The April 2010 CABS NewsLetter
Contents
CABS News- A Steady Progression: Moving Towards the Goal
- Welcome to CABS
- A New Way to Join CABS
- Call to Action Seminar
- Wanted: Remarkable Student Leaders
- Don't Miss Our Next Membership Meeting
- Scheduling of Future Membership Meetings
- Getting to an NFB Training Center
A Steady Progression: Moving Towards the Goal
By: Aziza Cano, First Vice-President & Newsletter Editor
Although it appears that CABS is inactive at the moment, behind the scenes we are all very busy planning for National Convention, the upcoming Student Seminar, and then our very own state convention. Plans for fund raisers, inspirational speakers, and social activities are well under way. Anyone wishing to become involved in any of the future events CABS is hoping to be involved in are more than welcome to contact anyone on the board for information. This issue of the newsletters gives updates on all such activities.
Anyone wishing to submit material for the next newsletter, scheduled to be released June 2010, can contact Aziza Cano, the editor of the newsletter with their ideas. The entire CABS board hopes every reader finds this issue informative, inspirational and most of all, an easy and compelling read; the board also urges readers to stay tuned for further issues. Remember, you can always view a copy of past issues on our website.
WELCOME TO CABS!
Your current CABS board is:- Angela Fowler, President
- Aziza Cano, First Vice-President
- Pam Chase, Second Vice-President
- Justin Harford, Secretary
- Melissa Haney, Treasurer
- Hani Nasser, Board Member At Large
- Kameron Dibble, Board Member At Large
Start by getting to know the board at www.nfbcal.org/cabs , where you can find bios and contact information. You can also sign up for the CABS ListServ, a daily digest delivered to your email inbox so that you can join the discussions important to blind students of our state. In this forum, we share information, resources, and ideas and learn about exciting opportunities. PLEASE NOTE: It is important that you respond to the confirmation email delivered to your inbox when you are added to the ListServ. If you do not receive a request to confirm from the ListServ, please contact Aziza Cano at daydreamingncolor@gmail.com. Be sure you are signed up today and get to know your CABS network! You can also join the Facebook group “California Association of Blind Students (CABS)” as another way of staying connected to blind students in California at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23442031813 CABS also holds Membership conference calls on the last Sunday of each month at 5 PM. This is a way for members to give their input, present new and creative ideas for CABS events, learn about past and upcoming events, and to get to know and stay active with the CABS board. Please participate in our monthly Membership conference calls so you can play an influential and active role in your own student division!
Join us every October at the student meeting at the NFB of California state convention to network in person with other blind students, hear from student speakers about their experiences, and meet graduates of NFB training centers and working professionals. Your $5.00 annual dues can be paid at this meeting, making you eligible to vote in the board elections that occur there every year, and for the door prizes given out at every meeting! Our state convention is also a forum for fun CABS-sponsored events like Monte Carlo Night, where convention-goers show their support for this student organization by making a donation at the door to spend an evening playing cards and board games.
Throughout the year, we raise funds to organize leadership seminars, gatherings, and other social events and public engagements. We also frequently meet up at NFB events like our annual Washington Seminar, where students and other Federationists talk to their state representatives on Capitol Hill about issues like timely access to textbooks, and the NFB national convention.
The best way to stay connected is to be on the ListServ, so sign up now! Get connected, get involved, and we’ll see you out on the NFB Super-highway!
Sincerely,
A NEW WAY TO JOIN CABS
By Angela Fowler, President
Want to become an official member of the California Association of Blind Students? It is no longer necessary to wait for State Convention or a CABS seminar to join this ever-growing organization. For the first time ever, a downloadable registration form is available online. Just visit our website.
Our downloadable registration form can be found on the home page. Just send it, plus a check for $5 to:
California Association of Blind Students
Melissa Haney (treasurer)
PO Box 8076
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
Once an official member, you will be contacted by a CABS board member, who will answer any questions you may have concerning the student division. On behalf of the entire board, welcome to this exciting organization.
Call to Action Seminar
| Where: | California Baptist University |
| 8432 Magnolia Avenue | |
| Riverside, California 92504 | |
| | |
| Telephone: | 877-CBU-3615 (228-3615) |
| | |
| When: | September 18, 2010 |
| 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. |
Students will have the opportunity to learn about various topics of interest to blind students. There will also be the option to meet and network with students from across the state.
Topics which will be covered include, but are not limited to:
- Social Networking,
- The Latest in New Technologies,
- Blind Education and Career goals
- The Department of Rehabilitation,
- Campus Resources.
Angela FowlerBack to top
Phone: (530) 902-0987
fowlers@syix.com
Wanted: Remarkable Student Leaders
By: Aziza Cano, First Vice-President
Students come in various shapes, sizes and capacities. The CABS board recognizes this fact as plainly as any other group of NFB leaders. Therefore, we have decided that as student leaders in this state affiliate, it is time to give student leaders the recognition they rightfully deserve for their hard work and dedication. By means of pulling this project off, we have designed two opportunities for students to be recognized. One of which will be especially geared towards the youth of the NFBC, and the other which will reach out to students of all ages. Please read the following descriptions of our new opportunities, while keeping in mind any deserving student you may know.
The CABS Youth Spotlight will bring into focus a quickly rising youth leader. Young children and teens have remarkable potential, however often times little stars, and great talent are overlooked in favor of concentrating on the children and youth who need our attention more. Therefore, the self sufficient and self motivated students do not always receive the encouragement they deserve. CABS would like to change that. Every future issue of the newsletter will feature a young student who has done something extraordinary for their community. This good deed can most certainly benefit his or her blind community; however any notable community contribution is also applauded. This decision to not limit the acts of leadership to the blind community stems from our belief that any activity worth noting done by a blind person brings about community awareness. Students in the CABS Spotlight will have an article featuring them, as well as describing the kinds of activities they are involved in. Note that passed issues of the CABS newsletter are archived on our website, so that any interested persons can find them at anytime.
The CABS Spotlight is specifically designed to showcase students that do not fall into the youth category. Under graduate and graduate students also deserve recognition for activities and causes they are involved in. Again, community service efforts are not limited to benefitting the blind community. The difference between the CABS Spotlight, and the CABS Youth Spotlight, is that the CABS Youth Spotlight is geared specifically towards teens in the NFB. In addition, the CABS Spotlight will be featured on the CABS website twice a semester. These too will be archived as time progresses.
Anyone wishing to nominate students for either program can find a downloadable nomination form at www.nfbcal.org/cabs. After the forms have been filled out, they should be emailed to Aziza Cano at, daydreamingncolor@gmail.com.
People nominating students should be aware that keeping the nomination a secret could potentially serve as a pleasant surprise to the student in question. The board would like to express that permission from parents of minors will be obtained to feature youth in the newsletter.
DON’T MISS OUR NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING
By Angela Fowler, President
Interested in attending one of the National Federation of the Blind’s excellent training centers? Have questions about blindness training? Then the next California Association of Blind Students membership meeting is for you!
On Sunday, April 25, at 5 PM, the Board of the California Association of Blind Students along with representatives and graduates from the three NFB training centers will be holding an informational conference call. We will discuss the many benefits of NFB training, as well as the best ways to work with rehab, and much more. We will also be answering any questions you may have.
This meeting will be on the CABS conference line. Please follow the following instructions in order to enter the conference.
- Dial (218) 339-2500
- When prompted, enter access code 958093
- The system will verify that you have entered the correct access code. Once you have confirmed this, you will enter the conference.
- When you hear the bell, introduce yourself.
Scheduling of Future Membership Meetings
From the Membership Committee
Recently, the membership committee has posed a question to all members of CABS. Should the membership meetings be held on a different day? Currently our meetings are the last Sunday of every month at five P.M. Some are in favor of moving the conference calls to a weekday, however there are some things to keep in mind. As this is a student division, we must be sensitive to the fact that some students are enrolled in night classes, others work in the evenings. The students that do not have class or work obligations may have a family, or homework to occupy them during a week night. These factors could lessen the participation of members in our meetings. The goal is to get more members involved, without making it difficult for others to remain involved. Please contact Aziza Cano with your thoughts and comments on this issue.
Getting to an NFB Training Center
By Aziza Cano, First Vice-President
Graduates of NFB training centers can relate, getting rehab to supply funding can be extremely difficult. In order to relieve some of the stress for perspective students of any of the three NFB training centers, we have a sample justification letter, and a sample table of comparison between the Colorado Center for the Blind, and traditional training centers in the state of California. Please note that both letter and chart should be updated and personalized before being used.
Justification Letter:
Dear (VR Counselor):The purpose of this letter is to notify you that, pursuant to the federal rights which are mine under the Rehabilitation Act and the Rehabilitation Services Administration's (RSA) Policy Directive PD-01-03, I wish to exercise my right to choose both my own "service provider" for my adjustment to blindness training and the "setting" in which this training will take place. Therefore, I hereby choose to attend (insert specific name of NFB Center) for a period of from six to nine months.
In case there is any confusion about the federal rights I have concerning "Informed Choice," following for your convenience is the VR policy as stated in 2001 in RSA PD-01-03:
POLICY STATEMENT: The State VR program must provide applicants and individuals eligible for VR services with opportunities to exercise informed choice throughout the VR process, including making decisions about the employment goal, VR services, service providers, settings for employment and service provision, and methods for procuring services. To enable an individual to make such decisions, the State VR agency must provide information, support and assistance needed by the individual. The VR agency has the responsibility to implement policies, procedures, and practices, and to develop resources that enable applicants and individuals eligible for VR services to exercise informed choice throughout the entire VR process; these policies, procedures, and practices must be consistent with Federal statutory and regulatory requirements.
In preparing to exercise my right to choose, I have learned that I must first become informed about the various kinds of residential orientation and adjustment centers for the blind before I can choose wisely. In becoming informed, I have learned that the blind students who attend NFB centers are generally more independent, more self-confident, more able to take control of their lives, and more empowered than the blind people who attend traditional training centers. Therefore, I am choosing an NFB center because I want to learn to be just as independent and self-confident and able to take charge of my own life as these former students are.
As I have spoken with other blind people, I have learned that these NFB centers have two significant components that are quite different from typical training centers. First, they have Core curriculums for all students who attend them. These have been tried and tested, and they work.
Second, these centers teach what they call a "defined philosophy" about blindness to all of the students who attend them, instead of leaving a student's beliefs about blindness to chance. I have learned that most typical centers don't even talk about their ideas about blindness. It's like they don't really have any beliefs.
I have also learned that most of the staff members in NFB centers are blind. They have learned to handle their own blindness in their daily lives. Therefore, they will be in an excellent position to help me handle mine and to encourage me when doing things without sight seems too hard.
Also, I have learned that the training does not last long enough in most of the traditional centers. Sometimes students come back several times to get the training they actually need because they really didn't get fully trained the first time. On the other hand, the students who attend the NFB centers usually take training for from six to nine months. This length of time makes it possible for the students truly to master the skills of blindness and to adjust their own attitudes about themselves so that they can learn to look at themselves simply as normal people who cannot see and also learn to do the things other normal people do. I want to be able to come to this kind of peace concerning my own blindness. Therefore, I can get the training I really want and need by attending an NFB center.
Further, by living at the center apartments during my several months of training, I can be practicing and perfecting the training I have had each day by cooking, cleaning, washing my own clothes, etc. I can also gain practical, valuable mobility experience every day by traveling back and forth from the center to my apartment.
(Optional for the partially sighted) Finally, I have learned that I must come to deal with my remaining vision in a healthy way. I must have training using sleep shades to learn the skills of blindness adequately, to learn that I can function perfectly well using no vision at all, to eliminate the fear of future vision loss, and to equip me fully concerning a different kind of choice: Since I have very limited vision, I must learn to choose on a case-by-case basis each day whether to use my limited vision or a non-visual technique to perform a given task efficiently and competently. I can never have that kind of choice if I don't learn the blind techniques well using sleep shades.
For all of these and other reasons, I choose to attend the (blank) center for from six to nine months. To provide you with more detailed information about the (blank) center, I am also giving you a document which it has prepared to explain its programs more fully.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
You can download the training center comparison chart here.
State Updates:
By, Mary Willows, NFBC President
Radcliff Grant:
In memory of one of our distinguished leaders, Mrs. Frances Radcliff, the NFB of California is committed to spreading the message that with education or training, blind people can compete on the basis of equality with their sighted peers. For this reason, each year, we issue grants to first time attendees to our annual national convention. This year the convention will be held in Dallas, Texas on July 3-8. If you are interested in applying, please go to the website at www.nfbcal.org and click onto “Radcliff Grant Application.” Applications must be received no later than Friday, May 14th. Applicants will be notified on Sunday, May 16th.Changes in DOR Management
Recently we were informed of the resignation of Tony Candela, Deputy Director of Blind Field Services at the Department of the Rehabilitation. We wish Tony luck in his new endeavors.Joe Xavier has graciously agreed to serve as the Acting Deputy Director for the Specialized Services Division, Blind and Visually Impaired and Deaf & Hard of Hearing (SSD) for the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR). This change will be in effect until the Governor’s office has appointed a Deputy Director for the SSD. Joe will assume the full range of duties and responsibilities for the SSD, in addition to his current position of Deputy Director for Independent Living and External Affairs Division.For more than 25 years, Joe has participated in business and public administration, including advocacy and community organizations. During his twelve years with the DOR, Joe has served in various capacities including, Deputy Director, Independent Living and External Affairs Division, Acting Program Manager for the Business Enterprises Program, Chief of Business Services Section, Associate Management Auditor and Supervising Business Enterprises Consultant. Joe has also directed and worked on numerous special projects for the DOR. Back to topNational Association of Blind Students
From the Desk of the President
Get Ready for Convention!
The following appeared in the latest issue of the Braille Monitor, the monthly newsletter of the NFB:
Dallas Site of 2010 NFB Convention
The 2010 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take place in Dallas, Texas, July 3-8, at the Hilton Anatole Hotel at 2201 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, Texas 75207. Make your room reservation as soon as possible with the Hilton Anatole staff only. Call (214) 761-7500.The 2010 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins $62 and triples and quads $67 a night, plus a 15 percent sales tax. The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $60-per-room deposit is required to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before June 1, 2010. The other 50 percent is nonrefundable. Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations may be made before June 1, 2010, assuming that rooms are still available. After that time the hotel will not hold our block of rooms for the convention. In other words, you should get your reservation in soon.
Room amenities include cable television, coffee pot, iron and ironing board, hair dryer and high-speed Internet access. The Hilton Anatole has several excellent restaurants, twenty-four-hour-a-day room service, first-rate meeting space, and other top-notch facilities. It is in downtown Dallas with shuttle service to both the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport and Love Field.
To pre-register for the convention, go to: www.nfb.org
We know that attending a national NFB convention can often exceed a student’s budget. If you would like to attend the convention and need financial assistance, keep in mind that the Kenneth Jernigan Fund provides convention scholarships to first-time convention attendees. Contact your state president for details.
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