American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Summer 2021 WHAT'S HAPPENING
Report of the NOPBC Conference at the 2021 NFB National Convention
by Carlton Anne Cook Walker
From the Editor: From July 6 through July 10, 2021, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) held its annual national convention. Within the convention framework the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC) hosted its annual conference as well as a variety of workshops and programs for children and youth. In this report NOPBC President Carlton Anne Cook Walker gives an overview of the 2021 NOPBC conference. Presentations from the conference will be highlighted in the next issue of Future Reflections, Volume 40, Number 4.
As of June 5, 2021, more than six hundred parents, professionals, and allies from forty-four states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, as well as twenty-two nations, had registered to attend the NOPBC Conference at the 2021 NFB National Convention. Parents and professionals from Argentina, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, the Republic of South Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Panama, Poland, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates all registered for the conference, entitled, "Virtual Reality: Accessible Learning, Activities, and Networking Opportunities for Blind Children and Their Families." Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held through virtual meetings. Although they could not meet face-to-face, parents and professionals gained knowledge and built important new relationships.
The NOPBC conference consisted of sessions, workshops, and activities held on all five days of the NFB Convention. These offerings instilled high expectations for all blind children, provided information and ideas for adults supporting blind children, and offered fun and engaging activities for blind children and their families.
Pre-conference Activities
On Sunday, June 27, and on Thursday, July 1, we held two "Convention 411" programs to provide information and advice to individuals considering attending the NOPBC Conference and the NFB Convention. Convention confronts attendees with a host of choices. It can help to get an overview and start to sort one’s priorities.
Seminar Day and Concurrent Sessions
Our 2021 NOPBC Conference, entitled "Empowering Our Children: Maximizing Skills, Opportunities, and Dreams," kicked off with the always popular Kid Talk with NFB President Mark Riccobono. President Riccobono solicited questions from the children and provided sage advice. Next, Ronza Othman, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland, gave a wonderful keynote address entitled, "Living the Life I Want Because of Parent Empowerment."
As we did at last year's virtual conference, we paused our General Session and held the first of our four concurrent session breakouts. Our first set of breakouts included "NFB NEWSLINE: It's Not Just for Adults Anymore" with Jessica Beecham, NEWSLINE coordinator, NFB of Colorado; "Road to Reading: Reading to Learn the Code Using the Natural Order of Contractions" with Casey West Robertson, teacher of blind students (TBS) and NOPBC Board member; "Structured Discovery: It's Not Just For Teaching Travel" with Kristen Sims, TBS, NOMC; "Let's Get Cooking: Helping Kids of All Ages Explore the Kitchen and All Aspects of Preparing Food" with Michelle Murrey, first vice president of the Colorado Parents of Blind Children and NOPBC Board member; and "We're Not Perfect, and Our Kids Aren't Perfect, Either! Confessions of NOPBC Board members," a panel presentation from NOPBC Board members Jackie Anderson, Sarah Erb, and Jean Fultz.
When General Session resumed, NOPBC President Carlton Anne Cook Walker delivered the 2021 NOPBC Presidential Report: "Empowering Our Children—Maximizing Skills, Opportunities, and Dreams." Next we heard from three blind students: Kenia Flores (Furman University Graduate, U.S. Senate staff assistant, and first vice president of the National Association of Blind Students (NABS); Syed Mahmud Rizvi (SEO Fellow at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, JD candidate at Harvard Law School, and former first vice president of NABS); and Cricket X. Bidleman (Rebele Intern at the First Amendment Coalition, accessibility consultant for Stanford University, M.A. Candidate at Stanford University, and president of the California Association of Blind Students) shared their experiences. In our student panel, "Guidance from Graduates," they reflected on things their families did that worked well and on what might have been better. Our families benefited so very much from their openness and from their honesty. NOPBC Board member Dr. Carla Keirns closed the session with her timely, sage, and much-needed presentation: "It's Not Just You: Growth and Resilience During Pandemic Times."
The next set of breakout sessions featured the following topics and presenters: "Accessibyte: Touch Typing, Flash Cards, Games ... Fun For All!" with Joe Jorgenson, Founder of Accessibyte; "Road to Reading: Exploring Tools to Help Children with Dyslexia Learn" with Carlton Anne Cook Walker, TBS and NOPBC president; "Travel Tips: Regaining Confidence in Travel Skills after a Year at Home" with Michelle Chacon, TBS and NOMC; "Safety and Support Training: Boundaries and Consent" with the NFB Survivor Task Force; and "The End of the IEP Road: What You Need to Know About the Transition to College" with Carol Castellano, NOPBC Board member.
We continued our breakout concurrent sessions on Wednesday. Wednesday opened with the following sessions and presenters: "What Are JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion Anyway?" with Chancey Fleet, chair of the NFB Assistive Technology Trainers Division; "A New Generation of Braille Display: What Is the Brailliant BI 20 or 40X?" with Joel Zimba, HumanWare product specialist; "The Structured Discovery Method of Teaching Cane Travel" with Jeff Altman, NOMC; "A Life of Contradictions" with Melissa Riccobono, NOPBC Board member; and "Let's Get Involved: Community Activities for Your Child" with Terri Rupp, president, NFB of Nevada.
Our last group of breakout sessions included "Be My Eyes, Aira, and Seeing AI: Practical Tools for Productivity" with Keith Bundy, digital accessibility consultant and trainer at Siteimprove, Inc.; "What Is the QBraille XL from HIMS, and What Sets It Apart from Other Displays?" with Earle Harrison, Midwest Region sales manager at HIMS, Inc.; "Let's Talk Learning Shades: How Parents Can Use Learning Shades to Help Learn and Teach Nonvisual Skills in Travel and Beyond to Children of All Ages" with Michelle Albrecht, parent, Maryland, "Why Braille?" with Donna Genelin, parent, Virginia; and "Excuse Me, Blind Person" with Penny Duffy, NOPBC first vice president and Abby Duffy, student from New Hampshire.
NOPBC Family Game Time and NOPBC Family Open House
A mere ten minutes after our four great hours of learning in two General Sessions and two breakout sessions on the first day, we held NOPBC Family Game Time. We discussed accessibility and hosted breakout rooms on topics of interest to attendees, including actual game playing itself!
We were six hours into our first day, but we were not ready to quit! Our NOPBC Family Open House welcomed one and all for questions, conversation, and fellowship. With the invaluable assistance of our NFB Zoom host, we welcomed people into breakout rooms based on topics of mutual interest.
Annual Meeting
Our NOPBC Annual Meeting kicked off with an Exhibitor Fair. Somehow, in one hour, we managed to hear and learn from these great exhibitors: NFB education programs, National Association of Blind Students (NABS), HumanWare, Learning Ally, American Printing House for the Blind, Spectrum Access, Vispero (Freedom Scientific), Bookshare/Benetech, and Pearson Learning.
When the exhibitors finished their presentations, we were full of knowledge—and ready for more! Our Annual Meeting certainly fulfilled the promise of its title, "Journey to Empowerment." First, we heard from Anil Lewis, the executive director of NFB Blindness Initiatives, as he took us "On the Road with NFB Blindness Initiatives." Michelle Chacon, TBS, COMS, and 2014 NFB Blind Educator Award Recipient, spoke to us about the "Pit Stop Support" offered to blind students by the NFB of Colorado. Mike Wood, Vispero's strategic accounts manager, education, invited us to join in "Uncovering Hidden Paths with Vispero/Freedom Scientific" to empower blind individuals of all ages and abilities.
Middle school students Boon Dumrong, an eighth-grader in Washington; and Oriana Riccobono, a sixth-grade student in Maryland shared how they are empowering themselves in our panel, "Kid Power: Tales from the Road."
Jordana Elgebretsen of Idaho, the 2021 NFB Distinguished Educator of Blind Students, presented her keynote address: "Empowering or Disqualifying—What Are We Doing?" and also answered questions from attendees. Our Parent Power panel, "Travelling with Friends," brought insights, ideas, and inspiration from parent leaders Ashleigh Moon, president of Arizona Parents of Blind Children; Beth Sellers, president of Virginia Parents of Blind Children; and Donna Genelin, Virginia parent.
The final hour of our Annual Meeting turned to division business. We first reminded attendees about the NFB PAC (Pre-Authorized Contribution) Plan and encouraged all to contribute to this vital fundraising program. After hearing and approving a proposed constitutional amendment to change our dues year and to increase our membership fee, the Nominating Committee presented its slate of nominees for the unexpired two-year term of the second vice president and for all ten Board positions. The slate presented was as follows: Sarah Erb, unexpired term of second vice president and Board members Jackie Anderson; Amira Assad-Lucas; Donna Genelin; Jeannette Jones; Carla Keirns; Maura Kutnyak; Tabby Mitchell; Ashleigh Moon; Melissa Riccobono; and Casey West Robertson.
We then recognized and thanked the five members leaving our Board: Kimberly Banks, Jean Fultz, Pamela Gebert, Michelle Murrey, and Corbb O'Connor. We are grateful for their years of dedicated service to the NOPBC. We reminded them that we are a family, and no one ever really leaves.
The membership voted upon and approved the report of the Nominating Committee. We then held the election. There were no nominations from the floor, and each individual presented by the Nominating Committee was elected to the office for which that individual was nominated.
Our Annual Meeting ran longer than expected, so we postponed our scheduled NOPBC Brainstorming Session until after the NOPBC Conference and NFB Convention.
IEP Sessions
At in-person Conferences, we usually hold "IEP Night," a popular series of sessions on Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) on the evening of the first day of General Session. Scheduling is different in virtual meetings, especially since our Board members span six different time zones, and we always defer to NFB programming (affiliate caucuses and General Sessions). With apologies to our friends in Hawaii and Alaska, we held our IEP sessions on Friday and Saturday mornings. We had planned an "Unconference," but we did not receive many questions beforehand, so we held broad-based information sessions. We also offered breakout sessions, and several parents took advantage of these to dive into topics of personal interest.
Youth Track
With support from multiple partners and spearheaded by the team at the Southern Arizona Association for the Visually Impaired (SAAVI), this year's Youth Track activities continued to be fabulous. Five hours of Youth Track sessions on Tuesday included: "It's Your Convention Experience," "Go Where You Want When You Want with Confidence," and "National Cryptologic Museum Tour" (provided by our host affiliate, the NFB of Maryland). Wednesday brought "Looking Good, Feeling Good," "It's All about the J.O.B," and "Resolutions Explained."
On Thursday our youth discussed "Your Life, Your Body, Your Power" and got together in the "Calling All Gamers!" Youth Track session. Saturday wrapped up Youth Track with "Advocacy in the Family: Expressing Yourself with the People You Love the Most."
PAC Plan Participation
As noted above, NOPBC is a proud division of the National Federation of the Blind. We veteran members of the NOPBC and NFB know the vital importance of the support we receive from the Federation, and we make certain that families new to us understand our relationship to and with the Federation. One way we show our appreciation of and support for our Federation is through the PAC plan. We encourage our parents and allies to begin a PAC plan or add to an existing one, noting NOPBC as the division they support. Although we were neck-and-neck for the PAC Mule prize, the wonderful Seniors Division won it this year. We offer them our hearty congratulations, and we look forward to the opportunity to bring a PAC Mule home from New Orleans in 2022!