[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] What to do After the Rally

[David Andrews]

Some members are asking what we need to do next to keep RSA services from disappearing because its boss, the Department of Education, wants to move RSA
money over to the One-Stop Centers. Here are ideas from Dr. Joanne Wilson in a letter she sent to the folks helping the NFB at the big rally last Thursday.
Which one will you choose to do?
Lorraine Rovig

Letter to those assisting the rally in support of RSA:

May 27, 2005

Dear Colleagues and Federationists,

We did it!  We did it very, very well!  Thank you all! To all of you who could make it to the Rally in front of the Department of Education in person, and
to all of you at home who are doing what you can to save the Rehabilitation Services Administration -I thank you!  Yesterday, the National Federation of
the Blind handed out 600 signs and there were at least 2 people to every sign.  The many signs from the cosponsors added more color and information.  Signs
were everywhere!

May 26, 2005, was a splendid day for a rally--sun shining, breeze blowing, moderate temperature.  You were all great participants-men and women with good
lungs, good hearts, and GREAT enthusiasm for letting Secretary Spellings know the flawed plan a small clique in her department is trying to put into effect
is a disaster in the making for Americans with disabilities.

We had over 1,200 participants at the rally by our count. They came from Hawaii and Maine, Maryland and Virginia, near and far from nearly every state.
We filled the block-long front sidewalk with rally marchers 4 people and more across, and more again on the sidelines. Today's "Washington Post" article
by Stephen Barr quotes "department officials" saying only 300 to 400, but don't you believe it.  When we publish the photos, that bit of wishful thinking
will be readily apparent.  The faces we saw peeking out the windows know better too.

It was really great having the many representatives there from so many different groups in the disability community, and the unions! We picked up 3 more
cosponsors the day before, two of them at five minutes to five, and we were joined by one more cosponsoring group at the rally site, complete with their
own banner.  This brings the current total number of cosponsors to 48. The full list is attached.

Of course, this is only the beginning of the fight to save RSA.  Here are some suggestions for what we need to do next.  Each small action is vital to the
overall effort when one sets out to change a course set by a bureaucracy.

BACK HOME:
Please urge our members at home to do any or all of these actions.

1.      Email (or Fax: (202) 401-0596) a personal letter to Margaret.Spellings at ed.gov; with a copy to Christina.Wilson at ed.gov; or call her office at (202)
401-3000.  Each person should email or fax a copy of this letter to his or her elected representatives in Congress.  Yes, it is okay to send a second letter
if you have already sent one before the rally.
2.      Contact the local press and get an article in the newspaper or on television or radio. Right away-Get a follow-up article after the rally-tell the
local press about local people traveling to Washington, D. C. as Americans using a time-honored democratic tool. Include photos you took of your own members
at the rally.  Old news is not news, so get your copy and photos to your local daily paper or weekly paper, union paper or online Web site today, or no
later than tomorrow.
3.      Write a letter to the editor or an opinion piece and get it published in your local press.
4.      Go to local political forums and press conferences. Ask your elected representatives to support your needs.
5.      Write and sign a petition to be emailed or faxed to Secretary Spellings. In Maryland, a local organization wrote a petition that was signed by all
500 members. [This is about BISM's petition!]
6.      Hold your own press conference, and pass out Press Kits to educate the reporters on the issue.

Thanks! Let's keep the pressure on!

Joanne Wilson
National Federation of the Blind
-------
Rally at Department of Education: May 26, 2005

1.      RALLY SPONSOR:  National Federation of the Blind (NFB)
RALLY COSPONSORS
2.      AIM Independent Living Center-New York (AIM CIL-NY)
3.      American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
4.      American Association of the Deaf-Blind (AADB)
5.      American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR)
6.      American Council of the Blind (ACB)
7.      American Rehab ACTion Network (ARAN)
8.      ARC of DC
9.      Art Education for the Blind (AEB)
10.     Center for Disability Law & Policy, The (CDLP)
11.     Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indians of Alaska
12.     Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification, The (CRCC)
13.     Consortia of Administrators for Native American Rehabilitation (CANAR)
14.     Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR)
15.     Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Behavioral Health Care in the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
16.     DC Center for Independent Living, The (DC CIL)
17.     District of Columbia Statewide Independent Living Council, The (DC SILC)
18.     Helen Keller National Center, The (HKNC)
19.     Independent Living Support Foundation of DC (ILSF)
20.     National Alliance of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers in Vocational Rehabilitation (NAMSFVR)
21.     National Association of Blind Rehabilitation Professionals (NABRP)
22.     National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
23.     National Coalition on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB)
24.     National Council 252 of Education Locals of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO
25.     National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB)
26.     National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE)
27.     National Rehabilitation Association (NRA)
28.     New Jersey Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
29.     Oregon Rehab ACTion Network (ORAN)
30.     Parents of Blind Children-New Jersey (POBC-NJ)
31.     Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 668
32.     University of Kentucky Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Counseling
33.     UK Rehabilitation Counseling Student Association, University of Kentucky
34.     Vermont Center for Independent Living (VCIL)

ADDITIONS, May 20 to May 26, 2005
35.     AFSCME Council 92, AFL-CIO (American Federation of State and County Municipal Employees, Maryland)
36.     Alliance for Inclusive Education, The (ALFIE)
37.     Association of Blind Citizens (ABC)
38.     Brain Injury Association of America (BIAUSA)-- moving this group to List of 34 groups.
39.     Council for Independent Living of South Jersey (CILSJ)
40.     Family Voices
41.     Massachusetts Rehab ACTion Network (MARAN)
42.     Pennsylvania Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (PARF)
43.     Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Association (PRA?), a part of the National Rehabilitation Association.
44.     Self-Help for Hard-of-Hearing People (SSSH)
45.     Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
46.     State Employee Alliance-Communications Workers of America, Local 7076, AFL-CIO (SEACWA, Local 7076).
47.     Texas Rehab ACTion Network
48.     Vermont Statewide Independent Living Center (VTSILC)