[nfbwatlk] Convention

[Noel Nightingale]

45 from Washington attending the national convention is fantastic!!!
Great job everybody!

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Mike Freeman
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:24 AM
To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Convention


I counted around 40 people from Washington. Gary told me yesterday that 
we had 45 atendees.

Mike Freeman

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006, Bob Sellers wrote:

>
> Yes, it was an excellent convention. I still think our scholarhsip 
> program is the hihglight of the convention. What is interesting is how

> the academic endeavors of the scholarship winners have become more 
> diversed from  the past. Twenty years ago most degrees were in the 
> social sciences and computer science. There is much more diversity and

> soon, I believe, thanks to the NFB, there will be scholarship winners 
> in pursuit of the hard sciences.  As usual there is volumes of 
> information available. Over time I've learned to be selective on what 
> and how much I bring home. No longer do I have an extra bag just to 
> carry home materials I've collected from meetings and the exhibits. I 
> found it beneficial in all the meetings I attended, which included, 
> the Web master, grant writing, meet the blind month and the advocacy 
> just to name a few. Being in such a huge hotel, seem to make being 
> around 3,000 people  less noticeable,  except for an occasional 
> elevator ride. The one item that got my attention was HAL, the home 
> automated living display.
>
> How many did we have from Washington Sttate attendning the convention?
>
> Bob Sellers
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Prows, Bennett (HHS/OCR)" <Bennett.Prows at HHS.GOV>
> To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 2:01 PM
> Subject: [nfbwatlk] Convention
>
>
> I haven't seen any reports yet on the convention just finished.  I 
> thought, that despite some hotel glitches, that this was one fantastic

> convention.  The feature of course was the release of the Kurzweil NFB

> reading machine.  It seems to work very well with most printed or text

> material for now.  I was impressed that it could be brought close to 
> signs, etc, and mostly read the material fine.  As it is upgraded, 
> this small, portable device will become invaluable for reading many 
> things. It was exciting to hear that the 30 NFB scholarship winners 
> this year, in addition to receiving at least $3000 in scholarships, 
> (one winner received $12,000), the winners received another $1000 from

> Kurzweil company, and a copy of the Kurzweil 1000 scanning software, 
> and as a bonus got a Kurzweil NFB reader, valued at $3,500.  That's 
> not to mention their expenses to convention.  What a program.
>
>
>
> We also had great convention sessions, and division meetings, etc.  
> The visit from Kinky Freedman, the gubernatorial candidate in Texas, 
> who is a Jewish comedian, author and musician was fun and interesting.

> He entertained the thousands gathered at the opening plenary session 
> on Tuesday.  This came just before the ceremony honoring the blinded 
> veterans in attendance who are Federationists.  It was impressive to 
> hear how many leaders we have in the movement who have served in the 
> various branches of the military.  The ceremony was extremely moving 
> to all who were present.
>
>
>
> The National Association of Blind Lawyers put on the ninth annual mock

> trial this year, and we raised some money for the division as well.  I

> heard there were about 305 people there, so we did pretty well this 
> year, and the folks who came were overwhelming appreciative of the 
> entertainment and education about the discrimination case which was 
> based on a real case the NFB was involved in concerning a large 
> automobile manufacturer who refused to hire back a foundry worker who 
> was laid off after becoming blind.
>
>
>
> The highlight presentations again were Doctor Maurer's Presidential 
> Report and Banquet address, both of which will be available soon at 
> our web site at <www.NFB.org>
>
>
>
> Of course, we had great social gatherings too, and met new friends, 
> and renewed old friendships.  There were indeed about 3000 people 
> attending again this year.  So, now recharged, we move on to the year 
> in the NFB.
>
>
>
> More stories from the convention I'm sure are coming up.
>
>
>
> /s/
>
> Bennett Prows, J.D.
>
> Health Information Privacy Program
>
> Office for Civil Rights
>
> Seattle, Washington
>
> (206) 615-2621
>
> E-mail:  Bennett.Prows at hhs.gov
>
>
>
>
>
>
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