[nfb-talk] state con attendance

[kaye zimpher]

Hi Terry, I saw your name in the monitor I think. If I remember correctly 
you are selling something? Fir the life of me I can not remember what it was 
but I think I wanted one.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]" <powerst at dcpcepn.nci.nih.gov>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance


> Sherri;
> Great message!  I was an ACB member while at ACB in Little Rock.  It was
> them or do not belong.  I am so glad to be back where I belong.  Back
> then I did not know the difference, but I sure do now.  I belong to a
> strong chapter of which I play a large part in fund raising.  I love
> National and belonging to the NFB.  My chapter leader and I just had a
> table at the Combined Federal Campain to get people to donate to the
> NFB.
>
> Terry Powers
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sherri [mailto:flmom2006 at gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 8:28 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance
>
> Again, and this has been stated many times, please, please read "The
> nature of Independence" by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan. I actually used to feel
> the same way, that NFB was full of a bunch of super-blind people who
> thought asking for help or taking help was beneath them. I read that
> speech. It changed my view.
>
> As to volunteers, we volunteer to assist each other, but there are also
> volunteers, usually from UPS at convention. I have asked them for help
> several times. They just aren't quite as obvious as the ACB volunteers
> and maybe not as proliferative, but they are out there.
>
> As for the majority of the power being at the top and NFB becoming a
> more agency-oriented or driven organization, as long as there are local
> chapters and state affiliates, I doubt that will ever happen. I really
> don't worry to much about what is happening at the top. I just worry
> about changing what it means to be blind in my own community. I think
> NFB has done and is doing much more to accomplish this than is the other
> group, which seems to be so focused on being democratic that they
> haven't even developed a really well-written mission statement or
> philosophy. There philosophy, I guess, is to be so democratic as to not
> offend anyone. *lol.
>
> Sherri
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Westbrook" <westbc at clw19.com>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 5:36 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance
>
>
> Mike, you make some good points. Being a young blind person myself, I
> think
> it's sad that many younger blind people view progress as inevitable and
> feel
> no need to join an organization.  On the other hand, I'm not really sure
> what NFB is really doing to stop the tide from turning against us  The
> biggest issue I see looming ahead is a loss of access to information.
> This
> could be due to inaccessible computer software, inaccessible appliances,
> or
> any number of other things I haven't thought of.  On the inaccessible
> appliances front, we had a home showcase at convention, but do you
> really
> think that will make a difference?  I'm sure most manufacturers really
> don't
> care whether their products were coincidentally sort of accessible.  I
> hope
> our NFB Jernigan Institute can eventually help with this area.  That
> leads
> me to my next point, which is what mike said about some people believing
> that the national leadership are the experts.  I see the NFB as a very
> top
> down organization with much of it's activity happening at the national
> level.  I wonder if in the future the NFB will become more and more
> focused
> on it's Jernigan institute and basically be a clearinghouse for research
> and
> product design, while the ACB does most of the advocacy work?  I know
> for
> myself I really don't see that many ways for a rank and file member to
> influence policy, especially if they can't come to convention but even
> if
> they can.
>
> Also, I really think people in NFB need to relax and realize that not
> every
> blind person has had great training or has the ability to do everything
> independently.  I know ACB has been criticized for having volunteers at
> their convention, and frankly I find that kind of amusing when NFB's
> leadership always has someone going sighted guide with them.  IF it's
> good
> enough for the leadership, why is it not good enough for the general
> membership?  If you don't want the help, just refuse it, but don't keep
> someone like me from using help that we may need.  On another note, I
> frankly think ACB is better equipped to handle the challenges of the
> future.
> Yes, they can be a bit more demanding than necessary, but I think we as
> blind people are going to have to do more and more of that as time goes
> on.
> NFB's philosophy is too focused on always being independence and this
> whole
> idea of blindness being a nuisance and not that big of a deal.  I'm
> afraid
> the NFB will suddenly wake up one day when all microwaves and other
> appliances are flat paneled with no way to use them effectively, there
> are
> no usable telephones, all keyboards are completely touch screen and
> wonder,
> gee how did we get here?  I think I may be exaggerating slightly, but I
> don't think I'm exaggerating as much as some may think.  My only
> consolation
> is that when things start getting worse, we will wake up and disregard
> what
> Kenneth Jernigan said in his speech "the day after civil rights"
> whenever
> that is, and start fighting again.  I just hope it's not too late.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 2:02 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance
>
>
>> Ray:
>>
>> Welcome to the way the "other half" lives. Here in Washington, we
>> consider we're doing an outstanding job if we get seventy-five to
> eighty
>> people at our state banquet. Unlike at national conventions, our
>> banquets are more well attended than are our plenary convention
> sessions
>> as some convention participants bring guests to the banquet who do not
>> attend the rest of the convention.
>>
>> Of course, part of the problem here in Washington is that, whether we
>> admit it or not, we're still suffering from the organizational split
>> that accompanied the whole Robert Acosta business in the late 1970's
>> when the then-affiliate for Washington was expelled (or chose to
> leave,
>> depending upon one's viewpoint) and was reorganized. The old affiliate
>> eventually joined ACB so that ACB is considerably larger numerically
>> than is NFB in Washington. In the legislature, however, it is we of
> NFB
>> who are known for getting things done.
>>
>> AFfiliates east of the Mississippi such as Massachusetts are far
> larger
>> than are our affiliates out here with the exception of California. WE
>> are, in Shakespeare's terms, "we happy few". But NFB is where the
> action
>> is.
>>
>> On the original subject, what I see in terms of dwindling convention
>> attendance and grousing about the irrelevance of convention material
>> stems, I believe, from a number of trends in society today. First,
>> society is, in general, much more fragmented than was the case thirty
> or
>> forty years ago. People move around the country much more often than
>> heretofore and, hence, don't put down roots and make as many lasting
>> local friendships. (When was the last time you attended a "block
>> party"?) They are thus less likely to have great circles of friends --
>> arguably a prerequisit for easy growth of organizations.
>>
>> Second, perhaps because society is more fragmented and because there
> are
>> more venues of entertainment (cable TV, the Internet, video games and
>> the like), I believe that people are far less likely to be "joiners"
>> then was the case even twenty years ago. There are too many other
> things
>> competing for their time.
>>
>> Third, I believe that it is fair to say that the 1960's and 1970's
> were
>> decades of activism. Whatever your thoughts are concerning the war in
>> Iraq, note the vast difference between the small anti-war
> demonstrations
>> of today and the mass protests against the Vietnam war from 1964 to
>> 1975. WE of NFB, like many other activist organizations, are the
> victims
>> of the paradigm shift from activism to indifference and (see above)
> from
>> the paradigm of working to make changes to being entertained.
>>
>> Fourth, I believe that, rightly or wrongly, many young blind people
>> today see all the progress that the blind have made over the previous
>> two generations toward a world of equality with the sighted and
> conclude
>> that continued progress in this arena is inevitable. Obviously, I
>> disagree with this assessment and, in fact, I am worried that we might
>> be on the verge of slipping backward, making NFB even more of a
>> necessity than it may have been twenty years ago. Couple this with
> laws
>> mandating provision of services such as DSS offices at universities
> and
>> this is a recipe for organizational lacitude IMO. I opine that many
>> young people do not recognize that provision of some of these services
>> constitutes a wolf in sheep's clothing and, hence, when they hit the
>> "real world" and encounter businesses that don't automatically provide
>> them with all the high-tech gadgetry they think they need, they
>> interpret the problem as one of discrmination rather than one simply
> of
>> the way the world works. All this is to say that many blind people of
>> all ages today don't see why they need to gain advocacy skills or pay
>> attention to all the "dull" stuf involving politics or their agencies
>> for the blind. Let "the experts" do it. And while many would agree
> with
>> us that agency moguls may not be the "experts", some are beginning to
>> see *us* as the "experts",where by "us" I mean NFB leadership. In
> other
>> words, I'm not sure that the rank-and-file always sees that it has a
>> stake in what's happening or that it really has the power to change
>> things.
>>
>> This problem is not unique to NFB: ACB has it also. The "advantage",
> if
>> one wishes to call it that, that ACB has is that often its affiliates
>> conduct many more social functions than do NFB affiliates -- at least
>> it's like that out here in the Pacific Northwest. When, for example,
> was
>> the last time you attended a NFB affiliate convention where a comedian
>> was the featured banquet speaker? It has happend in ACB affiliates out
>> here.
>>
>> Now I would hazard that this sort of fluff is not what we in NFB truly
>> want. But to make changes, we must understand why what we're doing may
>> not always appeal to "the masses" and, therefore, must decide whether
> we
>> can incorporate other items into our conventions that might gain
>> interest and not cause groans of "same ol' same ol'" while at the same
>> time not betraying our NFB heritage and philosophy.
>>
>> I don't have the answer but I value the discussions as we may
>> collectively come up with ideas that might work for all of us.
>>
>> Mike Freeman, President
>> NFB of Washington
>>
>>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>>  From: Ray Foret Jr
>>  To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>>  Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 9:37 AM
>>  Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] state con attendance
>>
>>
>>  Edd, I am floored!!!  Are you truly telling us that at your last New
>>  Hampshire state NFB convention, y'all only had 30 attendees?  Only
> 30?
>> What
>>  is y'all's membership compared to that number?  I just cannot get my
>> mind
>>  around the idea of y'all putting all that work in to an all day state
>>  convention and having only 30 people there.  Perhaps you might
> inquire
>> of
>>  your members just what the issues are which cause them not to attend
>> y'all's
>>  convention.  From what I gather, you say in your message that folks
>> were
>>  complaining that the program items were "so so".  If I'm not
> mistaken,
>> we
>>  usually have over 100 folks at the Louisiana NFB state convention.
>> How
>>  about I forward your message on to Pam Allan and she can maybe
> suggest
>> what
>>  you might want to consider.
>>
>>  Sincerely yours,
>>  The Constantly Barefooted,
>>  Ray
>>  Home phone and fax:
>>  (985)853-0139
>>  E-mail:
>>  rforetjratbellsouthdotnet
>>  Skype Name:
>>  barefootedray
>>  Blog:
>>  www.raysworld.blogs.com
>>  Podcast .rss Feed:
>>  http://feeds.feedburner.com/worldofray
>>
>>  God bless President George W. Bush!
>>  God bless our troops!
>>  and God bless America
>>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>>  From: "Ed Meskys" <edmeskys at localnet.com>
>>  To: "nfb-talk" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>  Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 10:44 AM
>>  Subject: [nfb-talk] state con attendance
>>
>>
>>  When I first became NH state president in 1988 the first few state
>>  conventions I put on had about 100-120 attendees, up about 20% from
>> the
>>  previous president, because I did a lot of outreach to find former
> and
>> new
>>  members, and initiated a state newsletter. We had been drifting down
>> ever
>>  since, to under 50. Last year we had our 50th anniversary, and got
>> more
>>  attendees, but with people muttering about our programs being the
>> "same old,
>>  same old." This year we decided to devote our whole morning to a
> topic
>>  important to blind persons and many others in a rural state, the
>> future of
>>  transportation in NH. We made it a one-day con, with a luncheon
>> banquet, and
>>  the National report, some technology, mobility, and our business
>> meeting in
>>  he afternoon. With the help of Blind Services, the talking book
>> library, the
>>  Governor's Commission on Disabilities, and Granite State Independent
>> Living
>>  (Foundation) we distributed over 2000 flyers, and aside from program
>>  participants we had only 30 attendees. Our officers are very
>> disappointed,
>>  and are saying it cost so much money to put on and advertise the con,
>> and
>>  put in so much work, that we will pull back and only have a business
>> meeting
>>  with lunch in the back room of a restaurant next year. Are other
>> states
>>  having the same problem getting attendance at a con?
>>
>>  We are using an Imagination Grant to put on a one-day tech expo next
>> April,
>>  which is not a convention (cons are normally in October or November).
>> If
>>  this flops too, I think the board will be devastated. We lined up an
>>  excellent panel of five experts and administrators for the
>> transportation
>>  panel, and are working on getting excellent speakers for the tech
>> expo.
>>
>>  Incidentally, the results of our state elections were:
>>  continuing constitutional officers:
>>  Marie Johnson, President
>>  Gil Vickery, FVP.
>>  Judy Leavitt, SVP
>>  Ed Meskys, secretary
>>  Lucille Lynch, treasurer
>>  and our new slate of untitled board positions is:
>>  Julie Clark (new)
>>  Wayne Harvey (new)
>>  Donald Little (new)
>>  John Parker (returning)
>>  Stephen Yerardi (returning)
>>
>>  Best, Ed Meskys
>>
>>
>>  Edmund R. Meskys
>>  NIEKAS Publications
>>  National Federation of the Blind of N.H.
>>  Moultonboro Lions Club
>>  edmeskys at localnet.com
>>  322 Whittier Hwy
>>  Moultonboro NH 03254-3627
>>  my credo:
>>  Clinton lied, nothing happened
>>  Bush lied, thousands died
>>  and over 3,000 permanently brain injured
>>
>>  _______________________________________________
>>  nfb-talk mailing list
>>  nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>  http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
>>
>>  _______________________________________________
>>  nfb-talk mailing list
>>  nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
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>>
>>
>>
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