Dear GDUI Members and Friends,
Welcome spring! Well, at least that’s what the calendar says … Here in the Washington, DC area, but here and further north, all the way to the top of the country on the Atlantic Coast, we have lots and lots and lots of snow! It is soft, billowy snow – the kind we hardly saw all winter long! And, Willow is enjoying every snowy morsel and flake!
Take heart, if you’ve had more than your fill of the white stuff, the flakes and drifts will soon be replaced by cherry blossoms and tulips, And, you’ll soon be enjoying the asparagus and rhubarb that are the herald of springtime deliciousness!
Back to business – If you missed last Saturday’s board meeting, Recordings of the March 17 GDUI Board Meeting are now available. There are three access options. The recording is 2 hours and 3 minutes in length.
Send Space: https://www.sendspace.com/file/gz7hxt
Recording play back number:
712-432-1085
Access code:
919245 followed by the Pound key
Welcome to our new Guide Dog Schools Liaison, Lina Coral. At Saturday’s board meeting, members unanimously confirmed Lina Coral as our new Guide Dog Schools Liaison, and Lina is already busy helping Andrea plan for the GDUI convention and beginning the process of updating our guide dog schools surveys. Here’s a brief biography that Lina shared with us so we can all get to know her better:
I am currently working my first guide, Quest, A long-haired female German shepherd from Fidelco. She is a big playful sweetheart, and she will be turning six in May. We have been a team for three and a half years. I got Quest the summer before my sophomore year of college, so she was with me for most of my undergraduate career. We recently graduated last year, and are currently doing an internship at the Lowell Association for the blind here in Massachusetts. I am also in the process of applying to grad school, and I’m hoping to start in the fall, but I am also applying for jobs. I am hoping to do master’s in mental health counseling in the Boston area.
In my free time, I love reading or listening to books, spending time with my family, and of course, playing fetch with Quest. I’m super excited to be the guide dog schools liaison, and I am really looking forward to getting to know everyone!
Welcome, Lina, and thanks for volunteering to become even busier than you already were!
We Need Your Photos! To be a little more specific, we need photos of your working guides! And, we need them soon!
If you have adorable photos of your guide dogs (either current guides or former guides, and you can attach them to an e-mail message, Deanna Noriega, who is finishing up the final edits on our revised and updated “Making Impressions” publication would love to have them!
I read “Making Impressions” in late 1999, when I was making up my mind about whether or not a guide dog would be the right mobility choice for me – and my family! Thank goodness for all that great information and advice in that book (which, incidentally, was one of the first books I ever read cover-to-cover in braille)! Choosing to partner with a guide dog was one of the best decisions I ever made – about my life and about coping with my blindness! The time has come to update the information contained in “Making Impressions,” and we are very appreciative that Deanna and our Publications Committee have chosen to revise and update the book. We hope to make it available for purchase later this year.
The final step in the editorial process involves adding some visual interest to the text, and that’s where you come in! Please share your photos of your guide dogs (You can be in those photos as well!) with Deanna by the end of the day on March 26! Deanna hopes to have the finished manuscript in the publisher’s hands by the end of the month.
Send your photos to either of these e-mail addresses:
mailto:vp1@guidedogusersinc.org
Or
Thank you!
Still looking for financial help for attending ACB’s and GDUI’s summer conventions, which will take place in St. Louis, MO, between June 30 and July 6? If you’re too young to apply for the Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss (AAVL) stipends [See the GDUI Announcement from March 15, 2018], there are two other opportunities to be chosen to receive financial assistance.
If you’re a first-timer, i.e., you have never before attended an ACB convention, you can apply to win one of two DKM First-Timers’ awards. Visit this link for more information: http://acb.org/content/climb-aboard-2018-dkm-express
Or, even if you’ve attended ACB conventions in the past, you can apply for one of five JP Morgan Chase Leadership Awards. For the third consecutive year, JP Morgan Chase will provide full access to the ACB Conference and Convention for 5 ACB members who have demonstrated leadership abilities. Get connected with previous classes of Leadership Fellows who have had the experience of a lifetime, while meeting other members and active leaders from around the country. By attending the 57th annual ACB Conference and Convention in Saint Louis, Missouri, as a Leadership Fellow you will be introduced to tools for success through participation in informative workshops, seminars and leadership development sessions that are sure to prepare you to serve well in future leadership roles within ACB, your local chapter, and your state or special interest affiliate. Interested?
Read more by visiting http://acb.org/apply-2018-leadership-fellows
Applications for both these awards are due on April 3! There’s still time. We hope you’ll apply, and GDUI’s leadership is ready and eager to help with letters of support and recommendation.
RideShare Refusals? They’re still happening, despite settlement agreements reached with both companies requiring them to take their responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act – and our civil rights – seriously! The best way to respond? Complain! Take the time to file a formal complaint, using these links:
Click the link below to register an Uber or Lyft rideShare complaint with entities charged with enforcing the settlement agreements: https://nfb.org/rideshare-test
Complaint to the companies as well
Uber:
Report an Issue with Uber related to Service Dog denials:
https://help.uber.com/h/f838d975-8076-43f5-8ccf-a368cc507f55
LYFT:
To report a problem, call the Service Animal Hotline at
1-844-250-3174
Or, go to the link below and submit a form from the web:
https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013080048-Service-animal-policy#report
Are you a writer, or do you know a blind or visually impaired student with writing talent? Here’s a chance to improve your finances while showing off your writing skills! Enter the American Printing House for the Blind’s Writing Contest!
In celebration of their 160th anniversary, the American Printing House is conducting a writing contest for: Students with a visual impairment who are enrolled in grades 3-12 for the 2017-2018 school year, Adults with visual impairments who use APH products
Professionals who work in the field as vision (teachers, rehabilitation counselors and others)
Current and former employees of the American Printing House for the Blind are not eligible to enter this contest.
Cash prizes will be awarded in each Grade level and adult category:
First Place — $500
Second Place — $250
Third Place — $100
The categories, official topics and maximum word count are listed below:
Grades 3-5 (Maximum 250 words)
Official Topic: The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) provides specialized tools and materials for people who are blind and visually impaired to learn and to live independently. Write a letter to APH telling us about either your favorite APH product: how you use it, and why you love it, or
A product you would like to invent for APH: what the product would be called; how it would be used; and who would benefit from it.
Grades 6-8 (Maximum 500 words)
Official Topic: Louis Braille, a Frenchman, invented the braille code of tactile reading and writing in 1821. He died in 1852 – six years before APH was founded in 1858. Write a letter to Louis and tell him either how Braille changed the lives of people who are blind, or how APH has changed the lives of people with vision loss since it was founded in 1858.
Grades 9-12 (Maximum 750 words)
Official Topic: Think about the career or vocation you would like to pursue as an adult. Write an essay about how your strengths and interests will help you in this work. What person (or people) has empowered you to succeed? What APH product(s) has best prepared you for work in this area, and what product(s) will you use to become successful in this career or vocation?
Adult Consumers (Maximum 1,000 words)
Official Topic: APH has celebrated many milestones since it was founded in 1858. For example: in 1883 a new building was constructed; in 1932, Standard English Braille became the only tactile reading and writing system produced by APH; in 1974, cassette tapes were introduced in the Talking Book program; and in 2003, Book Port was offered for sale. Write an essay about significant milestones in your life. What factors helped you to accomplish remarkable things and to overcome challenges? What APH product(s) have empowered you along the way?
Professionals (Maximum 1,000 words)
Official Topic: Write an essay about the most creative, unique way you have used an APH product (or products). What is the product and what did it help you (or a student or adult you worked with) accomplish?
You can obtain an entry form and detailed information about this contest at http://www.aph.org/contest/160th-anniversary-essay/
Urgent! Please Contact Your Senators and Ask them to Protect the ADA!
Remember that obnoxious bill that the U. S. House of Representatives voted on — and unfortunately passed — a few weeks ago? The bill that would allow businesses and public entities to claim ignorance of their responsibilities to make their venues AND SERVICES accessible to people with disabilities and give them as long as 18 months to respond to a complaint from a person with a disability? Well, it’s back … — or nearly so! Imagine, after nearly thirty years, businesses are still claiming ignorance of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which became the law of the land in 1990 — and resisting the law’s requirements to make their venues accessible to people with disabilities!
Here’s how you can help!
You can call your Senators to ask them to join Senator Tammy Duckworth’s letter to Senate leadership opposing H.R.620, ADA Education and Reform Act and tell them they should not bring forward H.R. 620 or any similar bill to the Senate floor.
Read the Senator’s letter here: http://www.afb.org/community/announcements/call-senators-today-to-sign-a-letter-opposing-hr-620/12
To date, 39 Senators have signed-on to this letter. Our goal is to reach 41 Senators or greater to make cloture on a Senate bill impossible, thus stopping any effort to weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the Senate before it begins.
H.R. 620, which passed in the House of Representatives last month, would make it harder for people with disabilities to report access barriers in places of public accommodation and would allow business owners and public entities to delay making their businesses and services accessible.
We cannot allow Congress to chip away at the Americans with Disabilities Act and roll back our rights!
Please take a moment to contact your Senators and ask them to sign-on to the “Duckworth ADA letter protecting the rights of people with disabilities.” Some offices have said they will not sign the letter — if that is their response; please ask them to send their own letter that they will release to the public, opposing any bill that will weaken the ADA.
Our top focus is on the Senators below:
New Mexico:
Sen. Tom Udall
(202) 224-6621
Sen. Martin Heinrich
(202) 224-5521
Michigan:
Sen. Gary Peters
(202) 224-6221
North Dakota:
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp
(202) 224-2043
It is also important to contact the Senators below:
West Virginia:
Sen. Joe Manchin
(202) 224-2742
Florida:
Sen. Bill Nelson
(202) 224-5274
Indiana:
Sen. Joe Donnelly
(202) 224-4814
Maine:
Sen. Angus King
(202) 224-5344
You can also call the Capitol Switchboard at
202.224.3121
or
202.224.3091 (TTY)
and ask to be connected to your Senators.
Contacting Congress https://www.contactingcongress.org/
also provides information on how to reach your Senators by email or social media.
The GDUI Announce List
Please share information about this GDUI-Announce list with colleagues and friends who are members of our guide dogs community and support our goals and organization. The ‘Announce List is a one-way list, we try to make it an effective means of learning about our activities, mission and goals. Announcements are distributed, on average, once or twice each month, and we hope that you’ll spread the word about our list and the issues that are important to all of us. Subscribe to the GDUI-Announce e-mail list here: http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/gdui-announce Announcements are also shared on the GDUI web site and on Facebook, as well as via telephonic recording.
Just a few more days to participate in spectacular fund-raising opportunities for GDUI during March! Triple Donations for GDUI through March 31! When you shop at: Smile.Amazon.com, your first SMILE purchase which designates GDUI as your recipient of choice will earn triple SMILE benefits! Go to smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119 and Amazon will donate triple the usual percentage to Guide Dog Users Inc.
And, if you’re thinking about sprucing up your home for spring, Yankee Candles has a special fund-raiser going on as well! SUPPORT GUIDE DOG USERS, INC GROUP #999969764 when you purchase candles and other decorative items from the Yankee Candle Store here: https://www.yankeecandlefundraising.com/store.htm.
Thank you for helping to raise the funds that make GDUI’s advocacy, education, and empathetic support for guide dog users possible!
Whether you are roaming through the snow drifts or gathering daffodils, we wish you a happy spring, and we thank you for your friendship and support.
Sincerely,
Penny Reeder, President
Guide Dog Users, Inc.
mailto:President@GuideDogUsersInc.org
Deanna Noriega, First Vice President
Guide Dog Users, Inc.
mailto:vp1@GuideDogUsersInc.org
GDUI: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/
Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436
Like, visit us, and join our Facebook Group : https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc
Follow us at Twitter: @GDUInc
Enjoy the GDUI Juno Report on ACB Radio Mainstream, at8:00 p.m., EDT, every Friday of every month, here: http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream.
Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml
Or search for the GDUI Juno Report on ITunes or ACBLink. .
Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.
SUPPORT GUIDE DOG USERS, INC GROUP #999969764 when you purchase candles and other decorative items from the Yankee Candle Store here: https://www.yankeecandlefundraising.com/store.htm.
To join the GDUI-Announce List, visit this link: http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/gdui-announce
To subscribe to the GDUI Chat list, visit this link: gduichatlist-subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org
To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link:
businesslist-subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org
A recording of each GDUI announcement is available here: 712.432.1281. Enter the Access Code 488062 followed by the number sign. When prompted, enter the Reference Code, No. 1. The recording will remain available until it is replaced by a recording of the next GDUI Announcement. Please share this information with friends who may not have access to the internet. Thank you. We look forward to sharing information with all of our GDUI members and friends.