Report to the 2010 Annual Convention

By Jennifer Dunnam, President

I would like to take a few moments to talk with you about the accomplishments of the NFB of Minnesota during the last year, our 90th year of existence! We have been making progress in many areas.

Advocacy

One of the primary purposes of this organization is, of course, advocacy. We continually engage in advocacy, because we know that the status quo of blindness is not good enough. We are always pushing for change and pushing for improvement.

It has been almost a year since we participated in the interview for the new director of State Services for the Blind of Minnesota. We were pleased to provide advice in that selection process, and we were glad to see the hiring of Richard Strong to direct the agency. He is a person with a good understanding of the needs of blind people, and we look forward to good things. We have seen some progress, but of course, he is also well aware that we are watching and have not hesitated to let him hear from us on areas that need improvement.

Through our conventions, we provide advice to SSB as well as to other agencies. We also serve on advisory councils and committees for programs related to blindness, because they need the input of the collective experience of the organized blind, about what the needs are, and what they are not.

Last year the convention passed two resolutions dealing specifically with SSB matters. One had to do with the production of electronic texts by the communication center. We presented that resolution to SSB, and we understand they are moving forward with it now.

We also passed a resolution last year regarding our concerns about the low rate of successful employment closures from SSB. There is now a task force upon which we are represented, to analyze the data and propose solutions to the issues there.

You will recall that in 2009 we worked to assist with the passage of legislation that strengthened the requirements for state government to make its technology accessible in a nonvisual manner. We led the effort in 1998 to get this issue on the table and getting the first round of legislation passed. This year, we assisted in getting it strengthened and brought up to date with current federal standards. The standards that resulted from that law have been implemented as of September 1, 2010, and we will be vigilant to see that they happen. The standards are good, but they will only be as good as the enforcement.

This year our legislative focus was on training requirements for counselors at State Services for the Blind. We have been working for a very long time to improve the quality of staff training at the agency — through advocacy in individual cases, through continuous efforts in writing, in public, and all kinds of efforts to bring about improvement. This year we were successful in getting legislation passed, requiring that any counselor working at State Services for the Blind must go through a minimum of six weeks of sleepshades training to be a counselor at the agency. Of course, we will watch to make sure that it works, and if it needs strengthening, we will see it gets strengthened.

Also legislatively this year, we were the only organization of the blind to step up and point out a major inequity in the proposed budget cuts that would have disproportionately affected services to blind people through SSB. We irritated a whole bunch of legislators to bring their attention to the situation, but we were a part of the successful effort to avoid the problem.

Back in March, we participated in a listening session conducted by the Minnesota Employment Policy Initiative which is a project designed to increase the employment of people with disabilities in the state of Minnesota. There were about 15 listening sessions for different types of disabilities; there was one specific to blindness. Many members attended and discussed the issues around employment for people who are blind in Minnesota. These listening sessions, plus other research conducted by the group, will result in policy briefs that are meant to inform employers, government — anyone concerned and in a position to do things about the high unemployment rate among blind people. The briefs will be made available via their Website. As of this report, we have not yet seen a final copy of the brief related to employment and blindness; we have seen interim drafts and provided many comments to ensure that they accurately reflect what we want to have said about blind people. Of course, we stressed the need for training in the basic skills and positive attitudes about blindness. We were able to raise issues and concrete examples of things that the NFB has been working on, such as the partnership that we have with eBay to create self-employment opportunities. We informed the makers of the policy briefs about the new technology standards provided for greater access to information, implemented this fall, which have great potential to impact employment for people working in state government. Others had input on those briefs, but we have done our best to make them inspiring to all interested and concerned with doing something about the issues.

We have remained active with the Secretary of State’s office on election-related issues. We were instrumental a few years ago in getting legislation passed here in Minnesota that provides for nonvisual access to voting. We continue to work with the Secretary of State’s office to monitor the implementation of that legislation.

Nurturing the Movement

We have continued working on projects to bring youth in to our movement. Our teen night occurs in the Metro area on the third Friday evening of every month from September to May. We have reached out to a number of new youth through that program. We have had some very successful Saturday schools over the past year, and we are working to strengthen that and get it built so that we can bring in younger children of ages 5-12.

In partnership with Blindness: Learning In New Dimensions (BLIND), Inc., State Services for the Blind, and the Minnesota Department of Education, we conducted a “Transition to Independence” day. The purpose was to give blind students, their teachers, and their parents the chance to interact with blind role models, to discuss the real-life issues and solutions regarding transition from high school to postsecondary education, and on to employment. Most of the participants in that event were new to us. We look forward to continuing to build relationships with them.

As part of the promotion of that event, we made two presentations at the Statewide Vision Network, which is the network for teachers who work with blind students in Minnesota. In those presentations, we also discussed other programs offered by the National Federation of the Blind for youth. We met teachers who were not familiar with our work but who were glad to learn of it.

We had a booth at the Minnesota Education Association conference for the first time this year, and made many new contacts because of that effort. Other Meet the Blind Month activities around the state helped to bring awareness to our work and to the truth about blindness. Other outreach efforts have included an increased presence in social media via our Twitter and Facebook pages, which engage people and help to get the word about us into the mix. These sites also make another way for people to talk with us, and stay connected.

This year, we finally got a beautiful new sign on our NFB of Minnesota headquarters. On one end, it reads "National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota", and on the other end, "Blindness: Learning In New Dimensions (BLIND) Inc.” This is another way to continue to let the public know what is happening in that building, besides making it easier to find us!

As a result of a discussion at our last annual convention, we made some changes to the format of our semiannual convention this time, holding a business session in the morning, and doing sessions on specific topics in the afternoon. The changes were well received, and we will continue to look at ways of making our conventions and other events the way that we want them to be and what works best.

We have conducted some conference calls for members who are not able to attend regular chapter meetings. We will continue and strengthen that effort as well.

In the last year, we formed a new division for senior citizens who are blind. Joyce Scanlan capably leads it. There is no doubt that the division will make sure that our whole organization is informed and that senior issues are an integral part of our work.

Of course, we always participate in national NFB events. We had 83 Minnesotans at this past summer's national convention. We have members who are leaders in our national divisions as well, and we have worked to help raise funds for our national programs. As always, we had a delegation at the Washington Seminar this past February that spoke personally with many of our Congressmen and Senators, working with them on issues of maintaining our independence — such as sound requirements for the silent cars, removing work disincentives for Social Security beneficiaries, and providing access to technology through a "Technology Bill of Rights".

Speaking personally as I finish my third year as serving as the president of this affiliate, I so appreciate the chance to work with such a committed group of people. We have amazing people in this affiliate, who work hard to support our movement. This is how we get things done. People are not only working on the big things, out in front, but there are all kinds of little ways and behind-the-scenes work without which we could not succeed in all that we do. I offer a big "thank-you" to everyone who works so hard!

This weekend we will be looking back some and we will also be looking forward. We have had 90 years full of accomplishment, and we will have many more to come. There are many challenges and opportunities, and I know that this organization will meet them all. One of our priorities for the coming year must be to work on developing our members as well as bringing in more new ones. We will continue to fight for access to information that allows us to maintain our independence on our jobs and in our lives. We will do all that we can to raise the expectations of society and of ourselves about blindness. We will support one another and keep getting to know one another as individuals, and figure out ways that we can all be more involved in our work. I thank  you all very much for your support, and I look forward to our accomplishments in the years to come.