2025 Great Gathering-In Transcript

This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings

(Gavel banging)

MARK RICCOBONO: The Washington Seminar Great Gathering-In of the National Federation of the Blind will come to order.
We the people, the first three words of the 52 word preamble to the United States Constitution establishes ownership in the structures and principles of our nation by the people, all the people, who live within our democracy.

In operation since 1789, the United States Constitution is the world's longest surviving written charter of government. It is notable that the laws and systems that have grown out of this charter have not always been informed by "all" of the people, and those systems have often been crafted from low expectations and misunderstanding about the capacity of certain groups of people.

We know this to be true because we, the blind of this nation, had limited access to the halls of power during the first 150 years of the development of our democracy.

We had not yet organized, we had not raised our collective voice, and the centuries of misunderstanding about us became the basis for action within the three branches of government.

However, in 1940 we, the blind, formed our own constitution and mobilized to influence the systems built upon the fundamental rights established under the United States Constitution.

From the beginning of the National Federation of the Blind, we have asserted that our nation's Constitution incorporates us on terms of equality, and we have joyfully accepted the responsibility of helping to shape our nation.

(Cheers and applause)

SPEAKER: We established our movement on the guiding principles that blind people have an inalienable right to independence, that blind people have equal capacity, and that only blind people themselves can legitimately speak for the blind community.

(Cheers and applause)

SPEAKER: From the beginning, our blind elected representatives have been dispatched to influence leaders in all branches of the government.

As we grew our movement, we made an annual commitment to show up to be heard in the first branch of government. We have faithfully fulfilled that commitment year after year through all forms of weather, government shutdowns, and even a worldwide pandemic we have consistently come to make our voice heard.

(Cheers and applause)

SPEAKER: It is not lost on us that the preamble of the United States Constitution is 52 words. Our movement has 52 state affiliates, and our collective Washington Seminar has been sustained for over 52 years.

(Cheers and applause)

In honor of this, we offer our own preamble to our annual Gathering-In Washington, D.C., which goes like this: "We, the blind of the United States, in order to shape a more perfect union, enhance justice, improve domestic tranquility, contribute to the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, have come to exercise our rights under the Constitution of this nation."

Yes, we come with hope for our tomorrow, we come with solutions to the problems we face, and we come with determination to be part of making our nation better.

(Cheers and applause)

SPEAKER: We know that there are challenges.

But we're standing strong.

We'll fight it altogether.

Working every day, we're gonna make it better.

We know we're not alone.

We are the National Federation of the Blind.

(Cheers and applause)

SPEAKER: As our country quickly approaches its 250th anniversary, we are overdue to make meaningful changes will allow our nation to take full advantage of the talents that blind people have to offer.

We seek a nation where we can participate fully and equally in all forms of digital commerce, education, government, and leisure.

We seek a nation that protects our ability to manage our own health, in our own homes, without extra expense, delay, or invasion of our privacy.

(Cheers and applause)

We seek a nation that supports our independence, incentivizes our advancement in the workplace, and affords us the opportunity to contribute more to the tax base of our nation.

We seek a nation that gives us the power to choose and purchase the tools we need to maximize our participation in all aspects of society.

We seek a nation that prioritizes nonvisual access in the deployment of future innovations in transportation in order to expand our freedom of movement.

We seek a nation that eliminates legalized unequal pay for people with disabilities.

(Cheers and applause)

We seek a nation that will never go back on its commitment to and enforcement of our rights to live and work on terms of equality in this nation.

We seek this future by bringing our authentic lived experience to the halls of power.

We have sacrificed our money, our time, and our energy to make this nation better.

In return, we only seek to eliminate the disadvantages placed in our way by the systems that have been established without us.

(Cheers and applause)

SPEAKER: We bring one voice, one heart, and one unwavering commitment to Washington, D.C.

This is why the blind will never again be left out of the decision making in our nation.

(Cheers and applause)

This is why we will not set aside the progress we have made.

This is why we will not allow misunderstanding about us to hold us down any longer.

We come together; we raise our voice together, in order that we, the blind, can fulfill our rightful place among "we the people."

(Cheers and applause)

This is the significance of the 2025 Washington Seminar of the National Federation of the Blind.

(Cheers and applause)

¶ (Music playing) ¶

¶ (Music playing) ¶ ¶ (Music playing) ¶

(Please stand by)

I want to thank Pam Allen.

I want to thank Sachin Pavithran.

(Cheers and applause)

>> We have a lot of affiliates here.

Thank you all for being here at this Washington Seminar.

You can tell by the energy.

Now, we want to promote that.  We'll do that appropriately.

Here to talk about some of the communications aspects on behalf of our group there is the newest editor of the Braille Monitor.

Here is Chris Danielsen.

(Cheers and applause)

CHRIS DANIELSEN: All right. All right.  My Federation family.  How are we doing this evening?

(Cheers and applause)

CHRIS DANIELSEN: I am Chris Danielsen.  As the president said, my new role is editor of the "Braille Monitor."  I've done one or two other things in the past.

(Laughter)

CHRIS DANIELSEN: I want to welcome all the people who are here in person and virtually. I want to tell you if you're in person or on social media or not, everyone can get involved in Washington Seminar.  How?  By sharing your story.

If you have any story related to the legislative priorities we've talked about that you will hear during the Great Gathering-In or the trainings or you want to share your experience from the previous 52 Washington Seminars -- you know the significance of the number 52 that President Riccobono talked in his opening remarking.  Please email [email protected].

It can't be any simpler than that or 244 -- you know the number.  The number is 410-659-9314.  You can leave a message.  Extension 2444.

Stories will be highlighted in communications such as -- oh, I don't know -- a little magazine you may be familiar with called "The Braille Monitor."

You can also share stories on social media.

Our hashtag on any platform that you choose to use is #NFBinDC.  And whether you use social media or other media, share your stories. Share the fact that you're glad to be here.  Share who you meet with.

But, please, do not share whether a member of Congress or senator chooses to agree to support any of our legislation.  The reason for that is we don't like to scoop our members of Congress.  Right?  We want them to be able to announce.

That gets them on the record.  We want them to announce what they're supporting. But do share you're here, who you're meeting with, share your pictures, and share why Washington Seminar is important. Now, there may or may not be reporters running around in D.C. You know, they tend to come here.  They may see us.

If you get contacted by media, please be sure to let us know.  Email communications at NFB.org.  That way we know there's media interest if there's higher level media that need to be done, we can help with it. Now, we talked about the 52 years of Washington Seminar, but, of course, our organization is over 80 years old.

And so we have 80 years of stories of speeches, of events like this and our conventions.  We've got all this content.  We have wonderful content.  We always need more content, but we've got plenty of wonderful content. I work with the wonderful Stephanie Cascone and all the other folks on the team.

(Cheers and applause)

CHRIS DANIELSEN: And we've explored new ways to get more access to the new and archived published audio. So we are excited to launch with you tonight a new communications channel. And my wonderful colleague also on the communications group, Will, is going to hit it.

>> Broadcasting from the Institute, you're with the National Federation of the Blind.

NFBRN is now broadcasting legendary speeches, stories, "Braille Monitor" articles, podcasts, and more.  That's 24 hours a day on your smart speakers by opening your radio streaming platforms.  It's like a box of Federation chocolates.  Dip into something good.
Enjoy.  NFBRN is here.

>> Always on!

(Cheers and applause)

CHRIS DANIELSEN: Yeah.  How about that?  NFBRN, the National Federation of the Blind Radio Network is available now.  It's on the reader stream. It's on NFB Newsline.  It's continuously being added to other radio platforms.

FLOOR: Yes!

CHRIS DANIELSEN: When you tune, in you will stumble upon NFB content.  You may know what exactly is playing, but it will be good, just like a box of chocolates.  It will be good Federation philosophy.

Now, if you're tuned in right now to the Great Gathering-In, especially through your Amazon device, whose name I won't mention because everybody's device will go crazy, NFB will pick back up after this or after any live event. (Laughing) (laughter)

CHRIS DANIELSEN: So after you get dinner after the Great Gathering-In, tune into the great content. We would love for you to tell us what you would like to hear on NFBRN. You can also leave a message at extension 2444.

That's my message to you this evening.  I look forward to receiving your stories, and we'll get them out there. And let's have a great 2025 NFB in D.C. Washington Seminar. Thank you.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: All right.  Thank you, Chris.

Just to make sure on the hashtag, that's no spaces, and you want to use the capitals there so that the screen reader reads it correctly. #NFBinDC.

You can hit number one and listen to the stream right from there for NFBRN. So please, give your ideas about what you want it to be.
We're going to take a moment to make a very special presentation here at our 2025 Washington Seminar.

We often incite people to come and speak at our Great Gathering-In.  We've had many great folks over the years, but it is much more rare that we invite someone to receive a special acknowledgment from us during the Great Gathering-In. Tonight is one of those rare and special occasions.

Tonight, we're going to celebrate a great friend of the organized Blind Movement from Texas.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: I had worked with him on a national level.  We really started to learn about his commitment to our cause around 2008.

(Phone ringing)

MARK RICCOBONO: It was some time ago.  It was that this was not a recognition for a moment in time but for a commitment over a great period of time.

On Wednesday, July 2, 2008, Pete Sessions served at the second March for Independence in Dallas, Texas.  Maybe some of you were there.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: I remember this pretty well because I had the work assignment of sticking close to the Congressman and to engaging him in discussion about our issues.

Now, if you're a little bit nervous about going to visit members of Congress tomorrow and talking to them in their office, try to keep up with an active Congressman who wants to talk to all sorts of people during a March for Independence.

(Laughter)

MARK RICCOBONO: But it was clear to me that Congressman Sessions was really interested in knowing what blind people had to say and what their feelings and opinions were.

Congressman Sessions and the NFB don't necessarily -- haven't necessarily always agreed on everything, but we've built a relationship, and it's been a relationship of trust and direct conversation.

And that's what we hope for with our elected officials.  Right?  He's demonstrated an openness to hear what we're saying and to ask the difficult questions that both helps us sharpen our arguments but to also think critically for what we're advocating for.

We can truly say that the Congressman has developed a deep respect for the lived experience of blind people, and, therefore, we've developed a deep respect for him.

Furthermore, we've truly found a champion that we can count on. Now, while we don't expect to always agree on everything in the future, we do expect to be able to continue to count on this gentleman as a champion in the United States Congress because he has demonstrated his willingness to be a champion for us.

I will give you the statistics real quick. Pete Sessions serves As Republican, Texas, 17th District . First served from 1997 to 2018. Now served from 2020.

On two committees: Financial Services Committee, Oversight Committee.
in the last Congress, the 118th, he distinguished himself in a special way.  He was the sponsor for the Blind Americans Return to Work Act.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: He was the lead co sponsor for the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act. And he was a sponsor for the Websites and Software Accessibility Act. And the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act . He's committed to getting that work done.

I would like to invite our friend Congressman Pete Sessions to come forward to receive our Distinguished Legislator Award.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: You hold that.  I'm going to read the text here. I've given the Congressman the plaque that has Braille and print on it.  We had to provide print on it so he could read it.  Providing accommodations.

Presented to Representative Pete Sessions For sponsoring the Blind Americans Return to Work Act and for cosponsoring other legislation to advance the lives of blind people.

In the 118th Congress, your leadership, hard work, and dedication for blind Americans were unparalleled. Together with love, hope, and determination, we transform dreams into reality.

February 3, 2025. Our Congressman, Pete Sessions.

PETE SESSIONS: Thank you.  I was in the overflow room for the last 20 minutes.  They're doing great also.  It's always great to come and be where the microphone is.

What an opportunity?

I had a chance to hear the advice that was given to you.  I completely agree with that device.  You should feel free to say that Pete Sessions knows the way.

(Cheers and applause)

PETE SESSIONS: And anybody who knows me here knows I'm in my 27th year.  Anybody on the Hill that's been here for more than a few years knows that the advocacy that I strongly hold for this issue and for the men and women, the people who not only live with these conditions but believe in the cause because there's a lot of us who believe in the cause who can necessarily see their way around, but that should give us sight to see how important it is to help other people.

Much of what has been talked about tonight, while it's all true, we need to keep making progress.

When Americans come into contact with perhaps a person in their family or perhaps a person necessarily like you will understand firsthand about the need and the want and the desire that this country has to do the right thing.

Years and years ago, I took part in a Dining In the Dark, something that you do every day.  It's an experience.  It's an experience that people like myself don't forget.  It's also an opportunity for us to understand why there's so much more that we can achieve in this endeavor.

You've heard it talked about and perhaps I struggle.  It's hard for me to remember when we're apart.  I remember when we're together, but years and years ago, there was a big conversation about Apple.  I sent a letter to the chairman of the board of Apple.

He didn't like that, but we got Apple to change what they were doing, and it worked.

(Cheers and applause)

PETE SESSIONS: And you can -- I spent 16 years at AT&T and recognize the men and women that I worked with, that I thought they were always open to hearing things, even things they might not have thought about or perhaps things that they needed to hear.
So that is why I contacted the chairman of the board of Apple.

But, suffice it to say that there's much that needs to be done, not only in the ability to allow you to work but also in technology and in bringing things that help you to help yourself and others.

This is where I think I would like to say -- and I could be wrong on this.  I think that a new era is dawning where we have people who view your ability to strongly work hard and be involved in things is a very positive experience for the United States of America.

Instead of people who do not understand things and simply have their hand out.  I've never seen one of you like that.  I've seen you where you are eager to learn about new technology, eager to learn about the advances that would be made, to learn about the eagerness of engaging people.  I think you know in here that I have a Down syndrome son.

Alex is 31 years old and a really fine, young man.  He cannot take care of himself.  He is a gift of God, and he was made that way.
I also have another person in the family that has retinitis pigmentosa.

By the way, my Chief of Staff is a neurosurgeon who joined our staff, and he's one of the kindest men that you could ever want to meet.  His name is Tom Graham.

(Cheers and applause)

PETE SESSIONS: Tom has advocacy when people literally are scraped off a road embankment because of a car wreck and brought in, and he tries to put them back together.

Here is my point.  With RP, it's about -- it can be hundreds of mutations, hundreds of mutations

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yep!

PETE SESSIONS: With an FDA trial, it would cost a hundred times a billion, literally.  If it were just a million, we could get it done.  It is an intricate process to figure out the things which need to be done, but they are well on the road.

So I have stayed after National Eye Institute, and I have been after a good number of people to please make sure that we continue to not only fund research but to find answers.

And the answers will be available to all of us, but they have to get done.

In the meantime, we come to Congress.

I will tell you that we will pass things this year which were not available to us last year. I will tell you that things -- because of some competitive nature that I'm going to bring to bear, and it will allow us to not only talk about these issues but the fairness issues that are related to them.

So I will accept this award.  I will tell you that I get (indiscernible) in Texas, and I will keep my faith to that.  I would want for you to know how sincere you are in approaching us to work with you.

And that's what every member of Congress needs to know, that it's a sincere attempt by each of you to look for the answers. You're not going to sit back, but you have consistently come from the same direction.

So this year, we're going to get done perhaps these four pieces of legislation.  We're going to get mine done.

(Laughter)

(Cheers and applause)

PETE SESSIONS: And the best argument I've got is too many people don't want to go to work.  You're the reverse. And I think there's something to be said for that.

And so on behalf of myself, my family, my office, I will tell you this.  Please always feel free to tell any member of Congress that Pete Sessions is with us, and we would like to have you too.

(Cheers and applause)

PETE SESSIONS: And if you do that, we can make it.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: All right.  Well, Congressman, thank you for being with us.  We very much appreciate that. And we look forward to getting something done!

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: We have a number of program announcements to get to.

So to start that off, I would like to introduce our Executive Director for Blindness Initiatives.

Here is Anil Lewis.

(Cheers and applause)

ANIL LEWIS: One more time for Congressman Sessions.  God bless him.

(Cheers and applause)

ANIL LEWIS: I am honored to be here.  I was contemplating how I would bring this to you this evening considering some of the ways people are feeling in this current climate.  I want everybody to just stay focused and stay strong. So I will offer it to you this way.

In this space, we come together on one characteristic, blindness.

In this space, all the other stuff doesn't matter.

(Cheers and applause)

AUDIENCE: Yeah!

AUDIENCE: All right.

ANIL LEWIS: We know, through our history, that it's a collective movement that one characteristic of blindness makes us powerful.

FLOOR: Yes!

ANIL LEWIS: I love quoting power concedes nothing without a demand.

Well, that's spoken from the perspective of those who are powerless. We have power.  Our perspective is power works with the shared relationship in a way that transforms the world.  That's what we're doing, transforming the world.

(Applause)

ANIL LEWIS: And we do that through collectively working shoulder to shoulder. But I, as well as you, know it's the heart of the Federation that really gives us our true power.

So I say shoulder to shoulder, and you say heart to heart.

Shoulder to shoulder.

AUDIENCE: Heart to heart.

ANIL LEWIS: Doesn't that feel good?  Isn't that powerful?

So we do that in a way that shares with blind people everywhere, through the programs we develop.  I will talk about a few of them briefly. We all know our BELL program. We start equipping them with the fundamental tools of blindness that will make their competitive with their sighted peers, Braille, access technology, the whole perspective that it's okay to be blind is instilled in them.

Then we take it one step further in order to make our students competitive.  We recognize that STEM creates salaries that pay good well. We want good salaries. I love the Congressman said we want to go to work.  Absolutely. And we want good jobs.

(Applause)

ANIL LEWIS: I love that as we develop new curriculum so blind people can take advantage of these educational resources and get those good jobs that we're developing tools that not only help blind people to the educational environment but multimodal tools that help everyone benefit from STEM education.  We're transforming the world.

Why do you guys go to school?

AUDIENCE: To learn something!

ANIL LEWIS: I went to school to get credentials to earn a job to get paid.  I wanted to get paid. We work with students, yeah, to learn and find out what they want to do and from careers they choose, not what society thinks are blind jobs.

(Cheers and applause)

ANIL LEWIS: We're thank.  For our collaborative partners.  We're going to continue to build a network of strong, blind youth that are pursuing their dreams.

Again, pursuing jobs they want, not the ones that society thinks we can have.

What kind of jobs can blind people do?

AUDIENCE: Anything!

ANIL LEWIS: Everything listed on Monster, Indeed, even the old fashioned want ads.  Blind people can do them. That's where our blind work series shows society that blind people are doing all types of jobs.

And we do it in a way that continues to instill a knowledge and understanding around blindness that wouldn't otherwise happen without the National Federation of the Blind.

We're also doing a good job of continuing to build our leadership.  We have leaders with the Kenneth Jernigan group here.  They're actively engaging in the organization in a way that shows that they believe in our destiny and our future.

I think that it's also important to understand that all these things we can do to change the lives of blind people, but we won't create the systemic change we want until we change every person that's responsible for providing services and support to blind people.
Starting first with our Teachers of Tomorrow project.

How do you set expectations for a blind child if you have not seen model behave like from the people in this room?  This is going to be transformative for them and through that effort, we're transforming the world, working shoulder to shoulder.

AUDIENCE: Heart to heart.

ANIL LEWIS: Absolutely.  We want to continue the systemic change.  We've been trying to find a way once they get out of education and get into the hands of the vocational rehabilitation services.

Again, we're transforming the world, creating systemic change, working shoulder to shoulder.

AUDIENCE: Heart to heart.

ANIL LEWIS: We're stronger and knowledgeable, and we need to share that knowledge with others.  That is our true power.  Our lived experience is knowledge that's not in textbooks. We create forms, one specifically, where we bring individuals into an environment we own, and we augment their knowledge with ours.

The JTB Law Symposium, they think they know what they're doing, but then we show them how much better they can be.  That's going to take place from March 20th to 21st.

Again, working shoulder to shoulder.

AUDIENCE: Heart to heart.

ANIL LEWIS: And we share that knowledge in a way that transforms the world. So let's share the knowledge and work shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart.

AUDIENCE: Heart to heart.

ANIL LEWIS: And build the National Federation of the Blind.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: All right. Okay.  We have a lot of logistics that go into the Washington Seminar operation, and we have a core team that works on that.  They operate our headquarters room.  Some of us know it as the Mercury Room.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: Won't call it anything else. But the hotel had changed the sign on it.

(Laughter)

FLOOR: We'll just make our own.

MARK RICCOBONO: We'll do that next year, make our own sign. But if you're looking at it in the hotel, it's room (indiscernible) 75.
Because we've made efficiencies and changed things around, we've been able to reduce the team working in the Mercury Room. So we can put more people on the Hill.

Our lead person has been at it for many years and is not new to the operation.  She has a team of people who have been part of the operation for a while.

So here to talk to us about the logistics for our Washington Seminar is the fabulous, from Virginia, Sandy Halverson.

(Cheers and applause)

SANDY HALVERSON: These tall people.  There's something wrong with them.  I'm sure people hear about 275, some of them are probably grumbling because the agenda said we were locking the doors at 4:30.  Someone called and said, I just want to pick packets up.  You have to do it at 8:00 tomorrow.  Sorry.  The doors are closed.

But, on a serious kind of note, one of the things we agree to when we join the organization, National Federation of the Blind, which has meant more to us than any of us could ever say, a part of our pledge is, I pledge to support the programs of the National Federation of the Blind.

And I left out "and policies" on purpose.

But the programs are what we're doing tonight.

This meeting room costs money.  Other things that we do cost money.

So we have a wonderful opportunity to help support the work that we do in a very meaningful way.

So as our bucket brigade passers are passing among you -- and I know someone wants to hit the head table -- let me get my cash first, now that I said that.

(Laughter)

SANDY HALVERSON: But if you don't have cash, you're not off the hook because we have an opportunity for you to indicate to our bucket passers that you would like a sheet that has a QR Code that will take you directly to our donate page. I think that's pretty cool.

However, I don't know what to do with QR Codes.  That's why I carry cash.

(Laughter)

SANDY HALVERSON: Anyway, I also hope that people who are with us on Zoom will

>> Interrupt her!

>> I will take your money.

SANDY HALVERSON: Brie stole my money.  I don't know what I'm going to do with her. I hope the people on Zoom, if you can, donate to us by going to our website, finding the page.  You can send a check.  Yay, checks.  I know a lot of people in this room don't like those either, but some of us do.

And what really matters is that every donation that's made is recognized.

You can also call our national office.  A whole bunch of us recited the number a little bit ago.

But you can call and get a help using a credit card, if that's what you need to do to get it done. So let's talk about ours.

Tomorrow morning, at 8:00 -- I promise you at 8:00, the door will be open.  If you show up a little bit early, it might even be open.  Come on in.  We're glad to help you.

You will find the friendliest three of us that you will know.

(Laughter)

SANDY HALVERSON: We will be open until 4:30.  That's because of the reception that I think is probably going to be talked about.
And then on Wednesday, we're open from 8:00 to 4:30.  Thursday, we're open from 8:00 to 11:00.

So if you thought you were going to come and get something -- oh, gosh, my cane broke at 11:15, sorry, can't help you. If your cane breaks and it makes sense to replace it -- I can tell you the elevator snapped by cane right in half.

I now have a new cane.  Thank you very much.

You can come to 275.

However, no cash, no cane.  It won't do you any good to come in and say, I'm really sorry.  I'm on my way to the airport, and I can only do a credit card.

Well, take that busted cane you've got and good luck to you!

(Laughter)

SANDY HALVERSON: So do we have folding canes?  No.

Somebody asked if we had slates and stylus?

No.

But you can call and our folks will be glad to help you with that.

The cane supplies we have are for the very situation I was in -- I have to tell you it's weird being on the first floor, in the main lobby, without a cane in my hand.

With regard to your visits on the Hill, we have members on the team who will enter the data that you give for each of those office visits.  You can tell us what they are.  We'll even let you sit down while you give your report.

(Laughter)

SANDY HALVERSON: For those who have never walked on the Hill, you will never be so grateful to have a chair to sit in.

(Laughter)

SANDY HALVERSON: If you lost something, check in 275.  We may have it.  We may not. If you found something that was left in a meeting room, maybe tonight, maybe after the auctions, maybe somebody bought something and left it under a chair -- anyway, if you have something you believe belongs to somebody else, please bring it to 275.

I forgot to ask the question to the legislative folks.  Are we collecting business cards?

>> Yes.

SANDY HALVERSON: Yes.

Okay.  When you come to turn in your reports, you can drop off business cards.

I do believe, Mr. President, that's all I have.

I hope to get things that are lost so we can get them to their owners.

The number to call for reports is, I believe, on our agenda.

I'm not going to get into all of that because I'm sure our legislative team has taken care of that.

If there are questions, I'm in 275 at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Thank you very much.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: In honor of the great team that works on the logistics for this gathering, our Washington, D.C. affiliate would like you to know that tomorrow they will be offering free Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

You can get sugared up to go on the Hill.  It's while supplies last.

You remember we had a Rideshare Rally in October.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: This was the National Federation of the Blind rideshare rally.

We had people taking credit for it by calling it the Rideshare Rally.

It was organized by the National Federation of the Blind.

I'm pleased to report that last week, due to our advocacy work, Uber released a new voluntary system that allows you to note within the app of your choosing that you are using a guide dog.

Now, if you do that, it will only alert the driver that you have a guide dog after the ride has been matched.

And if the driver decides, oh, no way, and tries to cancel it, it will give an alert that says, You do recognize that by doing that, you're violating our policies.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: So you should try it out.  This is a great success.  We've been urging this for some time now.  You don't have to volunteer the information.

You can use the old method we've been using.

(Laughter)

MARK RICCOBONO: It's up to you.  You don't have to use it.  Keep in mind you don't have to use it, and they're still obligated to take you and your guide dog.

But if you do use it, it creates a very clear line of documentation.  I'm told it will make it very easy for you to file a complaint.

So you may want to think about it.

I know that our leaders in the National Association of guide dog Users says it works.

So congratulations to us on another success.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: Now, Sandy has urged you to work on contributions to offset the costs.  There are real costs, and we have a lot of real work to do.

You've also heard me say that our organization is facing pretty difficult financial circumstances.

We're working through that, but this is my appeal for you to do what you can to help bring new sources of income into our organization.

And the best way you can do that is by asking someone to financially support the National Federation of the Blind.

Our work is not any less important than it's ever been, and we have a lot of work to do.

And we need dollars to make that happen.

We're also thinking about the future.  Right?  Even as we try to be very careful with the dollars we have, we're thinking about the future.  We remain committed to envisioning, designing, and building the future Museum of the Blind Peoples Movement.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: Now, this is a bold idea that's going to take a lot of resources.  At this Washington Seminar, we've been gathering some impressions from members about museums and accessibility in museums and what would we want to imagine in a Museum of the Blind Peoples Movement?

These are things we should be talking about at our chapter meetings, at affiliate conventions because it will be up to the collective wisdom of blind people to imagine how we want to portray the movement that we've built and put together and how we want to figure out new ways to communicate that to educate the general public about our capacity.

And you may have noticed the negative messages about us, as individuals with disabilities haven't stopped.

But we have a plan to counteract that, and that is the Museum of the Blind Peoples Movement.

If you think you can help, if you know people with very, very, very deep pockets that you're willing to ask to support this multi million dollar campaign, I would ask you to reach out to Alison Tyler, who is helping to manage this project, at our national office. Her email address is [email protected] or you can reach her at our national office.

This is our future looking the project.  We're not going to have it tomorrow or next year.  It's a number of years into the future, but we know that we're successful because we plan for the future.

And we're building that future now.

Right this year, in this Congress, we're going to make history that we're going to catalog and celebrate in the Blind Peoples Movement.

Please give your ideas.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: Now, there are other areas we're investing in as well, and technology, you may have noticed, is everywhere.

FLOOR: Yes, everywhere!

MARK RICCOBONO: Now, we made efforts by putting together the international Braille Information and Technology Center.
(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: We thought 35 is a good number.

So we really should examine closely and refresh and re engage our efforts on accessible technology, what it is, what our role is, especially as we have these huge technology companies that are playing in all sorts of new spaces that we would have never imagined.

I mean, one year ago, sitting here, nobody was wearing smart Glasses.

Clap if you're wearing Meta

Glasses right now.

I want to get a really wide shot.  Sit in the back.

(Laughter)

MARK RICCOBONO: Only if we were getting a commission on those sales.  Right?

So as part of that, we have been making some changes and plans in our technology effort.

Really, it's reinvesting in our efforts.

As part of that, I've invited a gentleman to come and help us lead that effort.

So I would like to introduce him at his first in person national event as our Executive Director for accessibility excellence.

Here is Jonathan Mosen!

(Cheers and applause)

JONATHAN MOSEN: Thank you, President Riccobono and fellow Federationists.

Wow.  That does feel good.

Through the creation of an Executive Director of Accessibility Excellence role, President Riccobono has said we're ramping up our technology efforts.

We're talking about big tech, including Apple, Amazon, Google, and some of the major AI companies that are doing this cutting edge work at the moment.

Our relationship with Microsoft remains constructive, and we have got Meta to come to the table.

(Cheers and applause)

JONATHAN MOSEN: I want to spend some time on Meta because members have expressed justifiable erosion of Facebook's erosion of accessibility.  I feel it too.

Because of the issues with the main Facebook desktop sites that remains unresolved, many blind users of desktop platforms have felt more uncomfortable with that site and, therefore, have been using the Facebook mobile basic site.

Now, this site contained old code, and, according to Meta, it posed a security risk.

So they switched it off, leaving many blind people struggling for access to Facebook just before the holidays.

Thanks to the advocacy of the National Federation of the Blind, Facebook has now provided a way for desktop users to get to the new mobile experience, similar to the one used by the iPhone and Android apps.

Now, we're glad that the train has left the station, but we are far from at our ultimate destination.  This is not a perfect solution, but it is a pragmatic, temporary workaround to give those excluded users some degree of access back while the work is ongoing.

They are also rolling out several fixes to the iOS app.

(Cheers and applause)

JONATHAN MOSEN: We're also having input into how Meta might make their Ray Bans Smart Glasses an even better tool for blind people.

(Applause)

JONATHAN MOSEN: And now I'm here to ask for your help.  The more information we have on issues you're experiencing, the better equipped we are to provide these companies with useful data.

If you are experiencing an accessibility issue with technology, please let us know.  Visit NFB.org/CENA.  On that page, you will find a link for the Accessibility Self Advocacy Tool Kit and tracking for nonaccessible visibility.

Tell us about any issues you're experiencing via that tracking form.

This is to assist you with your reporting accessibility issues to any company.

We want you to have the tools you need to report an accessibility problem, even if you don't consider yourself a techie.  Techie or not, we all just want the stuff to work.

(Cheers and applause)

JONATHAN MOSEN: Finally, as well as advocate, we inform.  Our international Braille and Technology Center is the world's most (indiscernible) to live the life we want.

Without fear or failure, we experience technology and call it as we see it.

We'll continue to roll out innovative ways of communicating that knowledge to you, including our boutiques and webinars. One new tool that our technology team will be using is our podcast "Access On."

(Cheers and applause)

JONATHAN MOSEN: We feature news about our advocacy efforts and moves with movers and shakers.

"Access On" is one way to do what the Federation does best, provide ways for blind people to help other blind people.

I can predict something with absolute certainty.

Blind people will not be passive about your destinies.  The blind will shape the products we use, and, as a result, tomorrow will be better than today.

(Cheers and applause)

JONATHAN MOSEN: I know this.  I know this because we are the National Federation of the Blind, and that's what we do.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: All right.  Thank you, Jonathan. All right.  We have a lot of work to do still.  Hold on.  Don't go anywhere.
For a very quick announcement, I would like to introduce the Second Vice President for the National Federation of the Blind.  Here's Everette Bacon.

EVERETTE BACON: Notice I didn't get the love that Jonathan did. That's okay.  I'll work for it.

I'm here to talk about an important award that we honor at our convention every year.  Innovators that are a positive force for blind people, individuals and organizations.  We call it the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award, in honor of Dr.
Jacob Bolotin, the first ever blind doctor.

(Cheers and applause)

EVERETTE BACON: So we're looking for you to nominate people for these individuals in organizations that exist out there that are changing negative perceptions and breaking down barriers and are positively changing what it means to be blind.
So please go to NFB.org.  You can do /Bolotin or Google Bolotin.  It will come right up.  I just tried it a second ago.  It will take you right to the page.

What is really cool is we've changed the application process this year.  We heard a lot of feedback that it wasn't clear which one is the nomination, application, recommendation letter.

You will notice now there's a toggle button that takes you directly to the nominations side or the recommendation letter side. And you're going to love it.  It's going to work really great now.

So go out there and show us who the innovators are!

Thank you.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: Let's hear it for our Chairman Everette Bacon. I told him we needed to move fast.

Anil Lewis says would the members of the NFB of Georgia please meet at the front of the room when we adjourn. I assume it's this room.  If you're in the other room, don't meet at the front of that room.  Come to this room.  I hope that's clear.

If you're in Ohio, just speaking now to members in Ohio, we need members in Ohio who use Exact Care Pharmacy.  It's an online pharmacy.  If you're a member and use Exact Care Pharmacy and you're willing to write a declaration in our case seeking accessible pharmacy services, please let us know by emailing [email protected].  We're trying to get access, and Ohio is the leading place for this.

If you know other blind people, encourage them, but we need this urgently.

One more announcement before I get our advocacy and policy team up here.

Who is going to be in New Orleans July 8 to 13?

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: This of course is our national convention.  It's going to be a great convention.  By the way, you notice the United States Access Board is here.  The chairman told me there will be a United States Access Board town hall at the convention.
We announced that previously. NFB.org/convention is where you can get all the information.  You're going to hear this 100 times over the next few months.

If you've never been to the convention, you can find the first timers information.

Hotel reservations are open.

Okay.  I'm going to move to our advocacy group.  They have a lot of stuff to tell you.

Let me just say that we decided in the last week that we should revise our strategy knowing that this enthusiastic team of great advocates would be on the Hill.

The Federation has many -- it's been said many, many times that the F is for flexible.

(Laughter)

MARK RICCOBONO: You know, our priority is not simply to come to Washington, D.C. and spout facts and figures.  We're looking to get real stuff done, as Congressman Sessions said.  We want to get bills passed.

And we also want to take advantage of the opportunities with where the leadership and the nation is.

And we want to make sure that all of you are well informed about what's happening.

In the last couple of weeks, there's been a lot of speculation, especially about meaningful programs for blind people.

And we want to make sure that we can identify those members of Congress that are with us and those that are not with us.  We know how to count votes, right?

(Laughter)

MARK RICCOBONO: And if we can find our friends, we can build up our friends to help us get those votes.
And so John Paré and the team is going to talk more about this.  They've been doing a tremendous amount of work.  I would say it's a small but mighty team.  If you have not gotten to know them, you should.

But you will know them really well after the next three days.

So here is our Executive Director for Advocacy and Policy, John Paré.

(Cheers and applause)

JOHN PARÉ: All right.  Thank you, President Riccobono.

Let's start talking more about this flexibility and the fact that we have a new fact sheet that we did training at 2:00 today.  If you missed that, I'm going to do a little bit of repetition for that so you will understand.

We're urging you, in all of our meetings, to bring up the following fact sheet that will be on the front left part of your folder.  It's the very first thing.

It's Laws That the Blind Depend On.

We want to protect these laws and make sure Congress doesn't do anything to undermine the Rehabilitation Act that's been in effect for 52 years, since 1973.  It provides critical civil rights protection in 501, 503, 504 and so forth.  You don't have to have it memorized, but it's in the packet.  It's in Braille, in case you want to study up on it a little bit.

It's the civil rights protection and, of course, it creates the rehabilitation program.  That's essential.  That's number one.  We need to protect it.

Number two, the Americans with Disabilities Act, we need to protect that.  That's with Title I and employment protection; Title II with protection for state and local government, and protection in accommodation.

The next is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  Many had IEPs.  That bill is what created the whole IEP process and the Braille presumption that's essential.  That's going back to the predecessor, back 1965.

That's 50 years.

So the first bill has been in place for 52 years.  ADA, 35 years.  This other one, 50 years.  That's 137 years of bills that we must protect.

Next would be -- that's going to be the front side of this one piece of paper.

Those three bills with the bullets I just outlined.

Now we have the funding that must be protected.

The funding the blind depend on.

The seven we're highlighting are the following.

The first with the IDEA.  It's never been fully funded, but the federal government gives a lot of money to states to execute the kind of things we do in terms of IEPs and Braille presumption. It's critical that funding is continued.

Second would be the Rehabilitation Act. 79% of the money for rehabilitation comes from the federal government.  If we don't have that, we won't be able to get the vocational rehabilitation we need to get jobs.

There's some terminology that you can use that would be particularly friendly or might be receptive to Republicans. I like to say -- I'm building on what Anil said with education.  The education and vocational rehabilitation, it's spend a little, save a lot.  By spending a little bit of money to help make sure that blind people get a good education, that we get good vocational rehabilitation, it helps ensure that we can work.

If you were to go to one of our training centers for nine months, you then might have a lifetime of employment.  This is a good investment for the federal government.

(Cheers and applause)

JOHN PARÉ:  This is the kind of language you should use.  Since the Republicans are in the majority in both the House and the Senate, we want to tell them.

It will work well with the various people that you may be meeting with.

This is important all over the country, but this goes hand in hand with the Library For the Blind.  It's to also make sure it gets fully funded.  Make sure the library gets funded so we can get the books we need.  We can make sure they're shipped to us.

Braille and audio, specialized formatted.  This is especially important in rural areas where people are far from where the material needs to be. Next would be the funding for the older blind program.  People may say, well, over 55, you know, this is not vocational rehabilitation. Maybe you're not trying to get a job.  I would argue that the first thing we need to do if you're over 55 and getting independent living is to help raise your expectations.

I was a little younger than 55, but when I lost my eyesight, I lost my job, and I never thought I would work again.  When I met the National Federation of the Blind and realized I had made a huge mistake and got my expectations raised, I actually got back to working, and I've been working for the last 20 years.

(Cheers and applause)

JOHN PARÉ:  Number six is the advocacy program and number seven the Medicaid.  It's a lot less expensive if people can stay in their home.  It's what we prefer.  It's less expensive than going into an institution.

Hopefully people will recognize this.

We want you to present this fact sheet first.  Insert this in front of everything you're planning to say.  Well, let's rephrase that slightly.  The first thing you should do is when you get into a meeting, tell everyone about the National Federation of the Blind.

Introduce yourself.  Introduce the NFB.  Establish your credibility.  In many cases, you've already been doing this year after year, and you have that, but still repeat that. Then talk about the laws the blind depend on, the funding the blind depend on.

I think in many cases you will be able to cover that in a couple of minutes.  If a member of Congress really engages you on that, fine.  You should stay on that. Try to cover it until they stop asking questions.  Then move on to our issues.

If this causes you to not have time to cover all of the issues, so be it.  We have to first protect what we have before we try to get the other things as important as the other things are. All right.  Everybody good with that?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

JOHN PARÉ: All right.  I want to address this.  It's important to tailor your message.  A Republican office may use more conservative technology.

 

In talking to a democratic office, you may use more progressive terminology.  Some of the wording example is -- the Republicans, more conservative folks, they may be more worried about small business, if the bills will hurt small business.

The devices, there's a medical hardship -- there's examples to help protect small business.

On innovation, Justin will come up and talk a little bit about some of the things in the medical device that are included to make sure we're not hindering medical device innovation.

Government efficiency that's a good term.  That's in the news all the time, government and workforce efficiency. So are the things with the Blind Americans Return to Work Act.  It aligns to improve government efficiency.

Line those out and use government efficiency as part of your terminology.

Also, workforce efficiency. The dynamic score, I want to make sure to talk about terminology. Members of Congress may say to you, Have you scored the bill?

That means has somebody figured out how much the bill is going to cost the federal government.  None of the three issues have been scored.

That would be the Congressional Budget Office.  It's the joint committee on Taxation.

None of our bills have been scored.

So you can say no, but you can say that we know if we did a dynamic score -- which takes into account the cost of government but possibly the benefit of people putting more into the government coffers.

Our Blind Americans Return to Work Act is highly likely to cause us to work and start the phase off of SSDI so we're collecting less and paying in more.

We feel comfortable if there was a dynamic score done for the Blind Americans Return to Work Act, we think the bill would probably pay for itself.  That's the kind of thing that's a good investment, a good return on investment.  It's good government efficiency.  It's good workforce efficiency.

This kind of terminology should work well. Also, the Blind Americans Return to Work Act has a sunset.  This means it doesn't permanently grow government.  Just tell them that part.

(Laughter)

JOHN PARÉ:  Between you and me, I think we're going to be able to show that it's so beneficial that we'll be able to get it extended. That won't be a problem.

So we plan to keep it going, but the sunset goes over well with a lot of members of Congress.

So those are things you can think about and you will hear more about things in a little bit.

Our three issues are the Websites and Software Accessibility Act, the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act, and the Blind Americans Return to Work Act.

When I think about the 118th Congress and as we transition now to the 119th Congress, I think about John Paul Jones and the story about him.  On September 23rd, 1779, John Paul Jones was engaged in a vicious fight with the British, and his ship, the Bonhomme Richard, was severely damaged.

And they signaled to him and asked him if he would like to surrender.

As you probably know, he said, Surrender?  I have not yet begun to fight.

We demand that websites are accessible.  We demand that medical devices are accessible.  We demand that we are able to work and move up the ladder without financial penalty.  We will not give up.

We will not relent.  And just like John Paul Jones, we have just begun to fight.

(Cheers and applause)

JOHN PARÉ: All right.  We're going to hear more about the bills, but there's quite a bit of logistics.  Sandy did a great job talking about it.
Here is Kyle Walls to talk about the other half.

Kyle, over to you.

(Cheers and applause)

KYLE WALLS: All right.  Thank you, John. So for those of you who were here last year, you might remember that I tried to make a mundane report about logistics a little more memorable.

FLOOR: You did!

KYLE WALLS: For those of you who were not here, I will give you a version of it. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

(Laughter)

KYLE WALLS: Now that we're here a year later, it's time to move on. Let me talk about the request to improve the quality of life for the blind. The first is room 275.  That's where you will pick up two very important times for this week.  Your Hill appointment packets and the individual members of Congress sheets.

For the Washington Seminar veterans, you know what both of these are.  And there's a good chance you probably picked them up already.
But for the rookies, the Hill appointment packets are what you will hand out to each member of Congress or their staff.
When you open each packet, on the left side, as John mentioned, we just put in the new fact sheet, and we have put in the three legislative priorities.

On the right side are the newsletters for the National Federation of the Blind as well as sheets that detail some of the brief legislative concerns and the flyer for our scholarship program.

We've assembled enough for you to hand out one to each member of Congress. If you were not able to schedule an appointment, let them know that you're stopping by to drop them off.

We encourage you not to bring any packets back to room 275.

(Laughter)

KYLE WALLS: There's information that you need to know about each member of Congress.  Each sheet has the name of the member and their district and a notes section that details what the member has sponsored or co sponsored and a list of any relevant committees tour legislative priorities.

Each affiliate will receive two sets of these member information sheets, in print and Braille. Sandy talked a little bit about room 275 in the hours earlier, but I do want to ask that we give a quick round of applause to Sandy and John Halverson, to Brooks and Judy.

(Cheers and applause)

KYLE WALLS: All right. Now that you've got your information, it's time to actually get ready for your meeting.

One of the most important things you can do in that regard is enter the date, time, and information into the portal.  Who is leading on the Federation side and the staff contact in the member's office.

There are several meetings that have come in.  In Utah, I saw the one that came in at 4:50, right before this meeting started.  Kudos to that one.

If you have not entered this information into the portal, please do so as soon as you can. But we're not quite done with the portal just yet.
Now comes the most important part.

Once you've had your meeting, it's time to enter the rating into the portal. These ratings create a database for us in government affairs to use that lets us know how all 535 members of Congress feel about our legislative priorities.  The ratings for each issue are yes, no, undecided, or not discussed.

Let's talk about those for a bit.

Answer yes if you got a firm yes on the issue from the member of Congress or their staff.

Answer no if you got a firm no.

Answer undecided if their response was not definitive one way or the other.

And answer not discussed if you got to talking too much about the fact sheet or another issue in detail and you were just not able to get to an issue.

Additionally, there's a space below each right in the portal for comments.  We are strongly encouraging you to pause in this space, as it can provide some extra context to the answers that you give.

We would especially like for you to use the space to write the name of staffers that you spoke with. For the new fact sheet about the laws in funding that we're trying to protect, we don't have a space for that in there.  We were not able to update the portal in time to get the fourth one in there, but, please, email that information about how the member feels about the new fact sheet, to Lindsay Walsh at NFB.org.  [email protected].

You can send an email to hill appointments at NFB.org. And the second is by calling room 275 at (410) 659 9314.  You may recognize that as our main number. And then use extension 2750. Now that we've talked about your meeting, let's discuss the reception tomorrow night.

This year, it will be in the Kennedy room, SR325.

It will be from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., and there will be sitting with round tables.

We're expecting several members of Congress to speak.  Join us for a fun and informative evening.

The last item I would like to discuss is our legislative debrief, which will be in this room on Wednesday evening from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. This will be the forum for you to know what kind of difficult questions or feedback you're receiving from your members of Congress or their staff.

That's all I have.  I will send it back to John.

Thank you.

(Cheers and applause)

JOHN PARÉ: All right.  Thanks, Kyle. I will talk a little bit about the website bill.  Then we'll go on to the other two bills. Keep rolling.

All right.

So a little bit.  You might mention, as you bring up the Websites and Software Accessibility Act, if you need to set the stage with some background, you would say that the Pew Research Center has determined that 90% of Americans use the web every day.  They're 44 million people in the United States with disabilities.  8.117 million of which are blind or have serious difficulty seeing.

I only use that last phrase because that's what the U.S. Census Bureau uses.

These are people who have self selected.  The question is: Are you blind or do you have a serious difficulty seeing, even with glasses.

There were other kinds of people who probably can't use a website without some sort of accessibility software, and that's 8.177 million people.

The problem is that most websites have some -- many, I would say many, websites have some accessible barrier. One of the important parts of the meeting is for you to tell a story that illustrates this.  You need to tell a heartfelt story about how you experience inaccessibility and get them to understand that this is a problem.

It's more important to talk about -- it's interesting.  It's more important to talk about the problem than the solution.  We can do lots of follow up.  They will talk to us more about the solution if you can convince them that there's a problem that needs to be solved through federal legislation.

That's your job.  Convince them that there's problem that needs federal legislation.

All three of our issues do.  It's part of your story that will help to convince them that that's true.

All right.

Another thing that once in a while comes up is they don't necessarily -- members of Congress -- understand some of our terminology about making a website accessible.  Partly because they don't understand how you can possibly make a website that a blind person can use.
If you think there's time -- this is up to you to decide which points you want to pick and choose from.  I'm giving you a little bit of a menu for what you think would work well in your meeting to give them a quick review about this.

I would say, first of all that blind people can touch type.  They can learn to touch type just like others. So there's no problem using the keyboard.

So really, what we're down to is problems using the screen and the mouse.

As far as the screen question, get software, usually referred to as screen reader software. There's a popular one called JAWS that's in the windows environment.  It reads to us what is on the screen. So that's not a problem. The last would be the mouse.  Well, how can you use the mouse when you can't see it on the screen?

Well, then you just say, well, there's shortcuts.  You know how you have ctrl A for select all, ctrl C for copy, ctrl V for paste.  Most people know that.  You remind them of that.

Imagine if there was a shortcut for everything you do with the mouse so you never needed to use the mouse.  All you do is use the keyboard and listen to the screen.  That's what JAWS does.  That's what makes computers accessible to blind people.

There's a similar software with similar nameless or different names in the Apple environment, in the Google environment.  I just mentioned the one in the windows environment.

So just give them one example.  Don't overdue the examples.

All right.  Then if they ask about making websites accessible, a lot of times you will be throwing around WCAG 2.2, AA.  You might have to give them some cite background on the terminology.

Go all the way back.  The World Wide Web Consortium, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines were first done in 1999.  That's a long time ago.

And they've been updated and revised since.  Those are the things that indicate what needs to be done to make a website so that the website software works and interfaces with the accessibility software.  That's been out for a very long time.  It's not new.

Companies can do it.  It's just that sometimes they don't. That's where our bill comes in.  Our bill would do several things.  I'm going to use some of that terminology.  Our bill would create a strong statutory definition of accessibility.

That's important because companies say, you know, I don't always know how to hit the mark.  I want to make my website accessible, but how do I know when it is?

Right now, the law doesn't specifically say that it's WCAG 2.2 AA.

It doesn't say what a definition of accessibility is.

The ADA does require website accessibility, in case you're asked.  Yes, it does.

But it doesn't have a statutory definition of website accessibility.  Our bill would create that.

Another thing it would do is try to be small business friendly by creating a technical assistance center so companies could call up and find out how to make sure that they're doing the right thing.

It also would be small business friendly because it would create a grant program that companies could apply to the help make sure their website is accessible.

The third thing it would do that would be small business friendly is it would create third party liability.

So if you're a small pizza company, and you're making pizza and you make a website and you don't know anything about websites but you know a whole lot about pizza, so you do this and hire a company to make your website and they say they know how to make it accessible but they don't, you now would have recourse.  That kind of recourse doesn't currently exist in the law.  Our bill would create it.

It also has even more for small business.  Remember, we have the undue hardship exception.  If it turns out it would be an undue hardship, that would be taken into consideration.  If it's a fundamental alteration, that would be taking into consideration.

One thing not to bring up -- you can ask these questions.  If they're asked, you should answer them directly and clearly, but the bill does create a regulatory process.

All right?  Right now, in the news, you all know there's talk about how we have too many regulations. All right.  Well, this bill is going to create more regulations.  I'm not saying that you would deny that.  If you're asked, tell them proudly.

But you don't necessarily need to bring it up.

(Laughter)

JOHN PARÉ:  Why don't you bring up the other parts, the parts that are small business friendly that don't cause any problem with innovation.  It creates a strong definition of accessibility.

If your asked, tell them all the rest of it, but let them ask.

That would be it.

All right.

So that's the website bill.

We're going to go on.  Next, the issue would be Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act.  Here to talk about that is Dr. Justin Young.

(Cheers and applause)

JUSTIN YOUNG: Good evening.

So I have a question for you all.  Who here is tired of having to use inaccessible medical devices?

(Cheers and applause)

JUSTIN YOUNG: Well that's -- (laughter) -- it's time that these medical devices be made accessible. Through the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act, we will accomplish this goal.  Some of the things about the problem is there's a lot of medical devices that are not visually accessible to us as blind people to independently, safely, effectively use ourselves.

We have to rely on other people to help us manage our health needs or potentially our family member's health needs. There's statistics by Pew Research center that talks about the rural areas and the 20% of medical visits are telehealth visits.  Without accessible medical devices, we're not going to be able to fully participate in those areas.  We can't get to the appointments because they're further away. That's a problem.

That's why we need medical devices to be nonvisual accessible. So the solution would be the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act, which would amend the federal food and drug cosmetic act, creating a nonvisual standard and would relate to class two and three devices with a user (indiscernible) interface.

After the bill goes into full effect, all covered medical devices would be made nonvisually accessible.  A covered device is being defined by meeting four criteria.  Those are that it would fall under the category of class two or three medical device.  It must be controlled by a digital user interface.

It must be a new application.

So it's not going to be retrofitted, going backwards. And it must be primarily used in a home setting. The definition of a user interface, as we're defining it, is: A device that's controlled through a screen or mobile application by human user conveying information through inputting or communicating with the user -- excuse me.  The microphone.

So this means that this piece of legislation would apply to both a screen or a mobile application, which is very good.  We that it's very strong. While on Capitol Hill this week, it's important to tell your stories using medical devices and how them being inaccessible has faced a problem.  Those stories are powerful to the representatives, the senators, and their staff.  It illustrates the significance of the problem that this bill is trying to address.

One example would be John, a blind person from Minnesota who use as CPAP machine.  Well, a CPAP machine is currently settings that are controlled via an inaccessible method, and the information is being relayed visually.  John has to rely on sighted assistance to help set up that product or worry that the settings may be changed while the device is being moved.

This is unacceptable. We think that John and all blind people should have the right to safely, effectively, and accessibly use all medical devices covered under this legislation.

We will collectively work together on Capitol Hill this work advocating on making our voices heard, and we wish to live the lives we want, and this legislation will help us do that.

(Cheers and applause)

JOHN PARÉ: All right, Justin.

Let's hear about the third legislative act, Blind Americans Return to Work Act.

Here's Jesse Shirek.

(Cheers and applause)

JESSE SHIREK: All right.  Thank you, John.

I want to be honest about the membership.  I've been hearing from a lot of members who are experiencing a lot of anxiety coming up this week to the Washington Seminar.

I want to be transparent.  For me, last week was a tremendously stressful week.  I think it's been a tremendously stressful week for all blind Americans.  I woke up on Friday feeling hopeless, feeling scared, worried about my future and the future for my blind wife and the future of our members.

The executive orders halting money for programs like vocational rehabilitation, the older blind program, and special education.
This rattled my reality.  The disparaging comment around the inherent value of blind and disabled employees following the tragic midair collision miles from this hotel.  Blind brothers and sisters in the movement, I wondered at the time: Are we powerless?

Wondering if everything we hold dear could be stripped away from us.

It only took moments for me to think about the fact that the funding freeze was halted.  It was halted because we reached out to our governors and legislators and reached out to our senators.  We said these policies will harm us.  We told the government that, sure, this might save money in the moment, but it will increase the number of us who are no longer in the workforce, increase the number of us relying on benefits, sacrificing our future.

This is not the American way.

Thankfully, we speak with one voice, we walk in syncopation, and we walk in collective action.

(Cheers and applause)

JESSE SHIREK: This is how we exercise our power.  I was taught this lesson at my first Washington Seminar five years ago, in this very room.  We just have to follow a simple recipe.  We talk about the problem.

We tell a story, painting the picture with our words.  Make the problem real for our members of Congress.  We illustrate our lived experience.

And we put forth our solution. I hope again we will succeed because nobody advocates better than the National Federation of the Blind.

(Cheers and applause)

JESSE SHIREK: Nobody prepares their members to fight for change like we do.  When we're prepared, nobody will stop us.

(Cheers and applause)

JESSE SHIREK: So I want to share a couple of strategies we can use when we're on Capitol Hill tomorrow talking about these issues and talking about the Blind Americans Return to Work Act.

Be sure to study the fact sheets for the details.  To look at the American community survey. 65% of us are not working at all or just working part time.  One major reason for this is because when we become blind, we leave our jobs, as John was saying.  We start collecting Social Security disability insurance.  We do this to help us survive.

We start receiving training to use a talking computer, to use a white cane, to learn Braille.  We gain our nonvisual skills and go to vocational rehabilitation for help getting a part time job.

But we don't want to lose our benefits.  We know there's an earnings cliff that we can fall off of in Social Security disability.  If we earn too much money, we completely lose our benefits.  The ceiling of our earnings to keep our Social Security disability is 2,700 dollars a month.
If we earn just one dollar more than this, we lose our entire benefit amount.

On average, the benefit amount that most people receive is slightly over 1,500 dollars a month, about 18,000 dollars a year. Who is going to take a small raise of even just a dollar a month earning a small raise of 12 dollars a year and lose their Social Security disability benefits?

Losing 18,000 dollars a year?  That's absurd. What we really need to do is increase the number of blind people working, the number of blind people paying taxes, and the number of blind people collecting SSDI benefits.

We can do that.  It's going to make the government much more efficient in the end.  We can do it through a two for one phaseout of SSDI benefits.  Essentially, you can still earn as much as you want until you hit 2,700 dollars a month.  And when you hit 2,700 dollars a month, you start giving up one dollar for every two dollars you earn.

So you would slowly phase off your benefits.  You would pay more in taxes, and the Social Security Administration trust fund would grow as you're taking less benefits and climbing the ladder.

We think we can increase efficiency and government efficiency, because the Social Security Administration can borrow from another benefits program, the SSI program, and they can take this two for one phaseout from SSI. It's there and it works.  Why don't we borrow it.

We're not going to create unleaded legislation because this bill will sunset after 10 years. So it's going to be a 10 year trial.  If it doesn't work, well, we'll go back to the old system.  We're not creating new legislation that's going to be harmful if it's not effective.
We can reduce government confusion by adopting only one deduction method.

Currently, with SSDI, we use something called impairment related Work Expenses.  In SSI, do you use blind work expenses? We'll make it easy on the federal government to monitor by using one. Let's get rid of the trial work period.  What good does it do anyway?

Most people use up their trial period before getting close to gainful activity. Use one month when you hit 1,160 dollar earnings. SGA doesn't happen until you hit (indiscernible) a month.  Let's get rid of it.  It's inefficient. It causes unnecessary oversight.

So I think this is important.  Most of all, we can get blind people energized and back in the workforce.  We've changed Social Security statutes before, and we'll do it again. Let's go make sure Congress enforces our civil rights and passes the Blind Americans Return to Work Act.

Thank you.

(Cheers and applause)

JOHN PARÉ: All right, Jesse.  That's our report.  Thank you.

We're not done yet.  Going back to President Riccobono.

Looking forward to seeing everybody at the resection tomorrow at 5:30.

President Riccobono, back to you.

MARK RICCOBONO: All right.  We've got two more short things and then a special announcement from our students about this evening's activities.

So real quickly, I would like to bring up the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois and Chairperson of our PAC Program Committee.  Here is Marilyn Green.

(Cheers and applause)

MARILYN GREEN: Thank you.  Good evening, my Federation family.

(Cheers and applause)

MARILYN GREEN: I am here.  Thank you.  I am here to talk to you about PAC.  I was told to make it snappy.

So that's what I'm going to do my best to do.

So PAC, what is it.  PAC stands for Preauthorized Contributions.

People have been listening.  I'm so happy.

What does PAC do?  It's the way we fund our programs.  This evening, you've heard about all the wonderful programs of the National Federation of the Blind.  If you've been here with us for years or if you just got here, you know we need the money to fund our movement.
So how do you do it, you ask?  I'm here to tell you.  You can donate $5 a month.  You can use your bank account.  You can use your credit cards.  You can use your debit card.

You can tell your friends and your family so it doesn't have to just be you.  All of those dollars count so that we can have great programs, like STEM2U and this wonderful Washington Seminar.

(Cheers and applause)

MARILYN GREEN: You can go to www.NFB.org/PAC.  I hear people listening.
All right.  I love it.  People actually listen to me now.  Go to my people in Illinois and tell them to listen to me too.

(Laughter)

MARILYN GREEN: Also, if you're not tech savvy or you want to actually talk on the phone -- people still do that, right? -- you can call 877-632-2722.

Don't leave card information.  Just let them know your name and phone number and that you want to start a PAC contribution or increase a PAC contribution.  Start at 5 dollars or go as high as you want each and every month.  Every dollar counts to fund our movement. And so you know what comes next, right?

AUDIENCE: Yeah!

MARILYN GREEN: I want to hear it in the overflow room.  Get in and sign up today, we need your contributions right away.  Funding our movement, it must be done so all our battles can be wonnnnn (sing-song)

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: And for one more quick announcement, I would like to bring in our director of outreach who also happens to be from Illinois.  Here's Patti Chang.

(Cheers and applause)

PATTI CHANG: (no audio)

MARK RICCOBONO: We don't hear Patti.

PATTI CHANG: Anil mentioned shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart.

AUDIENCE: Heart to heart!

PATTI CHANG: That addresses the future, which is exactly where I want to go in the next minute.  We have a Legacy Society called the Dream Maker Circle.  It's your way to plan for the future.

You know, I used to hope the Federation wasn't needed at some point, but I think today especially shows us that we will always have a need because the built environment is not made for us.

So please consider joining the Dream Maker Circle.  You can do it in a myriad of ways.  It's very easy to do.  I have talked to people who have done it when they're very early on in their career, which is exactly when you should do it because your assets will grow.
Please plan for the future.  Contact me at [email protected]. You can also find more ways to give on the Ways to Give page.

Thank you.

MARK RICCOBONO: Now the D.C. affiliate had a raffle for some affiliates to win some additional boxes of Krispy Kreme.

Oh, I will hold that for later.  It's coming up.

(Groans from the audience)

MARK RICCOBONO: Thank you, Patti and Marilyn.

I do want to note that this year, as part of the Washington Seminar, we had a partner of the National Federation of the Blind who said, well, we want to support the congressional reception, but we understand there are many costs that go into the Washington Seminar.

So we would like to simply give you a sponsorship to blind people going up and having their voices heard on the Hill. So thank you to Waymo for giving us sponsorship.

Very generous of Waymo.  If you live in Atlanta or San Francisco or Austin or Phoenix -- I think there's some other locations being considered.  D.C. is starting to test Waymo again.

Maybe next year at our Washington Seminar, we'll be able to take Waymo to the Hill.

(Cheers and applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: All right.  Before I tell you about the states that won Krispy Kreme, we have a special announcement from our student division.  They need your support this evening.
So here it is.

HELLO, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND.  MY NAME IS LAUREN ALTMAN.  I CURRENTLY SERVE -- 8:30 p.m. in the congressional ballroom, come bid on fantastic baskets.  We're so excited for you to come.

Now I'm going to pass it off for you to learn a little more about what is in store.

>> Hello.  I'm Zachary.  Our auction this year will be similar to last year's auction in two ways.

First off, we'll be having a hybrid format this.  It means that those who are able to attend in person, we would love for you to join us.  If you know someone who is not able to attend in person, whether here in Washington, D.C. or around the world, please pass on the Zoom link so they can join us as well.

The other exciting comeback is the amazing auction near showdown.

These individuals will be participating in a friendly competition to see who is raise the most monetary amount for the National Association of Blind Students.

The basket may be just what you need for the lazy day.

Need to de stress after a workout, the sports and recovery basket has everything you need to feel brand new.

For the food lovers, I've got something sweet and savory for you.

If you're here in person, don't miss out on the delights treats to give you all the things you need for your Capitol Hill adventures. Maybe you want the go all out on the Taste of Michigan.  You can sample these local flavors for yourself.

Speaking of adventures, our baskets have everything you need to travel in style. While the convention survival kit is exactly what you need to make it through the 2025 convention.

Pull up in style.

Maybe you want to get fancy and bid and listen to music straight from our sunglasses.

And we cannot forget about our four legged friends.  There's baskets to keep your guide dog healthy and happy. No matter what catches your eye, every bit helps support our students. I better see you all there at 8:30 p.m. in the congressional ballroom.

Thank you for all your support.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

(Applause)

MARK RICCOBONO: All right.  Please go support our students.  They are the future of our organization.  I'm looking forward to my good friend winning the auction context there.

My good friend is going to win, I'm sure.

(Laughter)

MARK RICCOBONO: I do want to let you know that the states of Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island can claim an extra box. Now, this is for the president to claim.  Just because you're from Maryland, don't mosey over and ask for a box.

If the president is not going to pick them up, then please designate.

With that, that brings us to the end of our Great Gathering-In on Capitol Hill 2025.

Let's go on and let the voice of the blind be heard!
(Cheers and applause)