CONSUMER AND
ADVOCACY ADVISORY
COMMITTEE FOR
THE BLIND
Since
the NFB of North Carolina State Convention is this weekend, September 8-10, and
many of our members are involved with it, the Consumer and Advocacy Advisory
Committee will be reporting via a conference call.
The
following members were connected by conference call: Tim Jones, Debbie Jackson, Jennifer Talbot,
Martha Butler, Gary Ray, Steve Walker, Angela McCants, Francine Martin,
Tom Winton, and Hazel Staley.
Motion
was made, seconded, and carried to approve the minutes of the
Report of Entities:
· The LBPH reception and
office areas have a brand new look!
o
New carpet was installed in June 2006 in all front office and lobby
areas. New tile was installed in the
breakroom used by staff and volunteers.
All services other than access to our in-house
o
New reception desk furniture was also installed in June 2006, replacing
the hodge-podge of pieces of furniture of varying types and finishes that
formerly comprised the reception desk furniture.
· Volunteer/Outreach Unit
Director and staff are working with NLS on making the electronic files for the
NCLBPH volunteer-produced Braille books available as Web-braille files
available as any other NLS web-braille file.
This was recommended by the NLS Consultant during her visit in May 2006. Other recommendations will be included in her
report due in the next few weeks. She
has commended the high level of service provided by NCLBPH.
· Circulation Unit Supervisor
Steve Maupin has been communicating with the US Post Office local
representatives to try to resolve concerns with slow deliveries of tape books
recently experienced. The LBPH has
received an unusually high number of calls from patrons who have not received
books that were mailed to them by the library more than a week prior. This problem existed from
2006 NCLBPH
VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION
The 2006 NCLBPH Volunteer Recognition is scheduled
for Thursday evening,
The drawing will be held November 16 at the
Volunteer Recognition. Tickets are
being sold wherever Friends are found, including upcoming conventions and the
VIP Fishing Tournament. Tickets are a dollar each, or $10 for 12 tickets.
The prizes are:
FIRST PRIZE:
Refurbished Telesensory Chroma full color CCTV with
13" monitor, valued at $900.
SECOND PRIZE:
Iriver MP3 Player ($175)
THIRD PRIZE:
Panasonic Cordless Phone with Talking Caller ID
FOURTH PRIZE
$100 Gift Certificate from Wal-Mart
FIFTH PRIZE
$75 Gift Certificate for Outback Steakhouse
SIXTH PRIZE
$50 Gift Certificate for Cracker Barrel
SEVENTH PRIZE:
Talking Caller ID ($30)
· Jan Reagan is the new
Library Services Section Chief, the position to which the Head of the Library
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped reports. Jan was the head of the State Documents
Branch at State Library for the last five years and is nationally known for her
work in preparing for the preservation of born-digital documents.
· Carolyn Clay retired
September 1, after 30 years of service with the Library for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped. Carolyn served
as the Library Technical Assistant responsible for preparing catalog records
and barcodes for new books. Her
position will be advertised internally.
· Tamara Merritt accepted the
LBPH Receptionist position. Tamara’s
previous position in Patron Processing was advertised and interviews conducted.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction— Tom Winton
To
date, 231 orders have been placed with the American Printing House for the
Blind through the Federal Quota funds.
The
Advisory Board to the Visual Training Program at North Carolina Central will be
meeting on September 12. Dr. Diane
Wormsley has joined the program at NCCU.
She brings a wealth of expertise to the program.
The
56th Conference on Exceptional Children will be on November 6-7 in
The
National Conference on Deaf Blindness was held in July. Dr. Jan van Dijk from the Neatherlands was
the keynote speaker. Approximately 150
people attended this conference.
Pilot
Project for recording for the blind and dyslexic is continuing. This project improves the provision of
recorded textbooks to students in the State. Thirteen school systems are
participating in this pilot project.
Tom
Winton is now a Section Chief within the Exceptional Children’s Division. Until a replacement is found, Mr. Winton will
maintain VI Consultant duties.
Question
was asked about the planning stage of this year’s Exceptional Children’s
Conference. Last year, some parents were
not aware of the conference until after it was over. The information has been sent to a variety of
organizations, mentioned in many meetings, and registration is on the
Exceptional Children’s website.
Renovations—Hopefully,
the Cox Dorm will be complete by mid-October and work will then begin on Milsap
Dorm.
Crockett-Peeler
will be having heating and air-conditioning repairs. Staff will have to vacate the building for
approximately 2-3 months. DSB will be
working with GMS to find space for classes while renovations occur.
Newsline
did get continued funding this year. It
is again non-recurring money.
DSB
has 2 of 4 agreements signed for a new Eastern area Transition Program. It is a 4-county program that includes New
Hanover,
The
Division will be looking the economic needs scale for all of the programs to
determine how we can go to the general assembly and ask for a change in the
funding. We are in the early planning
stages and will have more information at the December meeting.
State Council of the
The Council of Governors
is working very hard with the North Carolina Lions Foundation.
Ms. Butler and two other
members of the Council attend the executive committee meetings with the
Foundation and
are looking forward to
working them this year.
The Council of Governors
now has a privacy policy. Several
requests have been made for release of personal information on some of the
Lions. The policy states what
information can and cannot be released.
The Council of Governors
are also working closely with Lions International to raise money.
We have a spokesperson
for the Lions of North Carolina. Kiley
Kay Odom is the reigning Mrs. North Carolina International 2006. She has a six year old daughter who suffers
from PHPV, congenital cataract, glaucoma, amblyopia, and strabismus of the
eye. This child has had pressure in that
one eye of 38. After visits to Duke, the
pressure is down to 15. Mrs. Odom will
be making appearances and speaking at meetings across the State.
North Carolina Lions Foundation—Steve Walker
Approval has been
obtained to replace the Shaw Brown Dormitory at Camp Dogwood. Demolition will start after October 1 and
that building probably will not be completed in time for camp next summer;
however, staff hope to able to accommodate all the campers who wish to attend. The new building will be similar to the Lineberger
Dorm which was completed a couple years ago.
Summer camp was very
successful with 789 campers attending. The Deaf Blind Retreat is being held
this weekend.
Prevent Blindness North Carolina—Jennifer Talbot
Prevent Blindness was
opposed to the mandatory eye examination because of its language and the
wording of the law. Currently, we there
is a “screening” bill rather than an “exam” bill. Details are still be worked out by the Eye
Commission that is yet to be appointed.
Prevent Blindness will continue to work with DHHS and Commission members
to assure improvements are functional to everyone participating.
Congratulations to Debbie
Jackson for a wonderful performance on UNC-TV recently on Adult Eye Screening
and Vision Problems.
Prevent Blindness is
beginning to receive calls regarding the new breakthroughs on macular
degeneration drugs. Medicare will cover
these drugs and help is available to get the co-payment paid for if the person
has an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less a year.
National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina—Hazel Staley
The NFB’s national
convention was held in Dallas, Texas, the first week of July. Twenty-two people from North Carolina
attended. The Kurzweil National
Federation of the Blind Reader and a new compact CCTV were the two major items
shown at the convention. Several of the
little reading machines have been distributed around North Carolina so that a
number of people have had an opportunity to have hands-on experience with
it. It will be on display at the State
Convention which will be held this weekend in Fayetteville.
On August 23, A new
chapter in Forsyth Co. was organized with eleven enthusiastic members. Four others had planned to attend but were
unable to get there that day.
Newsline is doing
well. In August, there were 47,756
reading minutes and a total of 1,890 phone calls. Currently there are 1964 users. The Associated Press of North Carolina was
added this summer. We are currently
working on adding papers in Asheville and Greenville. A few people have filed applications with the
Federation and also with the library. We
are checking files to avoid any duplications.
Plans are to have the grocery ads back on the local channel this
Fall. Newspapers can now be e-mailed to
readers every morning. This requires
special software. Contact Gary Ray at
the Library for more information.
From Hazel Staley:
“This is my swan song
with this committee. I have been a
member of the committee since its inception.
I am not seeking the position of Vice President of the Federation this
year so I won’t be on this committee. I
have enjoyed my association with all the members and hearing the reports of the
fine work you are doing. Thank each of
you for the service you are rendering to the blind of our state. Just keep up the good work. I’m not dropping out. I’m just letting up a little now that I’m
ninety years old. I’ll still be around
if I can ever help in any way.”
Tom Winton thanked Ms.
Hazel for all of her contributions she has given the blind community.
North Carolina Association
for Education & Rehabilitation of the Blind & Visually Impaired—Gary Ray
Just in case there are new members who are not familiar with AER, the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, and is the professional organization for folks who work in the field of blindness and visual impairment.
New
officers have taken office as of July 1, 2006.
The members of our Board are:
President
Gary Ray
Raleigh
gary.ray@ncmail.net
Work: (919) 715-6667
President-Elect
Kathy Davis
Raleigh
mary.k.davis@ncmail.net
Secretary
Joy Fleming
Charlotte
joy.fleming@cms.k12.nc.us
Treasurer
Nancy Massengill
Charlotte
Members at Large
Sandy DeLuca
Raleigh
Dion Ousley
Raleigh
Susan Purdy
Chapel Hill
shpvi@aol.com
William Tubilleja
Raleigh
william.tubilleja@ncmail.net
Immediate Past President
Bill
Apple
Raleigh
william.apple@ncmail.net
We
are working on the next Conference on Blindness and Visual Impairment, which we
call the Super Conference. This
conference brings together professionals in the field of blindness and visual
impairment. The Conference dates are
Thursday through Saturday, March 22, 23, and 24, 2007. The conference will be held on the Governor
Morehead School campus. Visit the NC AER
website at www.ncaer.net for more details.
Angela
McCants inquired more about the planning of the “Super Conference”. Gary Ray invited Angela McCants or someone
from her committee to attend the next planning meeting which will be October 5
at 1:00 in the Penland Building conference room on GMS.
Tom
Winton left the conference call.
Elected Committee of Vendors—Tim Jones
The
Business Enterprises Program in NC is going well. The average operator income is in the mid
$40,000. A couple of smaller locations
that were not lucrative have either been dropped or attached to someone elses
location. On the Federal level, the
Randolph Sheppard Program may be getting ready to take a hit regarding the
priorities on military bases. Mr. Jones
will keep the committee posted on any concerns.
Old
Business
None
New
Business
None
Adjournment
of Meeting
With
no further business, a motion was made, seconded and carried that the meeting
be adjourned. The meeting adjourned at
10:50 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled
for December 8, 2006 at 1 p.m.
Respectfully
Submitted
Tim
Jones, Chairman
Consumer
and Advocacy Advisory Committee for the Blind