[nfbwatlk] OTC students at WCB conventions

Mon Sep 8 00:40:16 UTC 2014

>From my experience, I believe that it's ok for Julie to be a member of
whatever organization she prefers. But, I do not believe, because of her
position at DSb,  she should hold an office in the organization. I would
think she would want to present an image of neutrality. As an officer of the
WSCB, she is obligated to promote and  support the philosophy ofACB. 
It also places the WSCB in an awkard position. How easy will it be for them
to pass a resolution that opposes an action or policy that DSB or her
department mandates? 
The NFB went through tis when a Commission was established in  1977.

She needs to assure that she will treat each organization equally. Her
actions will speak louder than what she says.

Bob 

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cindy
Bennett via nfbwatlk
Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2014 10:26 PM
To: debby phillips; NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] OTC students at WCB conventions

Hi,

I am not an employee of DSB, but I think I know the policy.

DSB will support a client, which would include a student in the OTC, to go
to one or the other of the state conventions. I think they may even support
a client in going to a national convention as well.

I am not sure how clients are informed of the consumer organization
conventions other than that I know that Marci went to the OTC during their
seminar class on Thursday to talk about the convention, and I believe that
the WCB will give a similar presentation next week. I know that Marci took
down some contacts and gaged interest from some clients. But I am unsure
whether the availability of financial assistance from DSB was made obvious.

I do know that our presentations can be a lot more flattering if we go in
with an agenda ahead of time with events on said agenda that will attract
new members such as social events and technology training.

Like with many services, one has to ask their counselor and say they are
interested in checking out a consumer organization. It takes some
initiative. And I just don't know if the mechanisms currently in place to
inform clients about them are really sufficient.

Regarding staff, DSB is supportive of staff going to professional
conferences, which can include the consumer conventions, but anyone who is
an officer in said organization cannot be sponsored by the agency. One
interesting development will be whether Julie is supported by DSB to go to
WCB conventions since  she is the 1st Vice President of WCB. However, her
attendance will be pretty necessary given her director position. Who knows?
That information is hardly appropriate to ask for. Perhaps she will have to
alter her official officer roles.
But that will be interesting as some other employees have hit walls when
attempting to get financial assistance to attend consumer events based on
their officer status.

I reapplied for services recently because I am starting school in a few
weeks. It is well known at DSB that Mike is my partner, so when my counselor
sifted through the paperwork with me, she asked if I was in the NFB. I said
yes, and she said, "Well, you won't need that form."
so it was refreshing to know that there is a flyer that is included in new
client paperwork. However, it has been 2 and a half weeks since my intake,
and I have yet to receive the paperwork in an alternative format; they did
not have braille during the appointment so I asked that it be sent to me
electronically. I am unsure of whether they offer large print.

In any case, I should have taken the flyer just to see what is on it.
Perhaps if we can't remember what is on it, maybe it is time to make a new
one?

My personal observations would be the following:

Strictly speaking, there seem to be more employees of DSB who are active in
the WCB. As in any situation, people are influenced by those around them.
The OTC offers a unique situation where the professional-student role can
sometimes be blurred. Given that I graduated from a training center, I know
this quite well. I would never say that any employee of the OTC is ever
unprofessional, but I would say that a fulltime student is spending a great
deal of time with their instructors. And when we don't have a lot of
representation, students tend to not know about the NFB, or have very narrow
opinions based on what they have heard from others. Even still, when
professionals remain so, what is familiar to them versus what is not
familiar to them can make a difference. I would note the amount of notice we
are given when asked to present at the OTC.

I can't imagine that Julie would change any policy related to DSB supporting
clients to attend the convention of one consumer organization. But I think
we need to be more proactive than we have been about being more present at
the OTC.

I hope that we can continue to improve our relationship with DSB.
Moving to Washington was quite a transition for me. Regarding the NFB, I had
never witnessed such politics. As a 19-year-old, I organized a pretty
grassroots, no budget student seminar in NC. And I got immediate support
from NC DSB because there was nothing else blindness-related going on for
young people. NC DSB would say that they had to give out flyers for both
organizations, but because we were the most active, our flyers were always
better, always came with candy, and our events immediately gained the
interests of professionals attempting to get their clients out in the
community because they were the only thing going on. So we got financial
support in bringing students in the form of vans and drivers. I have gaged
little such support. I also think that we need to work harder as an
affiliate, but DSB in Washington seems a lot more reluctant to willingly
support us. And I think the politics are really unfortunate.
Grass roots events work on a pendulum; there are amazing things you can do
low budget or free, but we really need the support of agencies whether it be
DSB or TVI's to reach the people. I have literally witnessed the change in
attitude of some people when they find out I am in the NFB. It honestly
boggles my mind since I was introduced to the NFB under such different
circumstances. I have literally had people joke with me that they don't like
me anymore or can't be friends with me anymore. And they have just met me!

Although not particularly relevant to the subject at hand, the politics is
one reason I am particularly excited about the prospect of BELL. It has a
curriculum created by educators of blind people. It is being run in over 20
other states so it can't be ignored. And it's educational nature provides a
platform where parents will want to send their kids, and  TVI's will want to
include it in IEP's which could warrant potential school system support in
getting kids to the program.

Cindy

On 9/6/14, debby phillips via nfbwatlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi all, I'm asking for informational purposes only at this point, but 
> are OTC students given a choice about which convention they will go 
> to, ours or the WCB convention? And are their rooms paid for by the 
> state or by the organization whose convention they attend? Can 
> students go to both? What kind of ability do we have to present NFB 
> and our philosophy at OTC? How will this change when Julie Brannon 
> becomes manager? Just questions that are
> filtering through my brain on this Saturday night.    Debby
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfbwatlk mailing list
> nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nfbwatlk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/clb5590%40gmail.
> com
>

--
Cindy Bennett
Graduate Student, University of Washington Human Centered Design and
Engineering

Treasurer of the Greater Seattle Chapter and of the National Federation of
the Blind of Washington Affiliates of the National Federation of the Blind

clb5590 at gmail.com

_______________________________________________
nfbwatlk mailing list
nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
nfbwatlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/robertsellers500%40com
cast.net