[nfbwatlk] Convention

Wed Jul 12 10:31:21 CDT 2006

MMM ... lemme see ... there were three registrants whom Denise and I did 
not recognize and of whom one was Lilly Stansberry's friend. Then there 
were two first-timers from the Northwest Chapter. I don't know if Mark 
Adrian had been to a national convention before or not (he went to a 
Washington Seminar years ago). If we count him, that makes six. Then 
there's Marty from the Seattle chapter. That makes seven first-timers by 
my reckoning. If we count Mr. Habib (the scholarship winner), that makes 
eight. I could have missed one or two but even eight is a respectable 
percentage of our delegation. Congratulations to all.

Mike Freeman

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006, Bob Sellers wrote:

>
> How many first timers did we have?
>
> Bob
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:24 AM
> 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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