Monitor Miniatures

Monitor Miniatures

Braille MonitorNovember 2016

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Monitor Miniatures
News from the Federation Family
Celebrate the Holiday Season with a Gift to the National Federation of the Blind:
Have you received gifts from the National Federation of the Blind? Lots of us have. One man expressed what our gift meant to him by saying: “It is great to know there are still people in this world who care about other people besides themselves. Your gift of a white cane could not have come at a better time for me! My wonderful wife of forty-three years, who has Alzheimer’s, has moved to an assisted living facility. The only place I could find a cane was at the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Antonio, Texas. It’s a fourteen-hour roundtrip for me, and I can’t drive anymore. What you have done for me I will remember for the rest of my life.”

We give people free white canes, literacy, and confidence. If you have gained from contact with the NFB or NFB members, enjoyed our publications, or participated in an academy or program, we are asking you to give back. Celebrate the holiday season by donating much needed funds. It is easy. You can mail a donation or give online.

To mail your donation simply make out your check to the National Federation of the Blind. Please mail it to the NFB, Attention: Outreach, 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place, Baltimore, MD 21230.

To give online visit our web page by going to <www.nfb.org> and click on the “donate now” button.

Help us all live the lives we want.
Washington Seminar Reservations:
This message from Diane McGeorge is to advise all of you that the Washington Seminar will be held January 29 to February 2, 2017, with the Great Gathering In taking place on Monday, January 30. Additionally, I want to remind you that I am no longer managing reservations for this event. With the Holiday Inn Capitol’s progressive policy changes, we turned reservations over to the hotel beginning with our 2016 Washington Seminar and going forward. The reservation process is very standard, requiring check-in and check-out dates only, just as you experience with national conventions. This process will allow you to have full control of your reservations and any changes you need to make.

You can now reserve a room at the Holiday Inn Capitol (550 C Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024) for Washington Seminar for check-in beginning Saturday, January 28, 2017, check-out Friday, February 3, 2017. The rate is $188.00 per night. This rate does not include DC sales tax, currently 14.5 percent. You may begin booking reservations directly online by clicking on theweb link below. You may also make reservations by calling (877) 572-6951 and referencing booking code F7B. Credit card information is needed at the time of reservation. The individual cancellation policy is seventy-two hours prior to date of arrival to avoid one night's room plus tax cancellation charge on the credit card provided. If your departure date changes, you must inform the hotel seventy-two hours in advance of departure to avoid a $100 fee. Please call (877) 572-6951 and reference your confirmation number. Pleaseobtain a cancellation number when cancelling a reservation. The firm deadline date to make a reservation is Wednesday, December 28, 2016. Reservation requests received after the deadline date will be subject to availability and prevailing rate.

If you would like to hold a special meeting during the Washington Seminar, please email Lisa Bonderson at <[email protected]> just as you have done in past years. She and I will work with the hotel on the assignment of those meeting rooms. To ensure that you get the space you need, please let us know of your meeting space needs by December 9, 2016.
Lisa and I will always be available to help you with any problems you might experience with the booking of your hotel reservations. We have worked closely with the hotel staff, and they are looking forward to working with each affiliate or group wanting to make reservations.
See you in Washington!
A Group in the Planning:
Come, one and all, blind and visually impaired Federationists who have cerebral palsy, to create an active, lively, independent, and vibrant group of blind and visually impaired Americans with cerebral palsy. The purpose of this group will be to provide support and advocacy to those of us who share two disabilities and must devise strategies to deal with each singly and together.

Meetings will be held by conference call on the first Sunday of the month (except in July when the meeting will be held on the fourth Sunday, and November when it will be held on the last Sunday) from 8:00 to 10:00 PM Eastern Time starting on Sunday, November 27, 2016. The conference phone number is (218) 339-3814. Enter pin 999999#.

We hope to hold a face-to-face meeting at the July 2017 national convention in Orlando, Florida. To assist in developing this group, contact Alexander Scott Kaiser by Braille, snail-mail, on Skype, by phone, or by email. His postal address is 52 Meadowbrook Road, Brick Township, New Jersey 08723-7850. His email address is <[email protected]>. He may be reached using Skype with the name <askaiser999999>, or by phone at (848) 205-0208.
Books by Jerry Whittle Now Available on Amazon Kindle:
Try out your new Amazon e-reader with the following books by Jerry Whittle, available on Amazon Kindle e-books for $2.99 each: Slingshot, a baseball novel; Standing with Better Angels, about a blind minister; Honeysuckle Time, a Civil War novel; Two Hearts Make a Bridge, a love story; A Little Ball of Anger, a young blind man’s struggle with a horrible decision; No Town to Dishonor Nature, a young man rebels against his father and leaves home; Growing Up in Clemson, a memoir of the Fifties; Clemson in the Sixties, seeking manhood in troubled times; and Santa Rides Again, a Christmas story for all ages.
In Brief
Notices and information in this section may be of interest to Monitor readers. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the information; we have edited only for space and clarity.
A Reminder about Ski for Light:
Don’t forget that the Application deadline for Ski for Light is this month. Visit <www.sfl.org> to apply for this year’s annual week of skiing, sharing, and learning in Colorado, February 5 through 12, 2017. Applications are now being accepted on a space available basis only.
NASA Summer Internships Available:
NASA is looking to increase the number of students with disabilities pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers through our regular internship programs. This is not a program for students with disabilities. We are trying to recruit more students with disabilities into our regular internship programs. Disability means both physical and mental disabilities. NASA has a 2 percent hiring goal for employment of people with disabilities, and internships are a good way to get experience. However, this is not an employment program. NASA jobs can be found at <http://www.usajobs.gov>. Students can apply for Summer 2017 internships on or about November 10, 2016. The deadline for submitting applications will be on or about March 1, 2017. We will begin extending offers to students in mid-to-late January and will continue until all positions are filled.

If you would like to subscribe to an announcement-only list about NASA internships for persons with disabilities, please send an email to <[email protected]> with 'subscribe' in the Subject field or by visiting the list page at <http://www.freelists.org/list/nasainterns>.

We encourage you to apply early because the best opportunities are likely to be filled quickly; plus your likelihood of being selected decreases the longer you wait. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see many internship opportunities in November. They start to appear in numbers in mid-to-late December. You can register for an account anytime at the One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI): NASA Internships, Fellowships, and Scholarships (NIFS) at <http://intern.nasa.gov/>. All material that you wish to have considered must be uploaded to the OSSI website. No documentation will be accepted that is emailed or snail mailed.

Summer 2017 internships run from early June through early August for undergraduate and graduate students. Internships run from late June through early August for high school students. All student interns get paid. The high school stipend for summer 2016 was $2,100 for a six-week internship. The summer 2016 undergraduate stipend for a ten-week internship was $6,000. The summer 2016 graduate stipend for a ten-week internship was $7,500. As an intern, you are responsible for your own housing. NASA internships for college and high school students are also offered during spring, fall, and year-long sessions through the OSSI website.

NASA has internships for high school students and for rising freshmen through doctoral students in STEM fields. A rising freshman is a high school student who has been accepted to an accredited institution of higher learning, i.e. a college or university, at the time of the internship.

Applicants must be US citizens, with a minimum GPA of 3.0 for college and 3.0 for high school; however, applicants must understand that the competition for internships is keen. High school students must be at least sixteen years old at the time the internship begins.

Internships are available at all NASA centers nationwide. It is important to remember that applying is a two-step process. The first step is to fill out everything in OSSI. The second step is to select and apply to specific internship opportunities. Students can submit a completed application whether they apply to an opportunity or not. However, applying to opportunities has the advantage of allowing applicants to be considered by mentors who work in disciplines of interest and at a particular center. Applicants may apply to as many as fifteen opportunities.

For example, an opportunity having to do with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will be at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland because SDO is located there. Not applying to an opportunity means that prospective interns will be hoping that a mentor happens to read their applications rather than directing their applications to mentors in fields and at centers of interest.

Students who are selected for summer internships will receive an offer letter by email sometime after mid-January 2017. They will then have five calendar days to either accept or reject the offer through their OSSI: NIFS account. The offer will automatically expire after five calendar days if no action is taken.

Please feel free to contact me for more information or help with applying:
 
Kenneth A. Silberman, Esq.
U.S. Supreme Court, Maryland, & Patent Bars
B.A., M.Eng., J.D.
NASA Engineer & Registered Patent Attorney
Education Office Code 160
NASA/GSFC Mailstop 160
Bldg. 28 Rm. N165
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Voice: (301) 286-9281
Fax: (301) 286-1655
Email: [email protected]
Office Location: Building 28 Room W151

NFB Pledge

I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to abide by its constitution.

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