Maryland to Focus on Access, Rehab and Aging
The American Council of the Blind of Maryland will hold its 2000 convention October 6-8 at the Mount Vernon Hotel, 24 W. Cathedral Street, Baltimore. Activities will begin on Friday evening, October 6, with a meeting of the board followed by live entertainment featuring musician John Student.
The Saturday session will begin at 9 a.m.; it will feature a speaker from the U.S. Access Board, who will update us on the regulatory initiatives being addressed by this agency. We are planning a panel discussion on accessible pedestrian signals and have invited the Maryland State Highway Administration to let us know why they are still reluctant to install more accessible pedestrian signals in our state. Patrick Sheehan, our vice president, will talk about the latest regulations from Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
There will be two panels during the afternoon session; the banquet speaker will be executive director Charles Crawford. In one panel, there will be discussion of the problems faced by older blind people. During this segment, we plan to ask participants if they would form a regional chapter of the Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss, so we could more effectively address some of these problems.
On Saturday evening, we will have an auction fund-raiser. The business meeting will take place on Sunday morning. Please join us for some serious work and much fun and friendship. For more information, call (410) 529-9475 or e-mail Ralph Sanders at ralph.pat1@juno.com.