Semiannual Convention Report

Semiannual Convention Report

By Judy Sanders, Secretary

Many people began their preparation for the 2012 semiannual convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota by preregistering and purchasing their academic lunch provided by the Minnesota Association of Blind Students.  This meant a shorter line for everyone.

Even before registration opened on Saturday, May 19, people had the chance to shop at the Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), Incorporated's rummage sale.

Coffee and doughnuts were available in the morning.

In addition, NFB literature was available for the taking and sharing.  Jernigan Fund raffle tickets were offered for purchase.  We could also buy cell-phone carriers to benefit our senior division, Whozit pins from our Rochester chapter, 50-50 raffle tickets from the Metro chapter, and the ever-popular Louis Braille Commemorative coins.

President Jennifer Dunnam called the convention to order at 9:30 a.m.  After reviewing logistics for the day, President Dunnam began her report to us by reminding people to preregister for the national convention to take advantage of discounts on registration and the banquet.  She acknowledged the many Minnesotans that take an active part in national activities.

In Congress, Senator Patty Murray of Washington spearheaded a "Dear Colleague" letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asking that his Department strengthen the rule in connection with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act pertaining to the teaching of braille to our nation's blind children.  Due to the advocacy of Minnesota Federationists, we were pleased to have Senator Al Franken sign on to the letter.  Twenty-five other senators joined Mr. Franken with their signatures.  We were also successful in helping to defeat a proposed amendment to the transportation bill that would have eliminated rest-stop vending facilities of the Business Enterprise program.  Three Minnesotans representatives, Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum and Colin Peterson, are cosponsors of H.R.3086, the bill to eliminate subminimum wages for people with disabilities.

We heard a promotion from Carl Jacobsen, the chair of our Imagination Fund committee who said that at this year's convention there would be a "Green, Dream Machine" where we can express our ideas for what we dream for the future of blind people.  To fulfill these dreams, we must also find a way to fund this movement.

Our Minnesota headquarters building is 100 years old this year.  We are proud to share ownership with BLIND, Incorporated and have updated a memo of understanding between us further clarifying how expenses will be handled to take care of this facility.  A steering committee will work on building matters.

Jennifer reported that Representative Tom Rukavina, a longtime friend to blind people in this state, announced his retirement from the legislature after serving 25 years.  We want to thank him for his long service and leadership on our issues.

Our annual convention will take place on October 26-28 in Duluth.  We are inaugurating a new Counselor of the Year award given occasionally when warranted to a rehabilitation counselor working with the blind.  When a worthy recipient is nominated, the award will be given at our annual convention.

We next heard from two Federationists who recently found employment.  Bryce Samuelson from Rochester is working at a company that helps other businesses make their website nonvisually accessible.  Randi Strunk from Minneapolis is working for the Target Corporation as an operations analyst to do the same with their website.

Shawn Mayo, executive director of BLIND, Incorporated, gave her usual upbeat report and introduced some of her students to share their thoughts about their training.  First, we heard from Quinn Haberl who focused on the opportunity to attend a national student meeting in Washington and visit our National Center.  He commented how complicated it is to get around our Center but that with the proper training it can be done.  Quinn talked about his reluctance to be a part of the NFB because he thought he could not meet the high expectations that the NFB has for blind people.  But through his time at BLIND, he learned that we are a family and we respect people for their effort and for their willingness to give back.

Reggie Duke was a basketball player for Tulane University, and, in the middle of a game, he realized he did not see a player (from the other team) come for the ball.  Reggie has glaucoma and spent a long time convincing himself that he would always have usable vision.  Eventually, he was referred to State Services for the Blind where his counselor urged him to tour Vision Loss Resources and BLIND.  He appreciated the warmth and friendliness at BLIND and now is gaining an understanding of what life can hold.

Emily Gossiaux gave a speech to us that she delivered to students at her former high school.  Emily’s moving remarks will be printed in the next issue of the Bulletin.

Richard Strong, director of State Services for the Blind (SSB), made it clear in his introductory remarks that he welcomed constructive criticism to make the agency better and he acknowledged those Federationists who serve on Rehabilitation Council committees.  He reported that after a meeting between Commissioner Mark Phillips of the Department of Employment and Economic Development and the NFB, the status of SSB in the hierarchy of the department was elevated so that the SSB director reports directly to the Commissioner.

SSB is seeking people to serve as role models for SSB staff needing to job shadow an employed blind person.  He recognized Emily Zitek, who is already volunteering in that capacity.

Mr. Strong reported on the goals and priorities of the agency.  The first priority was regarding employment outcomes.  Because of services provided by SSB, people should be finding good jobs.  The agency wants to increase opportunities for minority, deafblind and transition age customers.  The Workforce Development Unit is working on all of these goals and priorities.  Successful employment figures are ahead of last year's rate.

We know that the fastest growing part of the blind population is seniors.  Mr. Strong says that by 2015 SSB will double the number of blind seniors that it currently serves.

At the time of this speech, new radio receivers for the Radio Talking Book were a thing of the future.  (They have now been distributed throughout the state.)  SSB, through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education, will continue to provide braille textbooks to Minnesota's blind youth.  They are also working with the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library to refine the process for applying for equipment for audio books.

They continue to seek improvement in other areas including ensuring staff receives a thorough background in adjustment to blindness.

Shawn Mayo asked how many people have open cases in the Workforce Development Unit and what SSB is doing to increase the number of tours for adjustment to blindness training.  Mr. Strong said that there are somewhere around 700 cases open and they recently updated the policy manual to reflect the importance of this service and they will discuss it at future meetings with staff.  He knows they need to do better.

Our last year's treasurer's report and our 2012-2013 budget were presented to us by Tom Scanlan.  With the understanding that our expenses are increasing and our income is not guaranteed, a motion was passed to allow the state board to examine in minute detail the budget with the idea of coming up with a balanced budget.

It was announced that our Walk for Opportunity would take place on September 8 in Rochester around Silver Lake.  Wanda Samuelson introduced us to the route.  Curt Johnson said there should be no reason why we should not raise $5,000.

The convention elected Jennifer Dunnam as our delegate to the national convention and Steve Jacobson as our alternate delegate.

Charlene Guggisberg, coordinator of youth activities for the NFB of Minnesota, shared with us the exciting experience that our teenagers had in participating in snow tubing and rock climbing.  While the kids had fun, their parents stayed behind to discuss with blind adults questions that they have in raising their children to be normal individuals who can and will contribute to society.

Rob Hobson chairs the Pedestrian Safety Group.  Its members are Beth Moline, Pat Barrett, Jan Bailey, Deanna Langton and Jennifer Dunnam.  They are arranging to speak to driver's education classes about the white cane law and blind pedestrians.

Sheila Koenig, chair of our scholarship committee, introduced us to our two scholarship winners for 2012.  The first was Josh Klander who will be a student at the University of Minnesota Duluth and will receive $1,000.  Martha Mellgren, the winner of our $1,500 scholarship and a trip to our national convention in Dallas, spoke to us briefly.  Martha is from Ethiopia and is proud to be in the United States.

Pledges were taken for the tenBroek Fund that supports and maintains our National Center.  A motion was passed to authorize the affiliate to match all pledges fulfilled by December 1.  The amount pledged was $1,455.

The morning session ended with door prizes and announcements.

We had opportunities to continue with the activities that had preceded the convention while we ate our "academic lunches.”  In addition, Michelle Corso-Jackson, a Federationist who is a massage therapist, offered arm and hand massages for $10.  Each massage would last 10 minutes, and she donated the proceeds to the NFB of Minnesota.

Our afternoon offered a variety of small group sessions as follows:

The National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota Seniors Division met under the leadership of President Joyce Scanlan.  They held an in-depth discussion about services that are available for seniors through State Services for the Blind.  An examination of how to improve services elicited the discovery that services are different in various parts of the state.

After this serious discussion, they had fun playing bingo with braille and large print cards.  Seniors need not give up their social lives because of blindness.

Federationists not participating in the senior meeting divided into two groups.  Each group attended two focus sessions.

Focus Session 1: Legislation.  Judy Sanders and Steve Jacobson conducted an historical look at legislation affecting blind people in Minnesota and the instrumental role played in that legislation by our state affiliate and national organization.  Some of the bills covered included:

  • White Cane legislation,
  • inclusion of disabled persons in Minnesota's human rights laws,
  • Social Security regulations that help blind persons,
  • requiring that braille be considered the default reading mode for blind students unless it can be demonstrated that another mode will work better,
  • requirements that counselors employed by State Services for the Blind have training specific to blindness, and
  • we never forget about trying to create a separate agency for the blind in this state.

We covered a number of other issues related to legislation through lively discussions.  It was evident the immense impact that the NFB has had in blind people's lives.

Focus Session 2: Workings of Our Organization.  Facilitated by Jennifer Dunnam, this session dealt with how the NFB of Minnesota works, what it does, and ideas for the future.  For each of the one-hour sessions on this topic, members brought good questions and were ready to help answer the questions of others.  Each of the group discussions had its own focus, driven by those participating.  The first session became primarily a discussion about fund-raising for the NFB of Minnesota.  Members learned about the various sources of funding for our organization and the need for the help of each member.  They shared various new ideas for fund-raisers on the local, state, and national level, as well as specific ideas for leveraging interest in our beautiful historic headquarters building.  Some of these ideas are in the works, and we look forward to seeing the fruits of this discussion.

The second session dealt with a variety of topics about the philosophy of NFB, our resources, and how we get things done.  We emphasized the importance of our collective experience—how we can inform one another so that our positions and decisions are well considered pertinent to many, not just one individual.  We affirmed that we are the ones to do the type of work we do, and no other agency or blindness-related group can fill quite the same role—it is our responsibility.  We talked about the ways that each and every member can be a part of the work we do to change attitudes and spread our positive message about blindness—reading our publications to be informed, telling others about the movement, helping to raise funds, making phone calls or sending e-mails to elected officials, teaching one another how to do things, participating in our various events, being active in our larger communities, and so on.

After these sessions and senior meeting, there was a meeting of the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille in Minnesota.  President Melody Wartenbee reports that they played games utilizing their braille skills and Melody answered technical questions about proper braille rules.

"Have Cane Will Travel" was offered by Rob Hobson, a cane travel instructor from BLIND, Incorporated.  People had the chance to brush up on their cane skills.  They were able to ask questions about how to get out of difficult situations and get where they wanted to be independently and safely.

The day ended with everyone cleaning up the building and making plans for the next convention.