large, to exercise your right, and fulfill your
responsibility, by voting on Super Tuesday.
Oh yeah, they give you a really nice sticker!
The Georgia Statewide
Coalition for the Blind held Blind Day at the Capitol February 5, 2008. The
group met at 10:00 in the Coverdale Legislative Office Building. There was such a tremendous turn out that the
meeting had to be moved to a larger room.
Legislation that was discussed this year included the Braille Bill,
E-Textbook Legislation, funding for the Deaf/ Blind legislation, and the
Commission for the Blind bill. The event lasted until 2:00 in the afternoon, at
which time we were encouraged to meet with our legislators.
Blind Students at the Capitol
The
NFB of Georgia was pleased to have 8 eighth grade students from the Georgia
Academy for the Blind (GAB), located in Macon 
Georgia,
join us for Blind Day at the Capitol.
These students participate in the NFBGA BETA project, and really had a
great time at the Capitol. After
participating briefly in the legislative meeting, we went with the students to
the Capitol building for a tour. Thanks
to some last minute assistance from the Secretary of State’s office, Tracey,
one of the SOS tour guides, was able to give us a tour. The students were encouraged to explore many
aspects of the building through touch.
The GAB staff members, Mrs. Ridgeway and Ms. Donahue, were terrific, and
seemed to enjoy the event as much as the students. While we were touring the gallery,
Representatives Allen Freeman and Allen Peake invited
the students to come down to the floor of the House chamber. This was a thrill for us all. Thanks to the Georgia Academy for the Blind,
the Georgia Secretary of States office, and Representatives Freeman and Peake, we were able to provide an exceptional learning
experience to eight excellent Georgia middle school students.
Disability Day at the Capitol
Every year the
Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities sponsors Disability Day at the
Capitol. This year Disability Day will be held on February 21, 2008.
Quarterly Board Meeting and Chapter Development Training
The next board meeting
of the NFB of Georgia will take place from 10:00AM until 5:00PM on Saturday,
May 3, 2008 at the Columbus Holiday Inn Airport in Columbus, Georgia. Lunch will begin at 12:00 Noon. All interested persons are welcome, and
anyone wishing to dine with the board is welcome. The cost for lunch is $10.00 per person.
At this meeting, we
will be hosting a Chapter Development training from 1:00PM until 5:00PM to
develop the leadership and organizational skills of the members of the NFB of Georgia
that are interested in starting local chapters.
The training will begin at 1:00PM and last until 5:00PM. Participation
in the training is by reservation only.
Any individual interested in attending can register by contacting the
NFBGA local office.
Here are a few excerpts from our January board meeting
Consumer Outreach and Advocacy: Anil expressed that the affiliate is
conducting a lot of consumer outreach.
He and Garrick have participated in over five IEPs
in the last few months. We will be
conducting more advocacy for school age children.
NewsLine Update: the
NewsLine, Georgia AUIAS, is going well.
There will soon be new voices on the NewsLine service. We will be conducting a mail-out of 15,000
audio tapes to the Georgia NLS Library for the Blind patrons in February. Chapter members will be asked to volunteer
their time to assist with this project.
We continue to increase the number of subscribers, but we still need to
get the numbers up. The funding is up
for renewal in June of 2009, and hopefully we will get a two year extension
before having to competitively bid for the service again. Anil explained what the local channel is used
for and suggested that anyone that had information to be placed on the local
channel should e-mail the information to localchannel@nfbga.org.
Residential Training Facility: Anil continues to promote the vision of
establishing a residential training facility for the blind in Georgia. He mentioned that he has had a discussion
with the board director for the Savannah Association for the Blind and offered
to assist in developing a residential training component as they work to
re-organize. Furthermore, Anil stated
they we are being more and more successful in advocating that Georgia VR
clients are referred to our NFB training centers, and we have begun sending
blind youth to the summer programs held at our NFB centers. There was a brief discussion of the efforts
of the Georgia DRS to open a residential training facility for the blind at the
Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute in Warm Springs, Georgia. We are not able to support this effort due to
a variety of reasons. Two major reasons
are the desire of the Georgia DRS to combine services for all disabilities’ in
one location, and the lack of access to public transportation which results in
the inability to train blind individuals to use public transportation. Anil clarified that our goal is to establish
a residential training center for the blind, owned and operated by the NFB of
Georgia, but we will continue to work to improve the quality of services made
available to the blind citizens of Georgia until our goal is reached.
GEMS Update: Mentors
have been working with the mentees as of September 2007. We have received the grant money from the
national office, and also allocated our share of the program funds. We are still in the process of working out
the contract language with the Georgia DOLRS so that we can begin billing for
services as agreed to in our Memorandum of Understanding. We have paired the mentors and mentees for
the research project, but are still looking for additional mentoring pairs.
BETA Project: The
BETA project at the
Garrick Scott
NFB National Convention
The NFB national
convention will be held from June 29 thru July 5, 2008, in Dallas Texas. All specific information can be found in the
Braille Monitor, the monthly Magazine of the NFB. This year you can pre-register for the
convention on-line at WWW.NFB.ORG, or via mail.
If you take advantage of the on-line registration, you will receive a
discount on the registration and banquet.
The NFB of Georgia is
coordinating a convention bus to
NFB of Georgia State
Anil Lewis
It is time to start
planning for the 2008 convention of the National Federation of the Blind of
Georgia. Last year's convention, in Columbus, Georgia, was an extra ordinary
event, and this year promises to be even greater. We will meet this year
at the Holiday Inn Midtown in Savannah, Georgia. This hotel is a quaint
facility located in the center of historic Savannah, GA. The convention
dates are October 3-5, 2008. Check the NFBGA website or the next issue of
the NFB Gazette for updated information.
Black Tie – White Cane Appreciation Banquet
Thelma Godwin
This is the Seventh
Annual Black Tie/White Cane Appreciation Banquet hosted by the National
Federation of the Blind of Georgia. According to our event chairperson,
Ms. Thelma Godwin, the banquet will be held on Saturday, October 25, 2008 at
the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta.
BEP Internship Opportunities
Editor’s
Note: The following article was taken from the Shining STARS newsletter, a
publication of the Center for the Visually Impaired. It highlights the contributions of Mr. Al
Falligan, a licensed vendor in the Georgia Business Enterprise Program
(BEP). The BEP is a program that
provides viable employment opportunities for blind individuals as
vendors/merchants in many federal and state locations. Mr. Falligan is the president of the Georgia
Association of blind Merchants, which is one of the many specialty divisions of
the NFB of Georgia. A long time member
of the National Federation of the Blind of Georgia, Mr. Falligan exemplifies
the collaborative spirit and commitment of the members of the Federation as he
works to assist blind youth to obtain the necessary work skills and experience
to secure gainful employment.
In June, 2006, CVI
launched its first Springboard (Transition) Camp as an addition to the STARS
Program. Social skills are a main part of the curriculum. Under that umbrella is dining out. Al Falligan‘s vending facility, located at Fort McPherson, was
one of the restaurants chosen in 2006. It was selected for two reasons –
the prices were right and it was run by a blind merchant. Mr. Falligan
rolled out the red carpet for the students by offering them a special priced
meal and by offering prizes to the winners of trivia questions of the hour.
Several of his regular customers pitched in to assist the students with their
lunch selections without being asked; it was simply the natural atmosphere and
Mr. Falligan‘s rapport with the customer. We
were all extremely impressed.
In the summer of 2007
the Springboard Camp visited job sites of visually impaired employees and, once
again, Al Falligan‘s workplace was selected.
During our visit the head of the Business Enterprise Program Training Division
for potential blind merchants had been invited by Mr. Falligan to speak with
the students regarding the B E P and possible summer internships. Of the
twelve students Ralph Main spoke with, four expressed a half-hearted
interest. They did not know what was expected of them and thus were
hesitant to commit to the unknown. The idea was not dropped, however, but
was developed into a full-blown opportunity for eight students to secure
part-time work over the upcoming summer of 2008. These internships will
be scheduled for twenty-five hours per week for nine to ten weeks at $7 an
hour. Interns will be trained under a licensed operator and given a fair
chance at earning their own paycheck.
During the winter
holidays while things were a bit slower than normal, Mr. Falligan agreed to
experiment with one student by having her spend a day working with him in the
facility. Although she was excited to be working with the customers and
operating the cash drawer, it was evident that there is much work to be done in
preparing her for the task – organizational, social, and mathematical skills
especially. In spite of these shortcomings, Mr. Falligan, along with seven
other merchants, are willing to step out on faith and welcome aboard the next
generation of BEP operators. We at STARS extend to you a resounding “thank
you”!
NFBGA Scholarships
This year, the
National Federation of the Blind of Georgia will award scholarships to
recognize and encourage the achievement of blind scholars. All applicants for these
scholarships must be (1) legally blind and (2) pursuing or planning to pursue a
full-time post-secondary course of study in the United States in the fall
semester of 2008. The NFB of Georgia
state scholarship applications are available upon request. The number and amount of the scholarship
awards will be decided at the next affiliate board meeting. All individuals interested in applying should
contact the affiliate by e-mail or telephone.
NFBGA Job Club
It is a well published statistic that over 70 percent of working age blind individuals remain unemployed. The NFB of Georgia will be confronting this statistic head-on by initiating the NFBGA Job Club. Individuals that which to participate in a program that will assist them develop the skills, confidence, and strategies to become gainfully employed should call 404-371-1000, an ask to register for the NFBGA Job Club.
The NFBGA Job Club will begin in the Metro Atlanta area and hopefully expand to other areas throughout the state. There will be weekly mandatory meetings, and it will require a full active commitment from each participant. We realize that it is a full-time job to secure a full-time job. Therefore, only serious, committed individuals should make the call.
First Cell Phone that Reads to the Blind
K-NFB
Reading Technology, Inc., a company combining the research and development
efforts of the National Federation of the Blind and Kurzweil
Technologies Inc., unveils an exciting product line that will revolutionize
access to print for anyone who has difficulty seeing or reading print,
including the blind and learning disabled. The company’s world-renowned
reading software has been especially designed for and paired with the Nokia N82
mobile phone to create the smallest text-to-speech reading device in
history.
This
truly pocketsize Reader enables users to take pictures of and read most printed
materials at the push of a button. Blind users hear the contents of the
document read in clear synthetic speech, while users who can see the screen and
those with learning disabilities can enlarge, read, track, and highlight
printed materials using the phone’s large and easy-to-read display. The
combination of text-to-speech and tracking features makes interpreting text
much easier for individuals with learning disabilities.
Dr.
Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "The
knfbREADER Mobile will allow the blind unprecedented
access to the printed word, affording a level of flexibility and capability
never before available. No other device in the history of technology has
provided such portability and quick access to print materials. The NFB promotes
equal opportunity for the blind, and this Reader will make blind people
dramatically more independent. The result will be better performance at
work, at school, at home, and everywhere else we go. This Reader will
substantially improve the quality of life for the growing number of blind
people and people who are losing vision, including seniors."
“The
knfbREADER Mobile allows me immediate access to
printed information, whether it be a menu or a letter,” said James Gashel, vice
president of business development for K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. and a
blind user of the product. “So many people already carry cell phones.
This innovation is exciting because it puts all of the functions that users
need into one product, eliminating the need to carry multiple devices.
The Reader’s simple user interface makes it ideal for the growing number of
blind seniors.”
“Technology that enlarges the printed word or
converts it to speech has dramatically improved the lives of millions of
Americans with many types of disabilities, enabling them to read and comprehend
printed materials to which they never before had access,” said Ray Kurzweil, President and CEO of K-NFB Reading Technology,
Inc. “This innovation has created opportunities disabled people had
never considered before due to the large amounts of reading required in certain
occupations. The first machine of this type was the size of a washing
machine. As optical character recognition technology is integrated into
smaller and smaller devices, access to print becomes available almost
instantaneously.” For more information
visit WWW.NFB.ORG.
Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium
On
April 10-11, 2008, the NFB will host the first Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law
Symposium. Held at the NFB Jernigan
Institute, the symposium will examine the current status of both American and
international disability law and will act as a forum in which to discuss future
change in the disability law of the United States. For more information, and to register for the
symposium, visit WWW.NFB.ORG.
NASA to Unveil Braille Book with Cosmic Images
"Touch
the Invisible Sky" is accessible to both blind and sighted readers. The
book presents celestial objects as they appear through visible-light telescopes
and in different spectral regions that are invisible to the naked eye. It uses
a combination of Braille and traditional text. A variety of tactile textures
and symbols were chosen to represent different physical features and
characteristics of the images. For
information about NASA's Great Observatories, visit: WWW.NASA.GOV.
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Calendar of Upcoming Events |
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January 27-30 |
Washington Seminar |
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February 5 |
Blind Day At The Capitol |
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February 7 |
Gems Mentee Telephone Conference |
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February 8th |
Gems Mentor Telephone Conference |
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February 9 |
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February 13 |
BETA Project Meeting |
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February 21 |
Disability Day At The Capitol |
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February 22-24 |
Gems Quarterly Meeting |
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February 27th |
BETA Project Meeting |
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February 29 – March 2 |
Youth Leadership Seminar |
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March 7 |
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April 10-11 |
Jacobus tenBroek Law Symposium |
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May 10 |
NFBGA Quarterly Board Meeting |
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May 30-June 1 |
Gems Quarterly Meeting |
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June 10 |
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June 29 - July 5 |
NFB National Convention |
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July 2 |
March For |
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July 23-27 |
Junior Youth Slam |
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August 8-10 |
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September 12 |
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October 1-31 |
Meet The Blind Month |
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October 3-5 |
NFBGA State Convention |
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October 25 |
Black Tie – White Cane Appreciation
Banquet |