[nfb-talk] speakers

[Kirk Harmon]

charlotte, we have been implementing speakers from our community  for quite 
a while now.  Having our blind resources come and speak as well. we have had 
our supervisor of elections talking on the new audible voting machines, 
Mobility instructors, our Chief of Police talking about his police force 
training on the white cane law, our Fire Chief,on home safety for the blind, 
ETC. It has been a very effective program for us and we hope to expand our 
program this year! I feel that this not only gives us an opportunity to have 
our members meet some of our community leaders, but it also gives them a 
better interest in the community as well and where to go or what to do about 
blind issues that might come up in their lives.  This program also allows 
our leaders to learn about us and who we are and what we need from them to 
access our city easier and friendlier.for example, i had invited a candidate 
that I had met in the city commissioners office last year. He was running 
for her position this year as she was retireing. I invited him to talk to 
our chapter as a guest speaker, not to be endorsed but to talk about what we 
would like to see in our city for our needs and for him to see what he could 
do for us. after that meeting I kept in touch with him and he decided to run 
for her seat, He ran on a platform of helping the blind and disable by 
working on making our city a blind friendly city. He was elected last night! 
Now we have a inside man for our access to be able to help us for change in 
the Orlando Florida area. Kirk Harmon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charlotte Czarnecki" <czarnecki17 at comcast.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] speakers


> Hi.  We've made it a chapter resolution to have more speakers at our
> meetings and it's worked since we made it in April.  We've invited members
> to speak about cool things they do.  For example, a member took the bike
> trip across Missouri in June last year and she talked about her 
> experiences.
> We have blind members talk about their jobs and one time we had a member
> discuss some research she is doing regarding how blind people can access
> their healthcare information online.  Getting the members involved makes
> people feel more a part of the chapter.  We've also developed some
> committees who have put together some programs for the meetings. 
> Everything
> ties to blindness and not general topics as we want to instill the idea 
> that
> blind people can manage in life and contribute to society.  I'm from the
> Metro chapter of Minnesota, by the way.  Good luck!
>
> Charlotte
>
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