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American
Council
of the
Blind
of
Minnesota
A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF:
THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND OF MINNESOTA
P O BOX 7341
MINNEAPOLIS MN 55407
The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily the position of the American Council of the Blind of Minnesota. They are the views of the article's author. Product and service information is provided as a resource only and not as an endorsement of a particular product or service.
Jo Taliaferro, Editor
E-mail: soaringeagle7@comcast.net
Bob Lockwood
E-mail: peggy_bob@msn.com
Carolyn Coby, Webmaster
E-mail: cs_coby@hotmail.com
ACBM Info Express - (612)-486-5180, our telephone news and information hotline was established by the membership in October 2005. Its purpose is to provide important and relevant information vital to the membership, quickly and efficiently between scheduled business meetings. Please keep yourself informed by calling regularly. You can also contact any board member using the information provided at the end of this issue of the Minnesota Memo.
The deadline for article submission for the next edition of the Minnesota Memo is 15 June 2009.
Note: Article titles are marked with ** for easy searching.
Hello everyone, It certainly doesn't feel like spring as I write this message. Hopefully
by the time you receive the "spring" memo our snow and ice will be gone!
It has been an interesting few weeks as ACBM president. In January our biannual
state convention was held at the Holiday Inn Metrodome in Minneapolis. The staff
was outstanding, the presenters informative and interesting. We had 4 legislators
present at our legislative roundtable. Our vendors made lots of sales and shared
valuable information. From what I observed, everyone who attended had a wonderful
time. During our banquet Bert Morlock was awarded ACBM's first life membership.
See the article on ACBM life memberships later in this issue of the Minnesota Memo
for more information on ACBM Life Memberships.
I attended the president's meeting and legislative forum in February. One thing
that was stressed in the seminar was the importance of ACB presence on state rehab
councils. It is imperative that we make sure ACB's perspective is heard. There are
currently open positions on the state rehab council so if you are interested in
application details please let me know. It is always so nice to attend these national
meetings. They are informative, educational, and the networking with people from
other affiliates is enjoyable and helpful. Chris Bell visited with all Minnesota
legislators and he’ll be updating everyone on his adventures.
Our 2009 dues were sent to our national office on March 15th. We have 98
members. Michael Malver and I did make a number of calls to members regarding dues payment.
The good thing about that is talking to people I don't always have the opportunity
to visit with. During those conversations there were compliments and criticisms,
both of which are much appreciated.
I have decided that if I am president next term the plan will be to contact at least
two ACBM members a week just to touch base. In that way I can visit with every member
at least twice a year.
Elections will be held at the quarterly meeting in April. Carolyn Coby is the chair
of the election committee and will be updating you on who is running for the open
positions. Make sure to listen to mailbox 1 on Info Express, or look for an email
or other communication from ACBM to see who is running for ACBM board positions.
I have not yet decided whether or not I will run for another term. If any members
feel strongly about this feel free to contact me. I hope to retire from my job later
this year which would give me more time to devote to ACBM but I’d also like to do
some traveling and don't want that to affect my ability to do a thorough job as
president.
One of the things mentioned at our July meeting was that sometimes ACBM meetings
get out of control. I take responsibility for that. In trying to let everyone have
a say I do let things get out of hand.
In April at the quarterly meeting we will also have our annual bake sale which was
not held in January due to the state convention. Please bring your home baked (or
in my case bakery) items and be prepared to purchase lots of treats. Also in April
we will elect 2 delegates to send to the national convention in Orlando. It’s a
great opportunity to attend the convention. The main stipulation is that at least
one delegate must be present at all convention general sessions, attend the nominating
committee meeting Monday evening, and the Midwest caucus Tuesday evening.
By the way, when we next meet I’ll have a dog at my side. As always please feel
free to contact me with any questions, concerns or suggestions at (651) 428-5059,
or Janet.Dickelman@comcast.net. You can also leave a message on info express: 612-486-5180.
Janet Dickelman, President, ACBM
As many of you know ACB national has a lifetime membership for $1,000. Some people
choose to purchase memberships, some affiliates, groups or individuals give a gift
lifetime membership to people who they feel have made outstanding contributions
to ACB.
ACBM, in our recent bylaw amendments, established an ACBM lifetime membership. The
ACBM lifetime membership costs $300.00 and can be paid over a period of 5 years.
When you purchase a lifetime membership, you can designate where the money is used,
be it the general fund, scholarship, etc. We are working on a lifetime membership
designation of funds form.
Bert Morlock is our first ACBM lifetime member. He has given countless hours to
ACBM and been instrumental in fund-raising, many times as an anonymous donor. Chris
Bell has also purchased a life membership in ACBM. Other lifetime memberships are
in process.
As you know, $5.00 of our $10.00 dues goes to the ACB national office each year.
If you purchase either an ACB or an ACBM life membership you would still need to
pay the remaining $5.00. We hope to see many future ACBM lifetime members.
April 25th will be here quickly. That is the day of the Spring quarterly meeting and Elections. This year we are electing the President, Treasurer and 3 Directors. I have 2 volunteers for positions (Treasurer and Director) but I'm looking for more! Please contact me at cs_coby@hotmail.com or (651) 464-5935 to add yourself to the list! If you have ideas of members who would be good officers or directors, please let me know that too so I can check with them.
Listed below are important dates for 2009.
January 23rd, 24th, and 25th – ACBM State Convention
February 20th through 25th – ACB Mid-year Meeting and Legislative Seminar
March 13th – Dues must be submitted to ACB National office
April 25th – Quarterly Membership Meeting and elections
June 1st – ACBM Scholarship applications are due
July 25th – Quarterly Membership Meeting and Scholarship winner announcement
August 12th – Daily-3 fundraiser starts
August 21st – Daily-3 fundraiser ends
August 22nd – Annual picnic and auction fundraiser
October 24th – Quarterly Membership meeting and budget approval
October 26th – Start of Bachman’s gift card fundraiser
November 13th – End of Bachman’s gift card fundraiser
Note that there are standing meetings that occur throughout the year. The ACBM Board of Directors meets on the third Monday of every month from 6:30PM to 8:30PM in the community room of the Lunds market on West Lake Street in Minneapolis. Dunn Brothers coffee outings occur on the third Saturday of each month from 10AM to Noon at the Dunn Brothers coffee shop located at 1915 South Lyndale Ave. in Minneapolis.
It’s official! The Minnesota Department of Transportation, (Mn/DOT), has addmitted
publicly what many of us already knew; It has NEVER been in compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities ACT, (ADA)! The public admission of noncompliance came
at the April 6 town hall forum held by the State Council on Disability. Since January,
1992, Mn/DOT has received hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal highway money
for construction and repair of our state’s transportation facilities including:
highways, roads and bridges. In order to receive this money, Mn/Dot had to promise
that it would comply with all federal laws including the ADA. This promise has been
broken for the past 17 years. Mn/DOT should have ensured that people with disabilities
were able to walk or ride freely along sidewalks without barriers such as rough
and obstructed walkways encumbered with utility poles, low-hanging branches and
incorrectly constructed curb cuts. Accessible pedestrian signals would have been
put in place from the start to allow easy crossing of busy intersections. Crosswalks
would have been clearly designated and maintained without tripping hazards, just
to name a few.
Mn/DOT is about to receive $500 million as a result of the Federal
Stimulus Law. This funding comes with the same requirements, that Mn/DOT comply
with the ADA and other federal requirements. Better still, the state does not have
to provide any matching dollars to receive this money.
The U.S. Department of Justice recently reminded state and local governments that some of
this new stimulus money should be used for ADA compliance. Unfortunately, Mn/DOT has decided to use only
$2 million of the $500 million for statewide accessible ADA improvements. This paltry
sum is one more example of how Mn/DOT blatently ignores the needs and rights of
Minnesotans with disabilities.
What can we do about this? Assert our rights under the ADA by sending complaints to the Disability
Rights Section of the Department of Justice whenever we encounter barriers to equal access! Transportation facilities
such as sidewalks, crosswalks, curb ramps and bus stops have been neglected too
long! You may send your complaint, in writing, with your signature, to:
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Disability Rights - NYAV
Washington, D.C. 20530
Be Prepared for Disasters
Reprinted from Minnesota State Council on Disability
According to the National Organization on Disability (NOD), “To be better prepared as a nation,
we all must do our part to plan for disasters. Individuals with or without disabilities
can decrease the impact of a disaster by taking steps to prepare BEFORE an event
occurs.”
“You are in the best position to know your abilities and needs before,
during, and after a disaster.” According to the National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities, “All people,
regardless of circumstances, have some obligation to be prepared to take action
during an emergency and to assume responsibility for their own safety.”
For example, Practice and planning do make a difference. During the 1993 bombing of the World
Trade Center, a man with a mobility disability was working on the 69th floor. With
no plan or device in place, it took over six hours for him to evacuate. In the 2001
attack on the World Trade, the same man had prepared himself to leave the building
using assistance from others and an evacuation chair he had acquired and had under
his desk. It took less than 90 minutes for him to get out of the building the second
time.
Apple released the third generation of its iPod Shuffle a couple of weeks ago. It’s smaller than the previous versions, and it talks. I’ve had a chance to experiment a bit with it; here’s what I’ve learned so far: This Shuffle is tiny. It’s about the size of half a stick of gum, but a little thicker. Like the second generation Shuffle, it has a clip on the back, so you can attach it easily to anything you like. Unfortunately, this tiny size was achieved by moving most of the controls to three buttons on the headphones — the top and bottom buttons, which are Volume Up and Volume Down, and the center button, which is used for almost everything else. This is nice in some ways; the controls are within easy reach regardless of where you have clipped the Shuffle. As a result, however, you need an adapter to use it with other headphones or external speakers. As far as I can tell, no such adapter has been produced yet, though at least one is in the works. Another drawback to the controls is that the middle button has about seven different functions, depending on how many times you click it, and whether you hold it down afterward: I think having a couple of additional controls or finding a way to use Volume Up and Volume Down for the rewind and fast forward and previous and next track functions would have been preferable. Perhaps when adapters start coming out, they will include better controls. I like a lot of this Shuffle’s features, however. The Shuffle has some disadvantages besides the control issues mentioned earlier. Podcasts are considered a single playlist, so finding the one you want can be tricky. The only way to get an album treated as an album is to create a playlist containing all the tracks on the album, so if you want to access separate albums, you’ll have to create more playlists than you would with the larger iPods. Still, overall it’s a great product, especially given its $80 price.
For the techies among us, there’s a new version of the popular Victor Reader Stream
out and the upgrade is free for the downloading! http://www.humanware.com
Gw Micro is coming out with a new media player called, “The Booksense” this summer.
TALKS software powered by Nuance, is available with the Verizon Motorola Q9c wireless
phone and includes manuals in any format.
Editor’s note: This publication belongs to YOU, the readers! Feedback is always
welcome and appreciated. You might be the one to say what others have been thinking
for a long time!
Janet Dickelman, President
St. Paul, MN
Phone: (651) 428-5059
E-mail: Janet.Dickelman@comcast.net
Michael Malver, Vice-President
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 673-0664
E-mail: mmalver@visi.com
Sue Lindgren, Secretary
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 605-4526
E-mail: slindgren@mindspring.com
Juliette Silvers, Treasurer
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 824-2131
E-mail: jsilvers03@comcast.net
Chris Bell, Director
Roseville, MN
Phone: 651-636-0404
E-mail: christophergbell@comcast.net
Carolyn Coby, Director
Forest Lake, MN
Phone: (651) 464-5935
E-mail: cs_coby@hotmail.com
Catalina Roisum, Director
Minneapolis, MN
Phone: (612) 823-4474
E-mail: catroi@msn.com
Jo Taliaferro, Director
Roseville, MN
Phone: (651) 636-0404
E-mail: soaringeagle7@comcast.net
Jeff West
Golden Valley, MN
Phone: (763) 544-5664
E-mail: westjeffm@comcast.net