By the time this posts, RantWoman will have spent time at two different blindness organization events on the East Coast. RantWoman will have successfully avoided both airports and jet lag. The downside of Zoom travel though is that RantWoman will just miss any activities that occur before her regular rising hour in the Pacific Time Zone. Luckily the state convention of the MA affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind held the events RantWoman is most interested in at hours when RantWoman is awake.
Consider a short speech by Alex Gray who is running for an at-large seat on the Boston City Council.
Points that impressed RantWoman:
Alex spoke of losing vision starting in elementary school and rough patches as he moved into middle school continued to be mainstreamed
--Alex spoke of how much difference it made in participation when a youth program offered stipends to the participants.
--Alex spoke both of the importance of learning to listen better and of the value of advocating without apology for one's needs.
--Alex is interested in a citywide position specifically because his work in the mayor's office has taken him all over the city and because all people with disabilities need representation on the city council.
RantWoman also finds the structure of the Boston city Council interesting: there are 9 districts and 4 at-large positions. In Seattle people have to declare which at-large position they are running for. In Boston, there is an open primary and up to 8 people advance to the general election. After the general election, the top 4 vote-getters are elected.
The session ended before RantWoman got a chance to ask something about accessible processes and accessible recordkeeping, but RantWoman lives in Seattle, not Boston and someone else can ask about Boston.
For more info about the campaign, see Alex Gray campaign website
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