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.
PAM: Hello everyone. Welcome to our May Presidential Release live. We're thrilled that you're with us tonight for everyone that's joining us in person and live from all around the world.
Thank you so much for being with us here tonight. We have a lot of wonderful things in store, so President Riccobono, how are you?
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I'm doing great. How are you, Pam?
PAM: I am wonderful.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I love that fit break.
PAM: I know.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: It's my favorite. Baltimore's great. We finally have sunshine.
It's been a long time.
PAM: It's been rainy everywhere.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Yeah. We had a drought, but I think it's done now. How is Louisiana?
Are you getting it warmed up for us?
PAM: We are. We've got 54 days and counting.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: It's hard to believe.
PAM: I know. I know. I was loving listening to the little kickoff music and the fit break, all the delicious food and great activities, and most importantly, all of our Federation family coming together.
So we can't wait.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Absolutely. This is our last opportunity to be live together before the convention.
PAM: Wow. I can't believe it. It's hard to imagine but it is upon us.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: All right. Well, good to be you. Do you want to get started?
PAM: Let's do it.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Greetings, fellow Federationists. This is Presidential Release live number 51, live from the Jernigan Institute at the National Federation of the Blind and happy Global Accessibility Awareness Day to everybody.
We've got a live audience, but they're very quiet.
Very, very quiet! They're just overwhelmed with the Global Accessibility Awareness Day cake we had earlier, and we'll talk a little about our audience in a while, but I like to think of this day as New Year's Day for accessibility, right? Because it's a day when we can celebrate and make some new regulations about the difference that we're going to make in accessibility during the next year.
Now, of course, we hope that today, Global Accessibility Awareness Day, inspires those who haven't been working on accessibility to do so.
Of course, members of the National Federation of the Blind are always working on accessibility so it's a great day of awareness and capturing the imagination of some of those software developers out there and hardware developers and innovators who haven't been thinking about accessibility.
So what I like to call the accessibility new year, and I hope each and every one of us makes some resolutions about how we're going to continue to push forward on accessibility during the next year.
Now, this will be the last Presidential Release live before we are together in New Orleans this summer at our national convention. There are 16 days left, only 16 days left for online registration.
And I do know that rooms are going very fast at the Marriott and at the Sheridan, so I do encourage you to register before online registration closes and get your rooms at the Sheridan or the Marriott.
Of course, if you can't be with us at convention, you can also register any time for the virtual convention experience. There are a number of great activities planned for our convention, including a historic meeting of the United States Access Board at our convention.
Many other things which I won't tell you, yet because the agenda is not quite out, because it will be in a couple of weeks and you'll want to make sure you're part of our convention.
I've said it now on the Release over the last five months, probably 100 times. NFB.org/convention to answer any questions you have about our national convention.
We do have a number of Federation members joining us on this Global Accessibility Awareness Day release, so we're going to go ahead and jump right in.
And the first thing I want to talk about is our Lead and Drive Give 25 in 25 Campaign, because we are kicking that off today. It's officially under way.
This is our spring fundraising campaign, and it is going to take us to some new dynamic places this year.
You can help build the programs of the National Federation of the Blind by giving or encouraging others to do so and at the same time, you'll get an opportunity to win some really cool stuff. So it's a win-win.
If you give or encourage other people to give in increments of 25 dollars, you will get a chance to win one of these prizes for every 25 dollars increment that's donated.
You will able to choose from a trip to the 2026 convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Austin, Texas; or a cash prize. And, of course, you will win regardless, because you will be helping to build the important programs of the National Federation of the Blind.
Now, we want to have a little friendly competition this year, and so we've started our Federation Challenger opportunity.
Anyone who asks others to give can be a Federation Challenger. And those who donate can donate in your name, if you want to be a Federation Challenger. They can donate in your name, and they can give 25 or more on our donation page. They'll be able to name you as their person they want to honor with their gift.
And the Challenger who brings in the most donations during our drive, which will end during our national convention, will have the opportunity to announce the winner of the drawing at our convention banquet. Really cool.
There's a bonus incentive this year, and you'll want to pay attention to this today because it's bauble we'll have this done by the weekend, wouldn't that be cool?
There's a bonus incentive. For the first 100 people who give 100 dollars or more, there's no upper limit, by the way, 100 dollars or more, you will receive a pair of Aftershokz headphones.
We heard from many of you last year who couldn't be at the convention who said man, I want some of those Aftershokz. That's you, too! Whether or not you're coming to the convention, if you're one of the first 100 individuals to donate 100 dollars or more, we will get you a pair of Aftershokz and if you're not at the convention, we will send them to you after the convention.
But you've got to be in the first 100 so be making sure that you make that happen.
Supporting the National Federation of the Blind by giving is an important way to help us build our movement, and encouraging other people to give is a fantastic opportunity to tell your story, why this organization matters to you, and why protecting the rights of blind people and advocacy work is important in your life.
Now, another important component of our campaign this year is that thanks to an anonymous donor, every dollar that's donated will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to 25,000 dollars. So every donation, every 25 dollars, is actually 50 dollars.
And so that support, we need to get that support in. We need to get that 25,000 dollars at least, so we can pull down the matching funds and thank you to our anonymous donor. You know who you are.
So this is an opportunity to tell your story and encourage people to give to the Federation. There are three ways to give.
You can call our main number, 410-659-9314, and dial extension 2430 to talk to our team about giving a contribution over the telephone.
You can send a check to the National Federation of the Blind at 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore Maryland, 21230. Or you can donate online at nfb.org/give25donate, all one word. Give 25, the number 25, donate. Please, please please help out with this campaign. Promote the work of the Federation.
Those dollars are even more important this year at this time, and I'm looking forward to celebrating our success with this campaign when I get to the convention in New Orleans.
Okay. We do have a number of other announcements, but I want to get to the first of our Federation members who are with us this evening.
And I wanted to take an opportunity leading into the convention to talk about the Independence Market program of the National Federation of the Blind, and we have with us this evening the manager of our Independence Market program.
Now, the Independence Market is an important way that the Federation reaches out to blind people. We provide service to blind people by contributing free white canes, of course, but also selling tools that blind people use to be successful. And our Independence Market allows us to talk to a lot of blind people and their families who are newly blind, who have no idea what blind people can do and what's possible.
The gentleman who's currently managing that program for us came to the Federation in April of 2022, so he's hot on his third year, finished his third year as a member of the staff here at the National Federation of the Blind. I thought this would be a great opportunity to for you to meet him.
So Sean Seward, welcome, and thank you for being with us on the Presidential Release.
(Applause)
SEAN: Good evening, thank you, President Riccobono, for having me today. Thank you for all the listeners that's tuned in out there.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Yes. So Sean, I thought a great way to start, some people have maybe talked to you on the phone, but some people may not know you, and so can you just give us a brief sketch of who you are and about your journey and experience with blindness?
SEAN: Sure. I am a totally blind person. I've been blind since the age of 2.
I had retinal blastoma which is cancer in my eyes. I had cancer in both of my eyes. I'm also a proud father of two children, a 12-year-old daughter, she also suffered from the same diagnosis that I had, so she's blind in one eye.
And then I have a 14-year-old son heading to high school this year making me feel kind of old these days.
Came to you by way of the Randolph Shepherd program, ran a business successfully there for eight years and then COVID came and caused me to close my doors, and then I found my way here as the market manager.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: So some good things did come out of COVID at least from our perspective so thank you for being here.
And good luck on high school. Good luck with that.
SEAN: I'm really looking forward to it.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: So Sean, talk to us a little bit about the Independence Market, and why does the Federation even have an Independence Market?
SEAN: One of the unique things for me when I wanted to jump into this challenge of running a market, it felt like a unique space where our members and other blind people can find out about quality accessible items that allows them to live the life they want to live where they can live their day-to-day lives independently.
That's one of the things I love about what I do and one of the things that we pride ourselves on in the Independence Market.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: So obviously, we don't have time to go through the full range of products that are in the market, but for those that aren't familiar with what we carry in the Independence Market, kind of give an overview of the range of products that we have?
SEAN: Sure. Some of the items that we offer are things like Brailled measuring cups and spoons, talking scales that allow a blind person to be able to cook independently every day. You mentioned the free white cane program, but we also have straight canes, folding canes, scoping canes that allow us to travel independently.
We have accessible cards and accessible board games that allow us to join in on family game nights, and we also have Braille literature that allows us to read about the NFB history.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Excellent. So to get access to this information, you can call and make an order. Can you talk to us about how people do that?
SEAN: Sure. You can call the national center here at 410-659-9314, you want to hit option 3. That will bring you to our Independence Market line where you'll come in contact with our Independence Market specialists, and they are always proud to help you get that order placed and get those items into your hands as soon as we can.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Now Sean, the market will be at the national convention and we will have the market at the national convention, and we've been doing a little spring cleaning to get ready for this year's national convention. Can you talk to us about the market at convention? What people can expect?
And maybe something new?
SEAN: Yes, we are forever growing and trying to find ways to grow the market and so one of the things that we're going to introduce this year at the convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, is our Clearance Corner. Some of the items that you can look forward to are magnifiers, talking calculators, and even some of our older canes. You will be able to buy them at a discounted price.
So be sure to ask your cashier when you're checking out at the Independence Market this year about that Clearance Corner. Be mindful, supplies are limited and all sales are final.
So be sure that what did you take away from it, it is what you want before you walk away, because that just means we're not giving you your money back. (Laughs)
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I'm glad we got the legal disclaimers here.
And I think there's even some of the old 50/50 canes in there. I know those were a favorite for some people.
So excellent.
Well, you know, I know that we have a number of other things to get to, but I know that one of the questions that people are asking, our members have been asking is when will I be able to get one of those Rubik's Cubes from the market?
SEAN: We have Rubik's Cubes? I wasn't aware of Rubik's Cubes? We have Rubik's Cubes?
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I thought you brought one to show us. People want to know when they can get it.
SEAN: This Rubik's Cube, we are happy to announce that it is readily available for you guys to order. So you can call us tomorrow morning, starting at 8:00 a.m., and speak with Donito or Phoenix, and you can get your Rubik's Cube. It is now available for sale. For 27 dollars.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: They have to call to get it?
SEAN: Is there another way?
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: That's what I'm asking you.
SEAN: Well, one of the other things that I'm happy to announce, President Riccobono, our ecommerce site is finally live.
(Applause)
So you can now go on our ecommerce site at catalog.NFB.org, and you can order this Rubik's Cube when you wake up at 3:00 in the morning, and you don't want to miss it, because they're going to go fast, you can order your Rubik's Cubes online. Keep in mind, a large majority of our products are available online, but there are still some items you will have to call and order over the phone, and if you want expedited shipping, you'll have to call and order it with us over the phone, as well.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Well, Sean, great announcement and thank you for your work to help inspire blind people and their families who don't, yet know that they can live the life they want, and I know a lot of our members who haven't met you will enjoy meeting you at the convention. So thank you for being here tonight.
SEAN: Thank you, President Riccobono. Thank you, everyone.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: So that's the first big news announcement here on the Release, and so please go to catalog.NFB.org. Check it out. The team has been working hard on it and Sean has been leading the effort, and I know the team will love your feedback on it.
Speaking of convention, our NFB-NEWSLINE group wants you to know that it is seeking volunteers to assist with NFB-NEWSLINE activities during this year's national convention.
Volunteers should be NFB-NEWSLINE subscribers. You can be a power user, that would be great, but you've definitely got to be a subscriber and know what the service is about.
And the team is asking you to commit to a shift of at least two hours at the convention to help out. To sign up, please e-mail Jack Mendez, at [email protected]. Or call our main number, 410-659-9314, and dial extension 2356 in order to volunteer for our NFB-NEWSLINE effort at the national convention.
Now, let's talk a little bit advocacy work here before we get to our next Federation member who's with us.
Earlier in the month, John Paré sent out a legislative alert regarding the Access Technology Affordability Act, and that's HR 1529.
Now, is a critical time for us to continue to create a surge of bipartisan support for this important bill that we've talked about a number of times here on these Presidential Releases.
The goal truly is to get ATAA to have a significant number of bipartisan cosponsors so that we can get it attached to other tax bills that might be considered and/or get it a hearing on its own to get it passed through the Congress.
And we've been making great strides in that regard.
Unfortunately, at this time, the ATAA is not in the tax bill that's currently being considered in Congress, but don't be discouraged. We still have great support, great bipartisan support, in Congress, and we're still working to get our legislation attached to the current tax bill that's being considered but there still will be many more opportunities to move our bill forward independently, so it's never too late, never too late to call and e-mail your member of Congress and ask them to cosponsor the Access Technology Affordability Act.
Now, is a great time to push on the bill. Remember, HR 1529.
This is an opportunity for us to create awareness while taxes are very much top of mind in the House of Representatives. And you should remind members of Congress that our bill is projected to save the federal government 315 million dollars over a five-year period of time. That's not an insignificant number! So please continue to push on this bill.
Now, it is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and I could not get away from today without talking about the Website and Software Applications Accessibility Act.
And I especially want you to know that it was introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday, May 14th.
The bill's primary sponsor is Representative Pete from the 17th District of Texas, and this is great news for us, so congratulations to the Federation on getting this bill introduced. The lead cosponsor for this bill is representative Stenny Hoyer right here from Maryland.
The bill number is HR 3417. What a great accomplishment here right at Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
More importantly, what a great way to kick off the accessibility new year and to give you something to do on Friday. Call your member of Congress and encourage them to support this bill.
Yeah!
(Applause)
Really great accomplishment and thank you all for your work to help make that happen. Of course, to our Texas affiliate for continuing to help Congress know that blind people are important and for all the Federation members that have worked on this.
I'm going to come back to advocacy in a moment, but I want to take this opportunity to say that one of the reasons that we put the release this evening, besides it being Global Accessibility Awareness Day is we're hosting a seminar in our building the next two days sponsored by our Diabetes Action Network, and so I wanted to ask the president of that division to come talk to us.
So Debbie Wunder, welcome to the Presidential Release!
DEBBIE: Thank you, thank you. It feels good to be here at home at the Jernigan Institute.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: This is your first time on the Release. We should have like a little gift we give away or something. A Rubik's Cube, we could talk to Sean about that.
So Debbie, first of all many Federationists do know you, but many don't. Could you take a moment to give a brief sketch of who you are and about your journey as a blind person?
DEBBIE: I sure can. I joined the Federation, our grandson Ethan would say in the way back, in the '80s, in 1983. I'm the proud wife of Gary Wunder, some of you may know him.
We share four children, a son and three daughters and four amazing grandkids.
So the Federation has been a big part of our lives, not only for me and Gary, but for our children, as well.
And I have been a blind person since birth.
But totally blind probably for about 15 years.
And I don't know. Wow I'm at a loss for words now. Sorry.
So yeah. The Diabetes Action Network is a huge part of my life. It's very important to me because as you know, it is the leading cause of blindness.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: We know that diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, but what does the Diabetes Action Network do within the National Federation of the Blind?
DEBBIE: Yes. So as you mentioned, there's a great seminar this weekend. It's the second annual Knowledge is Sweet Seminar.
You can shout out guys, go ahead. They're so quiet. We know better.
And every day, we work to make lives better for blind diabetics, teaching them that it is not, just like blindness, it is not the end of the world for them that they can manage their insulin and all of their medications.
They can live the life that they still want. It is a journey, though, and we give a lot of peer support.
We offer information. We share information.
We try to keep up on the latest and greatest, which, of course, the new thing for us is the tandem Moby Insulin pump, the first time one is available to us. We're working to educate one another, and our community. I do serve on the advisor council of my endocrinology diabetes clinic for the university hospital.
So every day, we're working to strive to get better.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Nice, nice. So I want to come back to the Division in a second, but as it relates to the Knowledge is Sweet Seminar, obviously too late for people to show up tomorrow in person but is there a way they can participate virtually?
DEBBIE: Absolutely, there is. If you could hopefully do it right after this release tonight, if you would go to nfb.org/DAN, you can sign up to join us virtually. It only costs 100 dollars and I'll tell you, you get a lot, two days of information for that 100 dollars, and we'll send you a link to join us virtually in the morning at 8:00.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Awesome. That's 8:00 Eastern.
DEBBIE: That's right.
And the agenda is there.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: So we definitely encourage people to go to the website and determine if it's something they could benefit from over the next couple of days but assuming they can't, or they made too many accessibility commitments, because it's the new year, how can members, blind people, get involved in the Diabetes Action Network?
DEBBIE: To join the convention it costs 10 dollars, which you can send to our great treasurer, and if you reach out to me, we can tell you how to do that.
We would love to have you as one of the voices of the Diabetes Action Network.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: All right. And, of course, the division will be having a meeting at the convention.
DEBBIE: We will. Our annual meeting will be at the convention. It will be from 1:00 to 1:30. You can come and register from 1:30 to 5:00, we will have a great, great program for you.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Anything else you want to share?
DEBBIE: Unrelated to diabetes completely, I want to tell you Sean is so great. I'm sorry, Gary, this is the first time he's hearing this. I went there to buy 10 dollars of these labels, which we don't have anymore, but instead, I spent $205. So support the Independence Market.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you, Debbie. I appreciate that and thank you for being with us.
I'm sure people are making their Independence Market orders online right now as we're meeting.
So before we bring on our final Federation member that I want to have on the Release this evening, I do want to give you a heads-up about 2026, for the Washington Seminar of the National Federation of the Blind that will be lead from January 26th through January 29th at the Holiday Inn, Washington Capitol on the National Mall.
The Great Gathering-In meeting will be on Monday, January 26th, 2026. So you know the Washington Seminar is one of our significant advocacy activities. We wanted to make sure we got that date to you so you can plan ahead.
Next year, will be the second year of the convention, so we have it nudged up a little bit to take advantage of being first on the scene in year two for the congressional session.
And hopefully, we will have some new legislative items, because we will have knocked some of them off the list here in 2025.
Now, it wouldn't be right not to have this next gentleman on the release, especially on Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The Federation has had a significant role for a long time in moving technology and moving the accessibility agenda, and we've brought this gentleman on this year to help us with that effort.
And so I would like to welcome to the Presidential Release not for the first time, but maybe the first time in person is Jonathan.
>> You're so buoyant, you should be singing us a couple of bars of it's the most wonderful time of the year.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Happy new year to you. So Jonathan, we have a lot to maybe discuss in a short period of time, so we'll go ahead and jump right in.
When you think about the Federation and technology accessibility, what reflections do you have on the work that we do?
>> As you said, you've got a proud track record, the National Federation of the Blind has shaped technology accessibility for the blind more than any other organization in the world.
There are numerous examples of us shaping the technology that we need, including our decades-long partnership with Dr. Kurzweil, for example, and that not only gave us access to print, but it gave the world optical character recognition and sometimes, we forget that the things that we do have an impact on wider society.
We've contributed to the development of products where we've seen a gap and we've fostered relationships with mainstream access and tech companies. Today, for example, Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we've seen several announcements from companies that we've helped to bring about with our advocacy, so we can be proud of that.
And where necessary, of course, we've taken legal action to enhance and protect accessibility.
So we've done a lot over the years.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: You know, one of the things that we've done that those who have never had the opportunity to be at our building might not realize is that in 1990, along with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we established the National Braille and Technology Center for the Blind and coming up on 35 years, it's still going. Still a growing concern, and we still have it as a significant asset in our work.
So for those who haven't been to the International Braille and Technology Center, what is it?
>> It's a magical place! The International Braille and Technology Center is a place where you can see plugged in and working the technology that blind people use. We offer impartial advice on what's out there, and we help you make up your own mind about the technology that's right for you by letting you experience it.
And people are welcome to make an appointment if they come to Baltimore and receive a tour.
There is no other facility in the world like the IBTC. And, you know, I attended my first NFB convention back in Chicago, 30 years ago this year.
And I was so excited to see it then. It was a very special thing.
It's a remarkable place.
And it's still our aim to have one of every blindness-specific piece of technology up and running.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Which is a lot of work, right, keeping all of those devices moving and they're changing every day, right? So it's unbelievable.
So you know, we have now organized our accessibility, and what we would like to call accessibility excellence work under our National Center for Nonvisual Access, and we offer more than simply a place for people to come see technology and for us to evaluate it.
Can you talk about some of the specific efforts that we undertake in our Center of Excellence?
>> In addition to the advocacy that we do which is why we're here primarily, of course, but we're also offering Boutiques and longer training on a range of technology topics.
Recently, just to give you a taste, we've done webinars on online meetings, autonomous vehicles, PowerPoint, prompt engineering for AI, and our next one later in the month is going to be on way-finding technology, which is a burgeoning industry.
The Federation's AccessON podcast is a way to get technology information not just from the movers and shakers, but also from the grassroots, because the Federation's power comes from the grassroots.
We also encourage you to report issues with software and websites by completing the accessibility bug tracker form on the CENA page, and we also offer our self-advocacy toolkit.
People say they like this, because it helps people to talk to tech companies, even when they're not techy. There's nothing more frustrating than knowing that something is broken, but you don't have the language to articulate it, because you're not a techy person. You just want this stuff to work.
So we're helping you out with that, and I would encourage people to check out the advocacy toolkit.
And also we appreciate being copied. You can write to [email protected]. If you write to companies about technical issues that you're having, because it allows us to know what concerns are out there, and if we start to see a groundswell on a particular topic, we can prioritize that. We can drop everything if necessary, if there's a major issue out there and go to bat.
As an organization, we can perhaps reach people that it's hard for individual consumers to reach.
And I think that's the power of the movement.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: And those little pieces of data, even if it's just copying our group on that, is really important. I happened to be talking to a blind individual today who had an experience, new experience I would say with autonomous vehicle technology, and some new barriers that were being put up.
And we were able to zip those through our connections and learn what the plan is to fix those.
And so when we have that data, sometimes that allows us to knock on the doors of the people who we have great relationships with and say hello! What's going on? And get the inside scoop.
Should we talk about some new stuff?
>> It's a new year so a few presents to hand out.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: That's right, that's right. So in order to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2025, we're really happy to announce a new partnership that has come about in our work in technology that's going to benefit all members of the National Federation of the Blind.
So this evening, we're full of announcements.
This evening, we're launching a new partnership with Innosearch AI. What is Innosearch AI?
>> Innosearch AI is a shopping experience, and it's optimized for accessibility. So you can shop on your computer or your smart phone via its website.
Or what's really interesting for those many blind people who have become blind later in life and have no interest at this point in using access technology, you can actually make a good old-fashioned phone call to its AI system and talk to it and complete purchases this way after you've done your search.
Now, they have over 500,000 retailers aggregated on Innosearch right now, and it handles the complete customer experience from search to purchase to checkout to any follow-up that you might need.
In addition to shopping, they currently also have flight search, and there will be some new product categories in the next little while that I think people will really appreciate because they are pain points, so that's what it is in a nutshell.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: This is a really great innovation, and I think it's going to be powerful for everyone who wants to do shopping. We think about Jonathan what you said about optical character recognition. Innosearch AI could be the next big thing that everybody is going to be shopping this way, and I can speak to it personally.
I just bought a new front door lock, and I used Innosearch to make sure that the keypad lock I was buying has tactile buttons. You can't see the pictures and often, they don't tell you if the buttons are ones you can actually feel.
Really great partnership. We'll be announcing some other innovations with Innosearch AI.
But for NFB members, you can go to your NFB member profile online, and you will find the URL for you to receive a $10 credit discount when you sign up with a new account at Innosearch AI. So sorry if you already have an Innosearch account, but if you're an NFB member, you go to your member profile. Find the link there in your member profile, and that will take you to a page where you can set up an Innosearch AI account. It's free.
And when did you go to make your first purchase because you're a member of the Federation, you will get a 10 dollar credit. If you've forgotten how to get to your member profile, go to the members section of NFB.org, and put in your log-in information there, or you can click the change password link and get to recovering your log-in information.
And, of course, if you have trouble doing that, just write to [email protected]. And by the way Innosearch is not the only member benefit there. You can also find information about the special discounted rate that NFB members get with IRA, and we'll be putting other member benefits there, as well.
Innosearch also is committed to helping build the organized blind movement, so exclusive to the National Federation of the Blind is Innosearch is offering every customer the opportunity to round up their purchase and those pennies will be donated to the National Federation of the Blind to support our worthy programs.
And so thank you to Innosearch for making that opportunity available. So anybody who buys something through Innosearch will have the opportunity to round up.
And if you are a local customer at Innosearch, you can round up on that first, purchase and that selection will stay in place, so you can round up every purchase you make.
It's really great to be able to work with companies like Innosearch on creating these win-win-win opportunities. Jonathan, did you want to say anything more about Innosearch or the companies we work?
>> They're great people, committed to working with the organized blind movement in a respectful way. They want to know what it is that we need, we're helping to shape that technology. The discussions have been very positive, and I would amplify what you said earlier.
Even if you go to a site that you find relatively accessible, one of the big Innosearch advantages is this AI and the fact that you can ask questions about the pictures and also about the products.
So it will look at the pictures and describe them kind of like you might use with Be My Eyes or the IRA offering, ChatGPT, it will do that, but it will also go and do any kind of comparison for you.
So if you're not quite clear, I was buying a cable recently, and I just wanted to be absolutely sure that the cable had the right connectors that I thought it did.
And the AI was able to confirm that for me.
So there are some real advantages in shopping this way.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Excellent. Well, Jonathan, don't go away, because we might get technology questions, and I'll need you to answer them.
But it's really great to have you on the Release, and I know we could just whisper and tell people that you're going to be talking more about our technology programs at the convention, right?
>> That's right.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: We don't want to scoop the agenda, so we better not say it too loud. Thanks for being with us, Jonathan. Pam, I think we're going to throw it back to you, and I'm going to -- Jonathan and I are going to stay here together in case there's any hard questions, I'll throw them to him.
PAM: All right. I love how the theme is shopping on this presentation. I am all in.
So this is exciting. I'm sure there was quite a collective cheer, you probably heard from all around the room.
So as you said, the orders are piling in for the Independence Market.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: What we didn't say is some people figured out that ecommerce was live before we announced it so the orders have been trickling in as people have discovered it.
PAM: Yep, yep I know. Guilty. (Laughs) So kudos to our team. That's great!
So it's great. Everybody can get their shopping ready for convention.
Anything you might need on Innosearch, make sure you get all the details.
So what a great Presidential Release. Lots of things happening as always in the National Federation of the Blind, so it's great to hear from everybody tonight.
We do have a question related to the Independence Market.
How do we decide what items are in the Independence Market?
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Well, that is a great question.
PAM: Can people make suggestions?
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Well, can people make suggestions? Always, right? This is our organization and members are empowered and encouraged to make suggestions.
Sean would love to hear from you and we should have said that Sean's e-mail address is [email protected].
So a couple of things. First and foremost, we listen to blind people and what blind people want to have. The second thing is we have a number of partnerships that we've established and working with.
Rubik's Cube is a great example.
You can get the Rubik's Cube elsewhere but we participated with the owners of the brand on this new sensory cube. It's the first time that there's been a real branded Rubik's that is accessible. All the ones that have existed before have been knockoffs.
We're carrying that in the market, because we consulted with them on the product.
Same as we've done with say Uno Braille.
And then sometimes, the products we carry are for convenience for our members when they're hard to find. You know, we're not trying to be the Amazon of blindness shopping, so we're not trying to have everything, but we want to hear from the members.
And if there are things that you would like us to carry, if there are things that we should go out and try to encourage people to create so that we can carry, that would be very helpful to know.
And partially we know what's popular by what people buy, but Sean spends a lot of time talking to blind people. We take a lot of ideas, and then it's just a matter of working it out.
The Independence Market is not a huge revenue center for us. We are not trying to make tons of money on blind people. We do have to pay staff, and we have to pay to run the operation and to have shipping.
But we try to keep the costs as reasonable as we can.
PAM: Excellent.
Another question related to our IBTC and it is pretty magical. How can someone schedule a tour?
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Oh, there you go, Jonathan!
>> All you need to do is get in touch with us on the switch board at 410-659-9314. We have an option there on the main menu. Or you can e-mail us, I'm sure that [email protected] will do that, or you're welcome to contact me correctly, [email protected]. Let us know when you're in town, and we will make it happen.
Normally, it takes about an hour. We do this in two ways really.
One is if you just want to see what's there, and there's a lot of technology there, so we can show you a collection of Braille displays and magnifiers, different types of things.
We can do that. We can just give you the general tour.
But if you have something specific that you want to know about, for example, maybe you are in the market for a Braille display, and you want to spend some time understanding the different features of the current Braille displays available, because some of them have note-taker type functions, even though they're not full blindness note takers, some of them do not, different cell sizers, navigation methods, QWERTY keyboards, Braille keyboards, it's helpful to see all those products in one place.
If there's one particular product that you're interested in, tell us about that, and we'll customize the tour to your liking.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: There you go, Pam. We lost Pam. Pam, are you out there?
PAM: Can you hear me now? It's the joy of technology.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: It wouldn't be GAAD without a technology hiccup. Did you forget to hit checkout on the Independence Market?
PAM: I went shopping, I apologize.
So Jonathan, another question for you related --
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: I can sit back. We should have you on every month, Jonathan!
PAM: So when you visited the IBTC, was there something extra that surprised you or excited you?
>> Did we lose you in the middle of question?
PAM: I think our Zoom gremlin is afoot.
So the question was, you mentioned that the technology center is magical. Was there something exciting that surprised you when you first visited it?
>> 30 years ago, that's a long time ago, but when I first visited, just astounded by all the technology that was plugged in, in one place. In those days, there were large reading machine devices, for example. Different Braille displays. It was just amazing to see it.
And, you know, we've become complacent over time. Recently, my daughter, which is an access technology consultant in New Zealand, came over. We just got a new apartment, and she came over and helped me unpack all of my audio gear and geek out with me.
But one of the reasons she was here is she has known about the IBTC.
The IBTC is known about worldwide, and it's a place that people strive to visit.
So I think what excited me the most wasn't one particular piece of technology as such. It was just the fact that I could walk up to anything in the room, press a button, switch it on and actually use it and see it working. And no one was trying to sell me anything.
I could take as long as I wanted and make up my mind.
PAM: I love that. That's so true! So thank you so much.
We had some great questions this evening, and I want to thank everybody who submitted questions.
And if we didn't have a chance to answer your question tonight, our outstanding communications team will be following up.
Thank you so much everyone for being with us tonight. We will not have a Presidential Release live in June, but there will be a Presidential Release chapter recording that will be released on June 6th.
Please share during your June chapter meetings.
Also, please remember that the monthly Presidential Release chapter recordings are a supplement to the live event with different content, so be sure to access both for the latest information.
You can contact President Riccobono at 410-659-9314 or via e-mail at [email protected].
Thanks so much and I'll toss it back to you, President Riccobono.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: Thank you, Pam. And getting the final details ready for New Orleans. Really looking forward to being with you and please, save some of those dollars for the Give 25.
Don't spend them all on shopping.
PAM: We can't wait to welcome everyone and see you soon.
PRESIDENT RICCOBONO: All right, thanks, Pam. And thank you to Jonathan and to Debbie and to Sean for being on this Presidential Release live. It's great to be able to have so many people right here in the room, so that's really cool and thank you to our participants in the Knowledge is Sweet Seminar coming up.
Now, I do have a couple of Federation family notes here for this release.
And the first is to say happy anniversary to the NFB of Puerto Rico that will be celebrating its 33rd anniversary as an affiliate of the Federation. Tomorrow is the anniversary.
Now, coming back to today, though, it is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, but it is also, a great birthday. First of all, my daughter turned 15 today, so it's her golden birthday so happy birthday, Aurianna. She's been a Federation member for 15 years.
She was born on a chapter meeting day. I don't know if we got the dues in that day or not. Probably the next month.
And also, because he's also with us here, a very special happy birthday to Ron Brown who's here, and he's, of course, served for a long time as our second vice president and he is here for the Knowledge is Sweet Seminar, so we got to enjoy some German chocolate cake on his behalf.
So thank you for being here!
So as you know, it's been a very successful Global Accessibility Awareness Day for the National Federation of the Blind.
We do know that we have a lot of work ahead of us, not only in accessibility, but in our advocacy work in Congress and so many other areas. We will be celebrating the great success at our national convention, but we've still got a lot of work to do to get there and so let me take this opportunity to thank you all for the difference that you make in making life more accessible and meaningful for blind people, including myself and my family and blind people all around the world count on members of the National Federation of the Blind and Global Accessibility Awareness Day is a great time to celebrate that.
Now before we close the Presidential Release, I thought I would give you some of the customary endings.
How many programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? Well, none, of course.
That's a hardware problem.
And why don't programmers like nature? Well, it has far too many bugs. And what do you call a robot that loves to party in New Orleans?
Well, that's a bot of fun. Let's go build the National Federation of the Blind!
>> The proceeding message was brought to you by Mark Riccobono, president National Federation of the Blind, 410-659-9314, [email protected]. Follow President Riccobono on Mastodon, just search for @president @NFB.social. Let's go build the National Federation of the Blind.