Call to Order: Deb Cook Lewis, President
The September 23, 2024, virtual meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Council of the Blind was called to order at 7:00PM Eastern by President Deb Cook Lewis.
Roll Call: Denise Colley, Secretary
At the call of the roll, the following Board members were present: President Deb Cook Lewis, First Vice President David Trott, Second Vice President Ray Campbell, Secretary Denise Colley, Treasurer Michael Garrett, Chris Bell, Donna Brown, Peter Heide, Gabriel Lopez Kafati, Cecily Laney Nipper, Terry Pacheco, Rachel Schroeder, Kenneth Semien, Koni Sims, and Jeff Thom.
Board of Publications Member Katie Frederick was present representing that body.
Members Absent: Kim Charlson (excused).
Staff present: Scott Thornhill, ACB Executive Director and Nancy Marks-Becker, Chief Financial Officer.
Review and Approval of Agenda: Deb Cook Lewis, ACB President
The purpose of this specially called ACB Board of Directors Meeting was to discuss and make a decision on a letter the Board received from our Special Interest Affiliate, Guide Dog Users Inc. regarding ACB sending a representative to the Ride Share Rally being sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind and the National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU), their Guide Dog Users Affiliate on October 15, 2024 at the main business offices of both Uber and LYFT, in San Francisco, California. The purpose of the rally is to protest ongoing and worsening discrimination against guide dog users by drivers from both ride share companies who refuse to transport blind and low vision people who travel with guide dogs.
It was moved by Trott and seconded by Semien to approve the agenda. The motion carried.
President Lewis then read the letter and discussion took place. The usual collaboration between ACB and NFB was explained, in that, a formal invitation is usually made by the sponsoring organization for the other organization to participate in a particular event, and this was extended to NFB for our Currency Rally. As of the date of this Board meeting, a formal invitation to the Ride Share Rally had not been made to ACB, nor had we been asked to take any formal position by them.
It was moved by Trott and seconded by Pacheco that ACB agree to send a representative and offer our support to the Ride Share Rally, but to also request verification that our representative is welcomed as a representative of ACB.
While it was felt that the purpose behind the rally was important and should be supported, a lot of concern was expressed about how much of a role our representative would have, given that we had never received a formal invitation to officially take part in the program. Others felt strongly that, because of the importance of this whole issue surrounding Ride Share and its effect on the blind community as a whole, we need to view this as an opportunity to be a part of an event that has a lot of traction and is going to generate a lot of national attention, and it is the advocacy part that should be our focus and not how it was handled logistically. We need to focus more on figuring out what we can do from this point to collaborate with our Special Interest Affiliate and another strong national consumer organization.
An amendment to the motion was moved by Thom and seconded by Bell that our president contact the NFB president and request that ACB be given an opportunity to make a brief statement, as a part of the Rally, so that people realize we are there. The amendment to the motion carried.
A roll call vote was then conducted on the entire motion as amended, and the motion passed unanimously.
It was moved by Bell and seconded by Schroeder that ACB issue a formal press release opposing the ongoing discrimination by Uber and Lyft drivers, and supporting the Ride Share Rally as an important step for the blindness community and thanking the NFB and others for undertaking it. The motion caried.
It was moved by Bell and seconded by Pacheco to adjourn, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:08PM Eastern Time.
Denise Colley
Secretary
Date submitted: January 26, 2025
Approved: February 10, 2025