“I Can” Public Service Announcement for the Office of

The Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy has produced a Public Service Announcement for the Campaign for Disability Employment’s What Can YOU Do? campaign.

This video celebrates the "can do" abilities of real people with disabilities and captures the message that is the main focus of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

View the video on this site or click here to view it on YouTube:

National Disability Employment AwarenessMonth (NDEAM)

October 2009 is National Disability Employment AwarenessMonth.

In an effort to educate the American public about issues related to disability and employment, Congress designated October as National Disability Employment AwarenessMonth (NDEAM).

What is NDEAM all about. It's about educating and informing the world that people who are blind or have other severe disabilities are capable of participating in today's competitive economy.

DID YOUR KNOW:

• Employment is the key to economic security and personal independence of all Americans, especially those with disabilities.

• According to a national survey, 92 percent of consumers feel more favorably toward companies that hire individuals with disabilities.

• To stay competitive, both public and private employers must seek quality employees from non-traditional employee pools, including the 54million Americans who have disabilities.

• People who are blind or have other severe disabilities remain one of America’s greatest untapped labor resources, with more than 60 percent of this population not employed.

Learn more about AbilityOne online at www.abilityone.org or contact communications@nib.org.

Annual Training Conference: Registration Up, Don't Miss This Exciting Event!

Registration for “AbilityOne: Generation Next, Strategies for the Future” is expected to exceed 2008 levels with more than 400 participants. NIB’s hotel block is quickly filling up so please register soon for the conference and hotel. The NIB/NAEPB Annual Training Conference is scheduled for October 21-24 in Kansas City.

Register your hotel room by close of business on Monday, September 27 to take advantage of the lower conference rate of $149/night (single or double). A limited number of government rate rooms are also available. Make your hotel reservations online or call 816-421-1234. No paper forms are needed.

Conference registration fees are $350 for NIB/NISH associated agency representatives or guests, and $249 for government agency representatives.

NIB has planned three informative and interactive days of meetings, presentations and networking. Download the current agenda to read about the exciting line-up of speakers and programs.

Our “future focused” agenda includes sessions on technology; government and defense procurement opportunities; and managing changing employee and customer demographics. On Friday, October 23 join us as we honor our Employees of the Year!

A general session on Friday morning will feature senior procurement executives from key organizations within the federal government, who will provide information about the future direction of their organizations and how these emerging trends may impact the AbilityOne Program.

The “Sourcing with the AbilityOne Program” panel, moderated by Scottie Knott, NIB Vice President, Operations, will include these panelists:

• 
  Elliott B. Branch, Executive Director, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (DASN), Department of the Navy



• David Drabkin, Deputy Chief Acquisition Officer, Senior Procurement Executive, General Services Administration, Office of the Chief Acquisition Officer



• Nancy M. Heimbaugh, Executive Director, Contracting and Acquisition Management, Defense Supply Center Philadelphia



• Ben McCarter, Assistant Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Procurement) Iraq/Afghanistan, Headquarters Department of the Army, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology)



• Iris B. Cooper, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Acquisition and Logistics.
  

Visit the Events page on the NIB website or use these links for Conference Registration; Hotel Reservations; and the Current Agenda. Bookmark this page to visit regularly for agenda updates or other new conference information.

For more information, contact conferences@nib.org.

NIB Annual Training Conference: Oct 21-23 Kansas CIty

Join more than 300 of your NIB and agency colleagues who have already registered to attend the 2009 NIB/NAEPB Annual Training Conference, scheduled for October 21-24 in Kansas City, Missouri. The theme for this year’s meeting is “AbilityOne: Generation Next, Strategies for the Future.”

Register by September 23 for $275 to save more than 20 percent off the full conference rate of $350. Book your hotel reservations online or by telephone by September 27 to ensure you receive our low conference rate of $149/night (single or double).

Get ready to spend three interesting days with NIB’s exciting speakers and programs where you’ll “get a glimpse of the future” including technology; government and defense procurement opportunities; and managing changing employee and customer demographics. You won’t want to miss the annual banquet on Friday where we honor our Employees of the Year, and networking at the most exciting post-dinner reception ever!

Register by close of business on Wednesday, September 23 to take advantage of lower rates, as shown below:

NIB/NISH Associated Agency Rep
· Discounted Fee: $275
· Conference Fee after September 23: $350
Government Agency Rep
· Discounted Fee: $199
· Conference Fee after September 23: $249
Guest
· Discounted Fee: $275
· Conference Fee after September 23: $350

Note that our group rate for hotel reservations is guaranteed only through Sunday, September 27. Any hotel reservation requests after that date will be based on availability at the group rate.
To register to attend the conference, visit the Events page on the NIB website, where you can also view the current agenda. Bookmark this page to visit regularly for updates about the conference.
To make your hotel reservations, visit the Hyatt Regency Crown Center’s website at http://crowncenter.hyatt.com/groupbooking/mkcrkniba2009.
For more information, contact conferences@nib.org.

NIB Participates in United We Serve

Having trouble viewing this video? Click here to download QuickTime.

NIB is encouraging 100% participation in the United We Serve initiative. We would like all of our associated agencies to submit volunteer opportunities and events online at www.serve.gov/. We're under 1 month away from the September 11th deadline; it's time to show full support.

Download easy to follow directions on how to log on and register your volunteer effort under NIB at serve.gov.

For more information on how to register your volunteer events and opportunities contact kjamieson@nib.org.

National Industries for the Blind Jump-Starts Reading Program with Local Community Center

National Industries for the Blind (NIB) is a non-profit organization benefiting those who are blind or visually impaired by helping them gain economic and personal independence through employment opportunites from the AbilityOne program, so when we heard about United We Serve, we knew our employees would be eager to get involved.

In our efforts to contribute, we have joined with the local Charles Houston Community Center in Alexandria, Virginia to initiate a summer reading program designed to encourage kids to read and to help improve literacy rates during the summer months. NIB kick-started this reading program Monday, July 27 through Thursday, July 30, and dubbed it “Education Week”. NIB employees, both blind and sighted, took the time to volunteer with the children at the center.

Throughout the week, they read to children of different ages, ranging from five to 12 years-old. They also took some time to teach the children about what it is like being blind or visually impaired.

Some of the week’s activities included Elizabeth Shelby and Rebecca Bridges, an NIB employee who is blind, reading a twin vision, Braille and print, version of “Helen Keller and the Big Storm” to the kids.

“It’s a little cliché,” Bridges said jokingly, but the children enjoyed listening and learning about the life of Helen Keller. After they finished reading, Bridges passed the Braille book around for the children to see and feel.

During another session at the center, Catherine Schultz and Stephanie Perry took some time after reading to explain to the children what it means to have impaired vision. They gave each child a card that enabled them to visualize the difference stages of vision loss when you hold the card up to your eyes.

The last two days at the center, NIB employees interacted with older age groups and organized activities where the kids were blindfolded to get a glimpse of what it might be like to be blind. “This is really hard,” said one young girl from the center when she tried to stand up.

The kids had a great time with our employees and asked us to come back soon. There’s even a possibility of a field trip to the NIB office to show them what we do and introduce them to technologies that enable people who are blind or visually impaired to hold jobs.
With funds decreasing for the Charles Houston Community Center, we hope to continue our reading program throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall, while also making ourselves available to kids for tutoring.

What we love about the United We Serve initiative is the domino effect that occurs when you do something for the better and help in the community. We are happy to say that we have already inspired others and hope it continues. Two 11-year-old girls from the community center approached Connie Wilson and Derrick Draughn at the end of their reading session hoping to get advice about where they could read to younger children, too.

NIB extends a special thanks to Rebecca Bridges, Elizabeth Shelby, Catherine Schultz, Stephanie Perry, Michelle Hobby, Sarah Schraven, Connie Wilson and Derrick Draughn for volunteering at the Charles Houston Community Center.

Written by: Kelly Jamieson. Kelly helped to coordinate all the readers and gets photo credits for all the pictures during Education Week.

My Day As a Volunteer with Local Kids - "What a gift!"

Wednesday was an overcast and somewhat dreary day. The stories flew about previous experiences so we were walking in with our preconceived notions and unease already. 10 year olds are intimidating. 25 10 year olds are downright daunting…or so we thought. We heard them coming down the hall with their teacher emphasizing her instructions on their behavior specifically what NOT to do. We looked at each other and smiled with trepidation realizing we had to show no fear. We decided to take our cue from their instructor and went to work having the kids set up the chairs. Our first success, they listened and followed our instructions to the letter.

We sat the kids across from each other in 2 rows, one row with blindfolds and one without. We were going to have them step into the shoes of a person who was blind and a person who would guide. They donned their blindfolds and we handed out the Braille cards to their guides. They were instructed to had the cards to their person who was “blind”. The kids who were “blind” had to ask yes or no questions to figure out what was in their hands. Their guides could only answer accordingly. Once they figured out what was in their hands, they were to raise their hands. The clamor of discussions to unravel the mystery in their hands went on for 5 minutes. Those that discovered it beamed with pride. Those that didn’t were impressed with what they didn’t figure out and even more so when they realized they got to keep it.

We demonstrated the different degrees of blindness and the light in the room that became the kids realization of this could have lit up the building. It’s a true wonder when you are lucky enough to share something with someone they sincerely didn’t know and truly appreciate learning. We furthered our enlightenment with little tidbits of wonder at what the blind community is capable of. We expanded the kids world to realize they experience similar interactions at stop lights with the beeping sound to signal safety crossing the street, at elevators when they see and can feel the Braille used to determine the direction of the elevator or gender of the bathroom.

They realized they knew more than they thought and the “click” of that light of realization going on was music to their minds! They were enraptured by Helen Keller’s life and stepped into her darkness when we read about her climbing a tree for her pleasure at nature and a sudden storm trapping her there. Her rescue by her friend Annie was a relief to the faces that listened. We asked them questions to guess at her life’s timeline and they hollered their responses desperate to be heard if their answer was right.

We could have stayed for hours with the questions they had. I could have sat on that floor and continued delving into their world for the rest of the day. I thought so proudly of how I was going to educate these kids in a creative way about the blind community. That may have happened to a couple of the kids but I walked away wanting more. Their thirst for knowledge and bright minds with all the different ways to look and ask their questions allowing us to draw them out was a true honor. I think they had more of an impact on me than I on them. What a gift! When can I do this again?


Sarah Schraven
Services Manager, Projects
National Industries for the Blind

First-person account of her volunteer experience through United We Serve and NIB