(Editor’s Note: The summary of “News Notes” which appears below is included here for the benefit of those who do not currently have access to ACB-L, our Internet mailing list. You can also access “News Notes” as the column appears, or archives of past columns, at the ACB web site. If you would like to view these notes on a weekly basis, visit the ACB web page, http://www.acb.org.)
For the week ending September 1, 2000 and slightly beyond
Software to make your web site accessible? Maybe.
ACB is actively involved with a company that is working on a software solution to diagnosing and fixing web sites to make them accessible. Will it work? Is it worth it? These and other questions will need to be answered before we can actively support this and other options.
RSVA and ACB shine in New Orleans!
It was a great week for RSVA and ACB in New Orleans as an RSA meeting to advance the vending program convened and conducted business important to all vendors in the nation. All participants including RSA, the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind, NFB and their Merchants group contributed to the products of the meeting and ACB is proud to have been represented by Terry Pacheco who helped keep the ball rolling in the right direction. Congrats are also in order for RSVA for having had the foresight to develop and circulate a document that set a vision for the future of vending with real action steps.
The focus will now turn to the November meeting of the state agencies and you can bet ACB and our RSVA folks will be a part of the solution!
Active ACB representatives move ped safety agenda!
Last Wednesday evening in Silver Spring, Md., an impressive group of ACB activists met with county officials and members of the Maryland Federation to discuss the kinds of pedestrian signaling that will be needed in the Silver Spring redevelopment initiative. The meeting went well and all ACB members can be proud of this group for their clear and articulate presentations throughout the meeting!
The upshot is that there will be two ped signals put into the downtown area for testing and all will come back together for future discussions of what works and how to expand the usage of accessible signals.
ACB and fund-raisers rewrite scripts
ACB Executive Director and Assistant Cynthia Lovering held a conference with our telemarketing fund-raisers to review and insure that the scripts they use are appropriate and on target. The testing of the new scripts will occur this week and ACB will be monitoring the calls to insure that our message is properly conveyed.
ACB year 2000 resolutions go to print
Life has been pretty good for printers and braillers who work with ACB. Our resolutions from the convention are being printed and brailled for distribution and should be available within a week or two. Our pedestrian safety handbook is being printed and should be in this week. Braille copies of the handbook will be authorized to be printed at some point this week and we anticipate them back at the office within a few weeks. Tapes and diskettes will also be available in the near future.
The resolutions will be sent to every affiliate and the ped safety handbook has a stack of requests already waiting to be filled.
For the week ending September 8, 2000
Terry off to view 5 stars in Iowa!
Upon her return from New Orleans where Terry Pacheco participated in what appears to have been a highly successful conference on the future of the national vending program, she stopped in the office for a day, took a few breaths and then got on a plane to Iowa! Yes, it’s that time to start looking at the ACB convention site for the year 2001. So Terry and a group from our convention committee have been spending a few days in Des Moines to check out the facilities and start planning for what promises to be a five-star convention, combining all the resources of five hotels and a convention center to boot! You can bet our Iowa Council is all set to work with us in putting on another superb convention come next July!
Melanie Brunson tells Social Security where we stand!
There are some proposed rules out there at Social Security impacting upon SSI and SSDI where if a person is judged to have known of an obligation and did not comply, then deduction in payments could result. This has to do with other programs under Social Security, but a person receiving SSI or SSDI benefits while applying for the other programs could be adversely impacted upon. Melanie and Krista from our governmental affairs division will be able to fill folks in on the details, but the bottom line for ACB as conveyed to the Social Security Administration is that we will not accept liabilities to blind folks when the information we need to comply with programmatic requirements is not provided in alternative media.
Civil rights and the Internet?
ACB Executive Director Charlie Crawford participated in a fascinating conference on civil rights and the Internet which was conducted by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. ACB made sure that the civil rights community understood that our interests in accessibility to the Internet is as important as issues such as the digital divide, privacy interests in non- disclosure of personal information, and electronic red-lining of poor and rural communities.
The importance of the conference was that the many groups dedicated to preserving civil rights will now keep accessibility in the mix of concerns when advocating or litigating on behalf of protected groups such as people who are blind.
Penny Reeder helps keep special education special
“Braille Forum” editor Penny Reeder took two days this week to participate in strategic planning to determine special education programming priorities. ACB knows that if anyone can protect blind kids, then Penny is our choice!
Tennessee Council tops in Tupelo!
The ACB affiliates convention season is off and running with the Tennessee Council meeting in Tupelo, Miss. This edition of “News Notes” is being written from the convention site and there is no question that if all ACB affiliate conventions are anything like this one this year, then the world better be ready for us!
Congratulations are surely in order for Hattie Bond of Tennessee and all the great members who have made this convention a true rendering of hard work, good times, and a celebration of our ACB spirit!
ACB to launch ped safety bulletin campaign
As the first batch of pedestrian safety handbooks is being sent out from the national office to waiting lists of people, ACB has written a one-page bulletin that fits on ACB stationery and will be circulated to affiliates in what promises to be an inexpensive but highly effective way to get the word out!
Affiliates and friends of ACB will receive copies of the bulletin that they can send to their local decision-makers in order to provide support for the installation of accessible pedestrian signaling in cities and towns across our nation. The walk sign is on, so stay tuned to hear more about this and other exciting strategic operations that will bring us that much closer to the ultimate success we all seek in making our streets and neighborhoods pedestrian friendly once again.
“News Notes from the National Office” is a compilation of the highlights of events from previous weeks. It does not cover all business or fully address all the aspects of each event covered. ACB suggests subscribing to “The Braille Forum” and ACB-Announce along with monitoring the Washington Connection for more substantial information!