By Ryan Strunk

(Editor’s Note: Our state president gave the following report on Saturday morning at our spring convention held virtually on Zoom. Even though we could not be with each other in person, the energy and excitement in the room were obvious as Ryan Strunk recounted our many recent achievements and inspired us to keep moving forward in the days ahead.)

 This convention, I know, isn’t what we expected it would be. We were supposed to be in the new location, trying that out for the first time. We were going to finish up with the convention and all run over to the nearby ice cream place, and it was going to be amazing—100 people with white canes descending on Milk Jam Creamery all at once. Side note, can we please do that soon?

We should be packed shoulder to shoulder, getting antsy for a tasty MNABS lunch. But this year, we’re not, and I’m sorry for that.

The covid-19 pandemic has impacted every single one of us. Almost everyone, I’m sure, is tired of social distancing, but more than that, I know some of you have lost your jobs. I know some have lost friends or family. This has been hard, and I’m sorry for whatever heartache you’re carrying.

In the midst of all this upheaval, though, we have been coming together in a whole new way. We’re speaking to friends and family more often than before. We’re finding creative ways to connect and share information, and it’s there that I want to start today.

Before social distancing, we had a good, solid core of folks coming to our chapter and board meetings. People would share their Saturday mornings and Tuesday and Wednesday evenings with us as often as they could, and it worked. But there were many who couldn’t be with us, either because of the distance they would need to travel, work conflicts, or—and let’s be honest here—because getting up early on the weekend can be a struggle.

Since mid-March, though, with our switch to online meetings, we’ve seen a surge in the number of people attending both chapter and board meetings. We’ve seen members who couldn’t previously be with us in person dialing in—sometimes people who haven’t been able to attend a meeting in years. And I am so grateful you’re here. At our most recent board meeting, we had 30 people in attendance. At the most recent metro chapter meeting, there were more than 50.

That’s the power of being able to connect like this, and it’s something we need to keep doing even after we start meeting in person again. Whether you’re sitting in the room or at home finishing your laundry while connecting via Zoom, the most important thing is that you’re with us.

This morning, we aren’t together in person, but there are still one hundred of us all sharing in this experience together, and that’s worth celebrating.

On Sunday afternoons, since social distancing began, we’ve had weekly Zoom chats—relaxed conversations where we just talk, about nothing and everything, and get to know one another. We check in about the struggles we’re having and maybe get a few things off our chests, but we’ve also had some memorable experiences. It’s been on those Sunday chats where we learned about Jan’s enormous recipe collection, where we learned there’s a dish called saliva chicken—I wonder if Jan has a recipe for that, where we played Trivia and talked philosophy and urged Tom to walk through his first drive-through and heard Charlotte’s cats, where Gayle told me about that Dirty Old Egg Suckin’ Dog, and we taught Beth that you can take away room echo by putting a towel on your head. Some of you I don’t get to see but once a year—twice if I’m lucky, but on Zoom, we can catch up every week, and that has been wonderful.

I also want to express my sincere appreciation to everyone who volunteered to call your fellow members and check in with them. Kindness and caring go a long way at any time, but especially now, they mean so much. Thank you for showing that we truly are a family, and that we look out for one another.

In addition to the community we’ve been building together over the past several weeks, I also want you to know that our efforts to fight for equality have not slackened in the least. We are still working hard to achieve equal education for blind students, employment security for Randolph Shepherd vendors, protection for blind parents, expansion of our voting rights, and so much more. At least once a week, we receive a request from our national advocacy and policy team asking us to contact our senators and representatives to urge passage of important legislation. I have heard from several of you who have made those calls. Thank you. For those of you who haven’t yet taken part in our legislative calls, I encourage you to do so. Especially now, every voice adds weight to our requests, and it makes our success that much more likely.

In the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, we are working hard to pass our bill to protect the rights of blind parents. This year, we took a crucial step on that journey when our bill was introduced in both the state house and senate. In the house, the bill dropped on its first day with 10 authors; in the Senate, it had 4. That is an incredible amount of support, and it bodes well for our future efforts. We now have legislative language we support and a core of interested legislators who believe in this bill. When the next legislative session starts, we’ll be well placed to make even more progress. Be proud of that.

During our day at the capitol earlier this year, we worked to obtain the right to cast an accessible, private absentee ballot. A bill we supported had passed in the house, and its companion bill was stalled in the senate. Unfortunately, that bill is still stalled in the senate. In addition, because of the covid-19 pandemic, the subject of voting by mail has suddenly become quite popular.

The Minnesota legislature needs to hear from us. They need to understand that we have a legal right to cast a private, independent ballot, whether that be in person or by mail, and we will not rest until that right is secure. It is in that spirit that we have written a letter to representatives and senators, and I want to share that letter with you now. It says:

To the Members of the Minnesota Legislature:

We are contacting you again to ask that any changes to the elections process include the capability for blind people to cast private ballots in a non-visually accessible manner. Our organization does not have a position whether Minnesota should move to an entirely vote-by-mail system. However, we ask that the legislature:

1. Ensure the presence of accessible voting machines at in-person voting locations.

2. Require that any changes to mail ballots, whether absentee or possible vote-by-mail, include non-visual access (as HF 1152 and SF 562 propose).

We are concerned that, as the legislature seeks to quickly address the challenges COVID-19 presents to the elections process, blind people could inadvertently lose many of the gains we have made over the past fifteen years while working with both political parties. For nearly 100 years, the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota has advocated for the needs of blind Minnesotans. Most recently, we’ve worked closely with the legislature and with Secretaries of State Mary Kiffmeyer, Mark Ritchie, and Steve Simon to implement and expand the Help America Vote Act and Minnesota statutes to provide better access to voting and election information by those of us who are blind.

The ability to request and receive a “no excuse” absentee ballot has grown in popularity among the blind in recent years, just as it has increased among all Minnesotans. We strongly urge you to include us in this process, through an accessible method of casting a private ballot from home. One approach is contained in HF 1152 (passed during this session) and SF 562, which were both introduced last year.

Accessible approaches to mail ballots have already become part of the process in a number of states. Court rulings have established that not providing an accessible means to use mail ballots is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We would prefer that Minnesota get it right without involving the courts.

The risks of COVID-19 spreading at polling places makes an accessible way for the blind to vote by mail significantly more important than it was earlier this year. Please contact the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota if you have any questions. Blind people very much need your help.

With this letter we are sending our message loud and clear. Blind people have a right to vote privately and independently, and we will have that right honored.

This year our organization will turn 100 years old. On May 27 exactly, we will mark 100 years of progress for the blind of Minnesota. That’s 100 years of legal advocacy, public education, and teaching each other the skills of blindness. That’s 100 years of support and fellowship and community. It’s also worth noting, though, that just as a few intrepid blind people in 1920 were meeting to form the Minnesota Organization of the Blind, what would later become the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, they themselves were just emerging from a terrible influenza pandemic, a pandemic that claimed the lives of more than ten thousand Minnesotans. When you read about it, the resemblance to our current situation is staggering—social isolation measures, schools and churches and other public places closed, a pervasive state of fear.

And yet, from the pain and turmoil of a terrible war and a crushing pandemic, we rose. We stood tall through a great depression, a second world war, through social unrest, and through a decades-long cold war. We stood against oppressors and doubters, and against forces both hostile and apathetic, and we are still standing today. Not only are we standing, but we have flourished, spreading our message of love, hope, and determination to every corner of Minnesota. Our story isn’t one of survival. It’s one of triumph, For though the winds of change have always swirled around us, and though they may be howling now, we will not be shaken. Our resolve is strong. Our determination is steadfast, and after 100 years, our roots run deep.

So let’s keep fighting. Let’s keep growing. Let’s get through this crisis together and come out stronger on the other side. Because that’s what we do in this organization. We face adversity, and we break through it. Let’s go build the National Federation of the Blind!