2021 ACB Elections
Members of the American Council of the Blind are responsible for electing a slate of individuals who will provide leadership in our organization as officers, members of the ACB Board of Directors, and members of the ACB Board of Publications, in coming months and years. Because ACB was unable to conduct elections at our virtual convention in 2020, we will be electing all five ACB officers, five members of the ACB Board of Directors and all three elected members of the Board of Publications at this year’s ACB convention. With so many elections underway during the week of convention, there are likely to be a few vacated positions up for grabs, as well. To access important information about the upcoming elections, including important dates to remember, the candidates’ webpage, and candidates’ forums, visit: https://acb.org/2021-elections. To learn more about the voting process for the 2021 ACB Convention, please visit: https://acb.org/2021-voting-process.
Create Your ACB Account Now
We hope you will be joining us for our convention in July. To simplify our account process, we are asking you to create a new ACB account (whether you are a member or not). You will use this log in credential going forward. The first time you log in to https://members.acb.org/, you will be asked to create a new login, password, and provide your profile information. This will need to be done even if you have previously created other ACB accounts. If you registered for the 2020 holiday auction, no further action is needed. You can use the same credentials you selected for your previous ACB accounts if you wish. We are asking for your name and address (for your profile) to make sure our donor database has your current information, which will help ACB to communicate with you in the future. Please go to https://members.acb.org/ to create your ACB account by May 15th so you will be ready when convention registration opens on May 20. If you need assistance creating your ACB account please contact Janet Dickelman at (651) 428-5059.
2021 Leadership Fellows
The Durward K. McDaniel (DKM) Fund Committee proudly presents the Class of 2021 ACB/JPMorgan Chase Leadership Fellows. Each applicant met all requirements to be honored with this annual award in which 5 recipients are interviewed by the committee and selected by the ACB Executive Director and ACB President. Congratulations to Winter Renfrow, Anthony Corona, Greg Lindberg, Natalie Couch, and Becky Dunkerson! Learn more about our 2021 class of Leadership Fellows by visiting: https://acb.org/2021-leadership-fellows-announcement.
2021 AD Awards Call for Nominations
The Audio Description Project recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of audio description through the Audio Description Awards. The call for nominations ends on Sunday, May 23, 2021, with winners announced during a plenary general session of the American Council of the Blind Conference and Convention in July 2021. To learn more about the award categories and how to submit nominations, visit: https://acb.org/2021-adp-awards-nominations.
Digital Accessibility and the ADA National Network
On this week’s episode of the ACB Advocacy Update, Clark and Swatha revisit our conversation from November 2020, with a returning guest, Rachel Weisberg from Equip for Equality. Rachel shares her impressions of the Winn-Dixie appeals court ruling and how it will impact digital accessibility. Then, we speak with Peter Berg from the Great Lakes ADA Center about the technical assistance and resources available to individuals and businesses regarding how the ADA and other disability rights laws apply to digital access and inclusion. Listen via your favorite podcast player or online at: https://tinyurl.com/4uxtnsf5. To learn more about the digital access resources available from the Great Lakes ADA Center, please visit: www.accessibilityonline.org.
AAA Project Follow-up
The Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss (AAVL) has been running a project to contact local Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) to find out how they are serving blind and low vision seniors, and how we can help them improve. We have a bunch of people who are in various stages of getting in contact with the agency serving their community. And it’s not too late to join the fun! If you’d like to check them out, or give them an update on how your contact is going, they’d love to hear from you this Sunday, May 16 at 7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT/1:30pm HT, and add to the list of communities who are on the road to improving services to blind seniors around the country. Plus, they’ll have a mystery guest who’s been working with their AAA for over a decade talking about their experiences. To get information on how to connect to this call, join our community event list by sending an email to [email protected].
Read to Lead: Participation and Inspiration in May
The Berl Colley Leadership Training folks are opening it up this month. They want to share some books that have turned them on to leadership possibilities, and they’re inviting you to join in. On Thursday, May 20, at 9pm ET/6pm PT/3pm HT, come and listen, or even better, bring a short review of a book that has inspired you in some aspect of leadership to share. Have the title, author, where it can be found, a short review of what it covers, and most of all, what made it memorable for you. To get information on how to connect to this call, join our community event list by sending an email to [email protected].