By Judy Sanders, Secretary

Our 2008 annual convention at the Kahler Grand Hotel in Rochester on October 3-5, 2008 will long be remembered for its continuance of long-held traditional values and its forward thinking approach to changing what it means to be blind. People began arriving early on Friday to get ready to participate in the myriad of activities where there was something for everyone.

Convention registration opened in the early afternoon where people could not only purchase banquet and breakfast tickets, but had the opportunity to own their very own T-shirt displaying that "we are changing what it means to be blind." (Note: There will most likely be other chances for you to invest in your own T-shirt).

The AutoMARK voting machine was available right next to the registration table for people to practice and be ready to vote in the real election in November. This is how Minnesota citizens can have nonvisual access to the ballot. Kallie Decker and Judy Sanders, both employees of the Secretary of State's office, were on hand to provide instruction and register any voters so they could vote in the general election.

Friday afternoon

Our afternoon activities began with a seminar directed at making us better self-advocates and letting us know how we could help others work within the complicated Vocational Rehabilitation system. It included tips on writing your own Individualized Plan for Employment and working successfully with Minnesota State Services for the Blind (SSB). Dick Davis and Jan Bailey conducted this seminar.

The National Association to Promote the Use of Braille in Minnesota (NAPUB) met to talk about how we can promote braille to those who have not had the chance to learn it and to play some fun games using braille. NAPUB had the following election results: president, Melody Wartenbee; vice president, Amy Baron; secretary, Trudy Barrett; and treasurer, RoseAnn Faber.

Resolutions are the cornerstone of our conventions because they set our policies and priorities. Steve Decker chaired this year's Resolutions Committee that recommended resolutions for referral to the full membership at the convention. Other committee members were Jan Bailey, Charlene Childrey, Shawn Mayo and Joyce Scanlan. Resolutions appear at the end of this report.

The Minnesota Association of Blind Students played a lively role in our convention. Under the leadership of President Amanda Swanson, they had a spirited meeting. The following people will serve as officers in the coming year: president, Jean Rauschenbach; vice president, Brianna Gowan; secretary, Paradise Morgan; and treasurer, David Dunphey.

At 5 p.m., it was time to gather for a strategy meeting to receive instructions for how we would conduct an informational protest about the new movie "Blindness." This was the opening day for this movie produced by the Miramax Corporation. This movie portrays blindness in an insulting, degrading and erroneous fashion. Protests would be occurring throughout the country. After our planning meeting about fifty Federationist left the Kahler Grand Hotel with picket signs in hand to parade in front of the Chateau Theater and let the public know how harmful this movie is to our lives. We received television coverage from a local station and members of the public were most interested in what we were saying. A more detailed article about this will appear in the Braille Monitor.

The evening ended with friendly hospitality hosted by our Rochester chapter. Food, fun and a rehash of our energetic evening gave us a high-spirited end to our first day.

Saturday morning

President Jennifer Dunnam called our convention to order to begin a day of information, thoughtful discussion and deliberation that are the hallmarks of any NFB convention. Throughout the day, on a less serious note, door prizes were given and the bake sale auction brought out the high-spirited competitiveness and desire to raise money for the NFB of Minnesota. Thanks to Michaela Moritz for her successful gathering of numerous door prizes donated by our Rochester chapter.

Kathy McGillivray opened the session with an invocation.

Jan Bailey, president of our Rochester chapter, welcomed us and a proclamation was read from Governor Tim Pawlenty declaring October as "Meet the Blind Month" in Minnesota. Jennifer reported that our activities for "Meet the Blind Month" began in an exciting way with our information protest at the opening of the movie "Blindness".

She then introduced our national representative for his report. We were honored to have Dr. Marc Maurer, the Federation's president, at our convention. Dr. Maurer began by reminiscing about the first time he ever served as a national representative. It was right here in Minnesota and our very own Joyce Scanlan critiqued his first speech.

The national convention will be in Detroit beginning on July 3-8. We are shortening the convention by one day as an experiment. We will eliminate the tour afternoon and people can stay the extra day to do their own touring. The convention will adjourn at the end of the banquet. In 2010, we will be back in Dallas.

One of our immediate concerns in this Congressional session is funding for the digital Talking Book program through the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS.) It looks as if no funding bills will pass during this session; therefore, this will be a key issue during our Washington seminar. The Librarian of Congress has not been as supportive as he promised, but the House offered the program as much as $34 million; the Senate's last figure was $12 million.

Many soldiers are coming back from Iraq facing injuries that result in blindness. We are seeking funding to help with their adjustment to blindness training through our NFB centers including Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions, Incorporated (BLIND.)

Our Washington seminar will begin on February 8, 2009. It will end on the 11th.

The next prototype of the KNFB Reader will be able to take a picture of text in one language and speak it in another. This version should be out in the next few months.

At last year's March for Independence the Louis Braille coin was unveiled by a representative of the U.S. Mint. It will be available for purchase this spring and the proceeds from it will go to develop braille literacy programs. We want to double the braille literacy rate by 2012. Another program sponsored by our Jernigan Institute is the YouthSlam. The kids may have the opportunity to help with the research to develop a car that a blind person can drive. People interested in being a mentor for this program should contact the Jernigan Institute. It is evident that the money we raise through the March for Independence is a valuable investment.

One of the most valued traditions of an NFB of Minnesota convention is the reporting from agencies for the blind in Minnesota. It is their way of reporting to the consumers they serve and it is our opportunity to share with them how we feel about the services they provide. The first of these reports came from Chuk Hamilton, director of Minnesota State Services for the Blind (SSB.) His remarks will appear in the next issue of this publication. Here is a brief summary.

After sharing with us some year-end statistics (the fiscal year ends September 30), Chuk talked of enhancing the efforts for employment of deaf/blind individuals and partnerships with the STAR program to help with assistive technology. He acknowledged that tours of the adjustment to blindness centers are down this year. SSB is working to analyze why this may be happening.

Questions from the audience involved such matters as an interest in seeing the Rochester Post-Bulletin available on NFB-NEWSLINE®; trying to get referrals from Social Security and the VA; scanning of books by the Communication Center; and concern about counselors who prematurely close cases. Most of these matters are being dealt with but the scanning of books is not currently going to be done because of budget considerations. A question was asked about what is being done to support transition services for teens. Chuk mentioned a summer program that SSB sponsors with public school special education teachers. SSB agreed to cosponsor a Possibilities Fair for seniors with the NFB. No exact dollar amount has been set for group model training for seniors. Chuk pledged to talk about individual complaints with SSB privately and deal with them.

Jean Martin has been the longtime director of the Resource Center for the Blind and a longtime friend of the NFB and has always had high expectations for blind and visually impaired students. As of October 1, Jean has retired from this position—so we were hearing her last report to us. She reported that an interagency agreement between the Department of Education and SSB has been renewed for two years. It means the Department of Education has a budget of $490,000 to provide braille for students from grades K-12. Jean indicated that she recently had a problem ordering braillewriters with the American Printing House (APH) Quota money that is used for supplies for blind students. She was told that there might be a problem between APH and Howe Press, the manufacturer of the braillewriters. However, David Andrews, chief technology officer for SSB, said that they would still be available.

The Resource Center is working cooperatively with SSB to provide assistive technology on loan to students to try it out. Jean expressed thanks for the opportunity to speak to our conventions for 21 years. Although she retired, she plans to stay active in the field. We can all be grateful for that.

Our last representative of a state agency for the blind was Catherine Durivage, director of the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library. Catherine says that we are beginning a new era at the library. The library is missing some key staff because of the hiring freeze in state government; this means that certain changes must be made. The telephone will be answered between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Otherwise, a message can be left on voice mail or by using the library's online service. In 2009, an opening will be filled to serve on their advisory committee. Applications can be made through the Open Appointments process in the Secretary of State's office.

There are delays in the implementation of the new digital talking book program. However, it is still possible to sign up to be on the waiting list. Preference is given to veterans and those patrons who are over 100 years of age (82 patrons are in that age category). There will be two kinds of players—a standard player and a more complicated advanced player that will allow the reader the ability to skip around in the book. People can go online and download books to read on the new Victor Stream and some other compatible devices. When readers start using the digital books it is not necessary to turn in a cassette player. A simple way to try something that is close to a digital book is to try a "playaway" book, a self-contained book that comes with ear buds for listening.

Catherine closed by complimenting her staff and saying that without them we would not get our books.

Our morning session closed with announcements about various chapter fundraisers.

During lunch, our Parents of Blind Children met informally.

Saturday Afternoon

We began our afternoon hearing from Chuck Ackerman representing Senator Amy Klobuchar. He explained the best way to schedule an appointment to see Senator Klobuchar. He suggested laying the groundwork with her Minneapolis staff.

Tom Scanlan, NFB of Minnesota treasurer, reported that we have a net income of over $9,000 for the first six months of our fiscal year.

Jeff Thompson next gave us some pointers on how to get to know our legislators. Our expertise in doing this is why the NFB of Minnesota is the go-to organization for issues concerning blindness. Getting to know them begins with knowing who they are. Then go and introduce yourself. Remember that their staff is important as well. Be on time for an appointment and make sure they know that you are a part of the NFB.

An item called "What Do You Do" allowed each member of the audience to introduce themselves and give a brief explanation of their careers or volunteer activities. It demonstrated how actively Federationists are involved in the community and what diverse careers we have.

Shawn Mayo reported on the activities at Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), Incorporated reinforcing why this training opportunity sets itself apart from traditional training programs; this training offers the fastest road to freedom for those who want it.

Harrison Hoyes grew up in Singapore and, at age 15, he and his family discovered that he was slowly losing his sight. His parents had no idea what to do; he never got positive answers until he met Al Spooner at a student seminar at Penn State. He thinks he made the best decision of his life by choosing to participate in this training opportunity. He came here to gain the skills of blindness; he will leave here with the ability to help change what it means to be blind for all of us.

Jonathan McClung first tried to be a student at the Chris Cole training center in Texas. For some reason, they refused to accept him, but he eventually found our program and is on his way to success.

C. J. Wallace talked about the foibles of learning the skills of blindness and how he can learn to solve his own problems.

Andy Virden, a longtime leader in the Federation, was unable to be with us so he addressed us via cell phone regarding transportation issues in St. Cloud and throughout the state. We must continually advocate for better public transportation since it is an essential part of all our lives and is equally important to the public as well. While he had the floor, he promoted the annual spaghetti dinner held each year by our Central Minnesota chapter.

Sharon Monthei has a long career in teaching alternatives to blindness, and is newly certified in teaching English Language Learners (ELL). She is spearheading a new program at BLIND to teach blind immigrants a beginning to the alternatives used by blind people, the rudiments of English, and other academic skills, thus preparing them for a more advanced program. She works cooperatively with the Lehman Center, which is the largest ELL program in the state. Since most ELL programs teach by showing pictures, she has adapted her course to allow hands-on experiences in learning to identify objects. There are currently six students in this program.

The NFB is composed of many special-interest divisions. One of them is the Performing Arts Division. David Dunphey introduced us to its varied activities including their production of a CD available for sale through their website.

Parents are an integral part of our Federation movement. Brenda Johnson has a twelve-year-old son, Austin, who is blind. He is a student at the State Academy for the Blind and he has two siblings who are sighted. Through the NFB, Brenda has learned the importance of being a strong advocate for her son and she has learned how much easier that is to accomplish when she works with competent blind adults to make positive differences in her son's life. Federationists are coming to know Brenda for her numerous baked items that she and her family bring to our baked auction.

The NFB has been a strong advocate for making websites accessible. One effort has involved a lawsuit against the Target Corporation. Since their corporate headquarters is in Minneapolis, Steve Jacobson, a computer expert, was able to represent the NFB and was deposed by Target's lawyers. When this suit was first undertaken, a blind person was unable to purchase a product on their website. Because of our efforts, Target will now be making its website accessible to the blind, and other corporate entities will learn from Target’s experience and open their doors (or websites) to us. Steve explained not only what our success means to us but he brought home to us why it was necessary to do this. Jacobson's remarks will be in a future issue of this publication.

Harry Krueger is a recent graduate from one of the Older Blind classes being taught at BLIND. Harry leads a busy life taking advantage of the varied activities in his senior community. He now acts as a mentor to other students in the classes. His only condition for taking the class was that he be home in time for happy hour.

Joyce Scanlan teaches these classes with Laurie Brown, instilling in the students the idea that their life can go on as blind citizens. They are introduced to cooking, braille, using a long white cane and leisure activities. Most important, however, the classes instill confidence in people who thought they would have to give up control of their lives.

Saturday Evening

The highlight of all our conventions occurs at our banquets. Jan Bailey served as mistress of ceremonies. We were honored to hear from Dr. Marc Maurer. He took the opportunity to share with us a personal view of his life and how he grew to understand his blindness and the value of the part that others played in that understanding of his blindness. All of us could identify with his life experiences, so we came away knowing that we are not alone in dealing with our blindness. The NFB will always be there for us, and we must be there for others.

Jeff Thompson came to the microphone to announce the winners of the Metro chapter essay contest. Sheila Koenig was the winner and Judy Sanders received the runner up prize. Each winner received fifty dollars.

Dr. Maurer came back to the podium to urge us to contribute to the PAC (Preauthorized Check Plan) as our way of making a financial commitment to the organized blind movement. Many increased their monthly gift and others started a new pledge.

Lively hospitality from the Rochester chapter followed the banquet. A disc jockey was present with a variety of music and the evening turned into a karaoke night.

Sunday Morning

On Sunday morning, many of us rose early to attend the Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), Incorporated breakfast. This was a further opportunity to meet board members, staff and students.

We began our Sunday morning session with remarks from Representative Tina Liebling, who represents Legislative District 30A in Rochester. She introduced us to government trends and the importance of being involved in the political process. In her introduction, Jan Bailey, president of our Rochester chapter, told us that Rep. Liebling always sees us when we come to the Legislature to make our issues known.

Steve Decker came forward to introduce this year's resolutions for discussion and passage (or defeat). These appear at the end of this report.

There were four resolutions. Resolution A08-01 dealt with problems in staffing for the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library. It urges the Department of Education and Governor Tim Pawlenty to find a way to fill those positions.

Resolution A08-02 dealt with the problems created for blind students with online testing. It urged the Commissioner of the Department of Education to ensure that no tests are biased against blind students and that they are made accessible.

Resolution A08-03 recognized the valued service of Congressman Jim Ramstad and the many years of support he has given to the members of the NFB.

Our final resolution, A08-04, dealt with the minimal qualifications for State Services for the Blind (SSB) counselors to have an understanding of the needs of blind customers and our solutions so as to enhance their qualifications. The resolution points out that tours of adjustment to blindness programs are down for this year among other problems.

The NFB of Minnesota website has resolutions for the last ten years. It is an excellent way to familiarize oneself with NFB policies.

Tom Scanlan serves on the Minnesota State Rehabilitation Council-Blind as NFB's representative. Tom knows that it is his job to act as a strong advocate. He continually challenges SSB to be accountable to its blind consumers. As a result, Chuk Hamilton will be checking into why tour requests for training are down; why are there so many unsuccessful closures and why are there fewer referrals from the Social Security Administration. Judy Sanders and Steve Jacobson also serve on this Council and work with a unified effort to keep SSB accountable.

Judy's position on the Council is as a liaison between that Council and the Statewide Independent Living Council. She expressed pride in the organized efforts of the blind community through the NFB as advocates. The eight Independent Living Centers act as strong advocates for people with disabilities other than blindness and there is probably room for a strong partnership with them.

Judy and Steve Jacobson also serve on an advisory committee to the Secretary of State on how to make the whole voting process accessible.

Steve reported for Nadine Jacobson regarding the State Academy for the Blind. Nadine serves on the Academy's Board of Governors and Jan Bailey represents the school's alumni and SSB on the school's Site Council. There is a vacancy for an NFB representative on this Council.

Our chapters continue to be active around the state. Our chapters keep us going with the nitty gritty work of the Federation in between spirited conventions. Whether working on transportation issues or that ever popular fundraising, members are busy through their chapter work. Our activism is not just through our chapters, and our parents and students play an active role in our successes.

Our elections yielded the following results: vice president, Steve Jacobson; treasurer, Tom Scanlan; board positions, Joyce Scanlan and Pat Barrett. Other board members are president, Jennifer Dunnam; secretary, Judy Sanders; board members, Jan Bailey, Jeff Thompson and Charlene Childrey.

Jennifer closed the convention with a reminder of our successes in the past year. They include the elimination of the sunset provision for NFB-NEWSLINE® and Dial-in-news, and the publicity we received about the danger posed by quiet cars. We continue to work on advocating for customers of SSB and working with parents in Individual Education Plan meetings. Our teen night and Saturday School allows us to play an active role with the next generation of blind adults. There is lots of hard work to come.

Tim Aune announced that we still have a show on the Radio Talking Book aired on the last Sunday evening of the month. It is called “Speaking for Ourselves.”

Our bake sale netted us a record $4,217.

The last door prize given by the Rochester chapter was a gift certificate to Target. What a fine way to end our convention.

Resolution A08-01

Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library Staffing

WHEREAS, The Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault, referred hereinafter as the Library, has for more than fifty years been the public library for blind and other persons who cannot read the printed page; and

WHEREAS, there are currently more than twelve thousand active patrons while there are many more who do not know they are eligible to use this library under the law; and

WHEREAS, over seventy percent of those served by this library are also senior citizens for whom this service has added significance as they often have lost their vision later in their lives; and

WHEREAS, this library circulates nearly three hundred thousand books and magazines in braille, talking book, and large print formats each year; and

WHEREAS, the Library has, in theory, 11.5 positions with which to provide this service even though library standards suggest that they need more than twice that number to handle this level of circulation; and

WHEREAS, circumstances over the past four years have resulted in the Library most commonly operating with three unfilled positions with these positions being continuously unfilled since the end of 2006; and

WHEREAS, the library received permission after clearing a number of hurtles to fill these positions in January, 2008, only to once again be caught by circumstances in the form of a state hiring freeze which prevented this from happening; and

WHEREAS, this hiring freeze appears to be interpreted differently by various parts of state government, with some believing it is intended to limit staff expansion while others believe it prevents the filling of positions that simply happened to be unfilled at the time of the freeze as is the case for the library; and

WHEREAS, two of the three positions the Library is prevented from filling are funded by federal dollars and therefore do not even impact the state budget; and

WHEREAS, this on-going problem of unfilled positions is resulting in a reduction of service and heavier workloads for the remaining staff with no end in sight; Now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this fifth day of October in the city of Rochester, Minnesota, that this organization call upon the Department of Education and the office of Governor Tim Pawlenty to allow the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library to proceed to fill the three positions that happened to be unfilled at the time of the hiring freeze, only one of which impacts state dollars; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if some resolution of this problem is not set in motion before the end of 2008 that this organization seek a solution through legislative activity by raising the awareness of the legislature regarding this unfair situation or by causing legislative action to be taken.

Resolution A08-02

Online Testing for K-12

WHEREAS, the administration of state assessments and other tests for school children in grades K-12 in web-based or other electronic formats rather than on paper has rapidly increased in recent years; and

WHEREAS, teachers of blind students, parents of blind children, and others in the blindness field have brought to our attention that these online tests are increasingly presented in formats that cannot be accessed via a screen reader or other nonvisual method and, further, are increasingly difficult to convert to any format that is accessible; and

WHEREAS, for many years, a state review committee has been doing a commendable job of evaluating state assessments to ensure that the items in these tests do not contain biases against students who read braille, but the administration of state tests in online formats poses new challenges to the work of that committee; and

WHEREAS, an inaccessible or biased test not only adversely affects the student’s ability to succeed on the test, but can have far-reaching consequences including impeding the student’s ability to move to the next grade or to graduate from high school; and

WHEREAS, such barriers in the education process only serve to contribute to the persistent high employment rate among blind people; now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this fifth day of October, 2008, in the city of Rochester, Minnesota, that this organization call upon the Commissioner of the Department of Education to take all possible steps to ensure that all tests administered online in Minnesota can be rendered in a format accessible to blind K-12 students and that the test items are not biased against students who read in a nonvisual manner.

Resolution A08-03

Recognition of Representative Jim Ramstad's Service to the Blind

WHEREAS, Representative Jim Ramstad of Minnesota's Third Congressional District has decided not to seek another term after serving in that capacity since 1991; and

WHEREAS, he served for ten years before then in the Minnesota State Senate; and

WHEREAS, Representative Ramstad has consistently supported efforts of the National Federation of the Blind, not unquestioningly, but after warm and thorough discussion of the issues; and

WHEREAS, he was instrumental in assisting us to get blind persons who were interested in starting small businesses included in programs of the federal Small Business Administration that offers assistance to mainstream small businesses including loans and advice from persons with relevant knowledge; and

WHEREAS, Representative Ramstad has been helpful, including co-sponsoring legislation, as we seek to remove work disincentives in the Social Security system; and

WHEREAS, his support of our position regarding these work disincentives was not automatic, but came after personal interaction with members that including probing and insightful questions illustrating his ability to be open to other positions and new information; and

WHEREAS, Representative Ramstad has almost without fail arranged to meet with our members personally when we go to Washington, DC to visit Congress; Now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this fifth day of October, 2008, in the city of Rochester, Minnesota, that this organization commend Representative Ramstad for his decades of exemplary public service; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we express to him our deepest appreciation for his long and fruitful relationship with the National Federation of the Blind and for the true understanding and active support he has shown for the needs of blind people.

Resolution A08-04

State Services for the Blind Staff Qualifications and Training

WHEREAS, Minnesota State Services for the Blind (SSB) is a separate and identifiable agency within state government with primary responsibility to provide rehabilitation services to blind persons, and is therefore an essential first step on the road to independence and competitive employment through its counselors and other staff members and through its financial support of adjustment-to-blindness training and other services; and

WHEREAS, SSB’s success and the success of its customers is heavily dependent upon its staff having a complete and thorough understanding of the importance of adjustment to blindness training and the techniques used by blind persons to live and work independently; and

WHEREAS, the current entry-level requirement for SSB counselors includes very little specific knowledge of blindness; and

WHEREAS, experienced counselors and supervisors who leave SSB are frequently replaced by counselors having little or no experience with the very services that their customers need; and

WHEREAS, one method of dealing with the lack of staff experience with the training and techniques used by blind persons was to provide eight weeks of exposure to adjustment to blindness training, but this component of counselor orientation training was completely eliminated for several years by the previous director of SSB and then restarted by the current director at a much lower and less effective level; and

WHEREAS, the rate of counselor replacement has increased during this decade and will likely occur at an even higher rate as the workforce ages, making more blindness-specific staff training imperative for the delivery of high-quality rehabilitation services; and

WHEREAS, we know of blind persons who have qualified for counselor positions within the general vocational rehabilitation agency but who cannot qualify at SSB, even with their specific experience with blindness, because of more restrictive requirements; and

WHEREAS, we have been hearing increasingly unsettling stories from SSB customers and have been directly involved with several cases where the priority seems to be closing the case with as little money spent as possible, even when the closure does not result in employment; and

WHEREAS, we note a disturbing trend to provide technology and other "quick-fix" solutions in cases where comprehensive training in the skills and alternative techniques of blindness would be far more appropriate, illustrating a lack of understanding of the importance of blindness skills; and

WHEREAS, thirty-six of SSB's customers toured Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND) and Vision Loss Resources last year in preparation for adjustment to blindness training (a number similar to previous years), but only six have taken tours through the first ten months of this fiscal year—a drastic decrease that cannot be explained by a changing population or trends; and

WHEREAS, not only has the number of successful case closures decreased steadily over the past five years, but an unusually large number of cases are being closed because customers were said to "refuse services" or to be "uncooperative"; and

WHEREAS, these quick fixes and quick closures are natural outcomes of a lack of understanding of the value of adjustment to blindness training and are not conducive to true independence or competitive employment; and

WHEREAS, a reorganization of counselor case loads in 2002 has not resulted in improvement in the number or quality of cases being closed and has resulted in more time spent in traveling by counselors in greater Minnesota; and

WHEREAS, the number of blind persons hired as counselors and in management has decreased during this decade; and

WHEREAS, the major reason for the need for an identifiable and separate agency providing rehabilitation services to blind people is so that it can bring to bear the qualifications and experience with aspects of rehabilitation that are unique to blindness—qualifications and experience which are currently lacking in much of SSB's staff; Now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this fifth day of October, 2008, in the city of Rochester, Minnesota, that this organization call upon the director of State Services for the Blind to develop a plan to improve the blindness-specific training of SSB's staff in direct contact with customers, as well as supervisors and managers, by significantly increasing the number of hours and quality of exposure to adjustment to blindness training using nonvisual techniques and sleepshades; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the director of SSB to change the requirements for new staff having direct contact with customers as well as supervisors and managers, by favoring those with specific blindness-related experience, and by aggressively seeking out persons who meet such requirements; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the director of SSB to increase the direct participation of consumer organizations in staff training activities, and to emphasize the quality of case closures over the quantity or speed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the Commissioner of the department of Employment and Economic development to support and assist the implementation of these changes; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization both assist in this process and also pursue other avenues to see that these changes are brought about with all due speed.