ACB Advocacy Update

This week on the ACB Advocacy Update, join us as we highlight some of the people and presenters who attended our DC Leadership Meetings. Listeners will hear ACB members reflect on their experiences during the meetings, as well as the legislative seminar lunchtime presentation from Managing Director of the Signal Group, Charles Cooper.

This week on the ACB Advocacy Update, Clark Rachfal, Claire Stanley, and Eric Bridges speak to a very exciting guest - the one and only Tony Stephens! Tony will be returning to ACB as our new Director of Development. Join them as they talk about his new position and what he will be bringing to ACB.

Link to transcript: https://acb.org/ACB-advocacy-update-2-27-20-transcript

On this episode of the Advocacy Update, Claire and Clark speak with Karen Woon, Vice President of Marketing, Guide Dogs for the Blind, about the new docuseries, Pick of the Litter, streaming now on Disney+. Karen shares the exciting work that went into filming and accurately representing the long journey for six puppies to become trained guide dogs. Included in this series is ACB’s own, Claire Stanley, and her new guide dog, Tulane!
To learn more about Guide Dogs for the Blind, visit: www.guidedogs.com.
To learn more about Disney+, including how to watch Pick of the Litter with audio description, check out the Audio Description Project: https://acb.org/adp/disneyad.html.

On this episode of the ACB Advocacy Update, Claire and Clark speak with Margaret Hart, Counsel, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, about the passage of S.B. 94 in West Virginia. For far too long, voting with a paper ballot by mail has been the only way to vote absentee in most states, which disenfranchises many voters with disabilities from having equal access to absentee voting. In West Virginia, the passage of S.B. 94 allows voters with disabilities to mark, cast and verify their ballot electronically. On this podcast, we discuss this issue and the great work of ACB, the Washington Lawyer’s Committee, the state of West Virginia and others who made this policy change happen. To learn more about the Washington Lawyer’s Committee, please visit: www.washlaw.org. To read the ACB press release on this issue, please visit: https://www.acb.org/ACB-commends-WV-accessible-absentee-voting.

On this episode of the ACB Advocacy Update, Claire and Clark discuss the looming application deadline for the 2020 ACB scholarships. First, they speak with ACB Scholarship Committee co-Chair, Denise Colley, about the important role these scholarships play in furthering the ACB mission, and the new scholarship partnership between ACB and the American Foundation for the Blind. Then, they speak with Sasha Somuah about how receiving an ACB scholarship has positively impacted her life and personal advocacy. To learn more about the ACB scholarships, including how to apply by the Friday, Feb. 14, deadline, visit: www.acb.org/scholarships.
To access a transcript of this podcast, please visit: https://acb.org/ACB-Advocacy-Update-2-6-20-transcript

This is preparation information for the Legislative Seminar recorded by The American Council of the Blind Membership Services Coordinator, Cindy Van Winkle.

On this episode of the ACB Advocacy Update, Claire and Clark discuss the ACB Legislative Seminar and the three legislative imperatives for 2020. To learn more about the 2020 DC Leadership Meetings and Legislative seminar, including how to register, please visit: https://acb.org/2020-DC-leadership-meetings.

A transcript of this podcast is available at: https://acb.org/ACB-advocacy-update-1-23-20-transcript

Update: We fixed the low volume issues that existed in this edition of the podcast.

On this episode of the ACB Advocacy Update, Claire and Clark speak with Heidi Simon from America Walks. They discuss the overlapping missions of our two organizations, and the work that we are doing to make our neighborhoods and cities more pedestrian-friendly.
To learn more about America Walks visit: www.americawalks.org.
A transcript of this podcast is available at: www.acb.org/ACB-advocacy-update-1-16-20-transcript.

This week on the ACB Advocacy Update, ACB Advocacy and Outreach Specialist Claire Stanley speaks with Stacy Cervanka from the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). ACB and AFB are working together to encourage Congress to include language in the 2020 Surface Transportation bill that would positively affect the transportation rights and access for blind and visually impaired Americans.
A transcript of this podcast is available at: https://acb.org/ACB-Advocacy-Update-Transcript-1-9-20

On this, the final Advocacy Update podcast for 2019, Clark Rachfal, ACB Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs, Eric Bridges, ACB Executive Director, and Dan Spoone, ACB President, discuss the organizational progress and advocacy accomplishments of 2019 and tease what ACB has planned for 2020. This was a year of transformation and growth for ACB, made possible by our members, partners, and of course individual supporters.