American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Convention Issue 2025 NOPBC CONFERENCE
NOPBC Annual Report
Presented by Cassie McKinney
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From the Editor: Cassandra (Cassie) McKinney serves as president of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). At the opening session of the NOPBC Conference at the 2025 NFB National Convention, Cassie delivered this report.
Our agenda this week is very full. We hope to have Spanish interpretation for many of our sessions and for some of our workshops today.
I have the title in this organization of president. But I’m really just a member. My title means I have to keep this meeting going. I have to remember who’s supposed to speak next and which state they’re from. But the work of this organization isn’t done by any one person. We have a board of directors for the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. Thirteen of us share the load. Without the support of the entire board and the work we do throughout the year, this week would not be possible.
I’d like to talk about some of the things we’ve done in 2024 and so far in 2025. As a division we embarked on a journey. We had to wear tennis shoes for this journey! It was the first time as an individual, and not just as a blind person, that I ever signed up for a 10K. I remember my husband lovingly saying, “Honey, are you sure?” I said, “It can’t be THAT bad, right? Six point two miles! That’s less than ten!” I thought, this will be really great! And there’s going to be a group from NOPBC in town, in Baltimore, for our retreat. After our seminar we’ll go out and walk the bridge. It won’t be any trouble at all.
So, we crossed the Bay Bridge from Annapolis, Maryland, over to the Eastern Shore. If you see me this week, I have my completion medal on. It’s actually a puzzle piece. The work we do is a puzzle that, we hope, will help our children’s futures fit together.
Over the past several months I’ve asked members of the NOPBC board to share at our board meetings why the work of the NOPBC is so important to the National Federation of the Blind. Board members answered in many different ways. We talked about the need to build a future generation of leaders. We talked about the need parents have for support. We talked about blind children needing a place where they can meet other children like themselves. All these answers are puzzle pieces that build the future for our children.
Sometimes when you come to us you’ve never met another blind person. You have questions that are hard to answer in a public setting. Sometimes, as moms, you need that one girlfriend you can call on the phone, somebody you can ask about anything. I know guys do that too. They have a friend, and they go watch football or play golf together, and they talk about things that involve their kids. We all need a network of people who go through the same challenges with their kids that we face ourselves. We hope that’s what the NOPBC will be for you.
Not only do we share your wish that our children have the resources and tools they need to be successful. We want to make sure they have other children to bond with, peers who will help propel them along on this journey.
When we walked across the Bay Bridge, we didn’t do it alone. We did it together. We were part of a group of about twenty-five people. We got up really early. Karen Anderson made delicious blueberry scones. We ate scones and gathered outside at our launching station, as it was called, and we all started off together. When we got to the finish line, a group of people were waiting for us, cheering us on.
In the Federation our family supports one another. We help provide tools to make sure we have what we need. We help with legislation to protect the rights of our children, to protect their futures with ABLE accounts. We make sure they can go to school and have everything they need all the way through secondary education and into college. We also protect the rights of parents. Some of us are blind parents of blind children. For blind parents of blind children there’s another whole rulebook! In the Federation we make sure that the rights of blind parents are protected as well.
The work is still going on. Did I tell you we’ve accomplished a lot in the past year? We’ve begun to reach out to our affiliates across the nation to make sure they have NOPBC representation at their state conventions. We did it in Massachusetts. We did it virtually in Arkansas. We did it in Vermont. As we continue our outreach, we have enlisted the help of advocates. We have trained people to be IEP advocates. That training program has brought people into our national center in Baltimore. We have trained them in how to provide services and resources to parents, to help them get what they need. I want to thank all the people who have worked on this: Karen Anderson, Casey Robertson, and all the others.
We continue to do so much, yet we find there is still so much left to do! Every day we strive to reach one more family. Our outreach doesn’t just stay within our borders. It spreads across the world. We are not only part of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. We are part of the National Federation of the Blind.
This year we decided that we wanted to reach out to our Spanish-speaking families. We wanted to reach a group of people who need us as much as we need them. We wanted to make sure they would be able to enjoy our sessions and our workshops. That is why we are providing interpretation for various events this year. We also want to make sure Spanish-speaking parents can enjoy our agenda as much as we enjoy putting it together. This year our agenda is available in English and Spanish, and it can be downloaded to Braille devices in Spanish.
It’s important for us to continue our outreach, and I need all of you who are here to help. My annual report doesn’t mean much if we don’t have the support of our members. While we continue to do good work, I invite you to join me on our journey to do even more.
I don’t know how many more 10Ks I’ll walk. As a side note on that event, when I finished the walk, I was in an immense amount of pain in my left foot. Three days after the walk I went to the orthopedist, and he said, “Oh, yes! It’s broken!” I felt so strongly about that 10K because as I walked that bridge, I thought about all of your children—all of our children! A lot of physical pain went into that walk. We all know there is pain as we make the journey to get our children all the things they need. We all know it’s worth it in the end!
I’m so glad that all of you are here with us this week. I hope I’ll have the chance to meet you. I hope you enjoy the sessions we’ve planned. We’re going to talk about how to get your kids involved in doing chores—how does that sound, kids? Thank you for being here! Thank you for everything we do together!