AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND OF OHIO

EVENTS AND ISSUES

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EVENTS AND ISSUES

1 ACB of Ohio Board Meeting

The Next board meeting for the ACB of Ohio will be on Saturday, January 24 at the Holiday Inn on the Lane in Columbus. Guests are welcome. The business meeting will be held from 8:00 a.m. until noon. Committees will meet from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00.

2 2009ACB of Ohio Winter Sports Retreat

The 21st annual ACB of Ohio Winter Sports Retreat will be held from Friday January 16th through Monday January 19th, Martin Luther King Holiday weekend, at Punderson State Park near Cleveland. The cost is $270, which includes three nights lodging at the Punderson Manor House, double Occupancy, six delicious meals, which include a Sunday brunch, a wine and cheese party, square dancing and many other activities that do not require cash. If you can only stay two nights the cost will be $245. The cost does not include ski rental. If you plan to cross country ski and you need to rent ski equipment, please make sure to state your height and shoe size on the application.

If you would like to participate in the 2008 Winter Sports Retreat, please complete an application, which you can request from the ACB-Ohio office, and return it with a $100 deposit by December 15th to ACB-O WSR, c/o Leah Wachtell, 4542 Leo St., Cincinnati, OH 45217. The remaining balance can be sent later, if you wish, but will be collected at Punderson on Friday night. Please make checks payable to ACB-O Winter Sports Retreat. Applications will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis.

PLEASE NOTE: Based on the cancellation clause in the contract ACB Ohio has with Punderson State Park, we cannot refund any money for cancellations received after December 15, 2008. If you have any questions or concerns, or know anyone who would be interested in being a skier or guide, please call Leah Wachtell at 513-242-4232 or Mary Hiland, ACB-O Executive Director at 1-800-835-2226.

We are anticipating that stipends will be available again this year for guides and skiers who may need financial assistance. Money will be made available on a first come, first serve basis. So please get your application in as soon as possible. Hope to see you there.

3 Safety of Blind Pedestrians Update

For Immediate Release

April 22, 2008

Rep. Don Young Joins the American Council of the Blind in
Supporting the Safety of Blind Pedestrians

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) joined with the American Council of the Blind (ACB) today in demonstrating his continued commitment to the safety of blind pedestrians by signing on as a co-sponsor to H.R. 5734, The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008.

“The auto industry has made amazing technological strides over the past decade that have allowed our automobiles to be more energy efficient and to burn cleaner,” Young said. “This is to be commended, but, as with most advancements in technology, it has given us a newer and different set of issues to look at. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of these newer hybrid cars is that the noise level produced has been greatly reduced, leading to safety issues for those who are visually impaired. The safety of people is something I take very seriously, and for that reason I am proud to be a co-sponsor of H.R. 5734, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act. I am encouraged that Congress is looking into this issue and that we are looking to do something about this as soon as possible. Let’s continue to use our technology for good and use it to keep people safe.”

“ACB has a long history of being the leader in the blindness community regarding pedestrian safety issues and was pleased to see that much of the language in H.R.5734 mirrored draft legislation our staff had been working to have introduced by Congressman Young,” said Mitch Pomerantz, President of the American Council of the Blind. When vision is reduced or completely eliminated as a means of understanding and responding to one’s environment, an individual’s hearing takes over as the primary source of environmental information. Traditionally, people who are blind or visually impaired have learned to rely on their hearing to navigate safely across streets and through other vehicular ways, such as parking lots. In so doing, the sound of traffic is their primary focus. Traffic sounds provide information about such things as the position of vehicles, their direction of travel, and the speed at which they are likely to move. With this information, the pedestrian can make informed decisions about when to cross a street or other vehicular ways safely.

Pomerantz said, “This issue is one that the entire blindness community is united in supporting. I urge ACB membership to contact their members of Congress to ask them to co-sponsor this legislation, as this is an opportunity to bring real change and make blind pedestrians’ lives safer.”

This legislation is being sponsored by Reps. Edolfus "Ed" Towns (D-N.Y.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.).

About H.R. 5734:
The bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a study beginning within 90 days of enactment of this legislation, and to complete it within two years of its commencement, at which time, the secretary shall report the study’s findings to Congress. Within 90 days after the conclusion of the study, the secretary is then directed to establish a standard that will take in to account the results of the study, and will set forth the minimum information that must be provided by motor vehicles required for blind and other pedestrians to travel safely and independently in urban, rural, and residential environments. The bill provides that the standard shall apply to all "new motor vehicles."

About ACB:
The American Council of the Blind is the largest consumer-based organization of blind and visually impaired Americans advocating for the rights of blind Americans. Comprised of more than 70 affiliates across the entire United States, the organization is dedicated to making it possible for blind and visually impaired Americans to participate fully in every aspect of American society.

For more information about the American Council of the Blind, and the issues it supports, visit www.acb.org or contact the American Council of the Blind, 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 1004, Washington, DC 20005; phone (202) 467-5081 or toll-free, 1-800-424-8666.

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4 Low vision services available

UDS Low Vision Services has received a generous grant from the United Disability Services Women’s Board. The grant is to be utilized to provide low vision services and other specialized early intervention services for very young children in our community who are blind or visually impaired. For more information, contact Dr. Cheryl Reed at (330)996-4080 or creed@udsakron.org.

5 Two ways to help ACB-Ohio

Got an old cell phone lying around the house and you don’t know what to do with it? Don’t throw it away. If you do, toxic chemicles will leak into the soil and spoil the environment. If you hold onto them and bring them to your next chapter meeting, you’ll be helping the environment and ACB too. Your chapter representative will bring all collected phones to the next board meeting, where they will be collected and then sent in for a cash refund. We will get anywhere from 50 cents to $50 per phone. This is to be an ongoing project, so tell all your friends and family to bring you their discarded cell phones. No chargers or instruction books are needed. If you don’t belong to a chapter, bring them with you to the state convention, the summer retreat, the family seminar, or the tandem bike rally.

Do you shop at Kroger? Wouldn’t it be nice if a portion of what you spend at the grocery store would automatically be sent to ACB? Starting immediately, it can. All you do is purchase a special Kroger card that is programmed to take 5% of your total and send it to ACB. Here’s how it works. Send $5 for each Kroger caard you would like to the ACB-Ohio office. The $5 activates the card. Mary will order the cards, then send them to you. When you go to Kroger, first stop at the customer service desk and put at least enough money into that card to pay for the groceries. When you check out, instead of using cash, a check, or a credit card, use this special card. That’s how we get the 5%. Then, of course, you will need to keep replenishing the amount of money that card is worth, just like a gift card. If you belong to a chapter, the 5% that you have earned for us, just by buying groceries, will be split between the Ohio affiliate and your local chapter. If you are a member at large, the whole 5% goes to the Ohio affiliate. If you have questions, please call our tole free number. Then, let’s go Krogering!

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