Grabbing a fireworks image from somewhere the New Year has already arrived, St. Petersburg Russia where RantWoman has spent time but never greeted the New Year.
This item started out as a top-10 list about things to do with blindness. But the topic and the item count both drifted a little.
10. Beep Baseball vs Seattle Police Department: this was great outreach. Some sighted friends of mine went because they are interested in sports and went with friends of theirs. The friends' little girl was fascinated by the ball that beeps.
10. The WA Council of the Blind newsletter editor beats breast cancer.
9. Cindy Bennett and Mike Mello for standing up for themselves about being treated atrociously by a Metro driver. A lot of drivers do a great job about serving all their diverse passengers. Some are only so-so. Some are awful and need to be encouraged to improve. I am glad the new NFB WA president called the media and I am glad Metro recognizes their mistake. I think bus driver training is an ongoing need!
An item about this from the Seattle Times:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/12/blind-couple-barred-from-bus-in-seattle-metro-apologizes/
8. A great young WA Council of the Blind member for standing up for herself about the mistaken labelling or her pre-employment drug screen.
8. All the Deaf people working with Flying House Productions about sign language interpreting and the Seattle Men's Chorus longtime relationship with Kevin Gallagher.
7. Sen-elect Cyrus Habib D 48 elected Minority Whip of the WA state Senate for the upcoming session. When Sen Habib was elected to the WA state House he served on the House transportation Committee and helped a cross-disability coalition formulate a really clear legislative ask for more money for the Special Needs Transportation Fund. The legislature is still working on an overall transportation bill and the increased funding is still part of the bill. It will be interesting to see what Sen. Habib can help accomplish in the upcoming session.
6. All the WA Council of the Blind members, former EAC members and other blind people who continue to participate in universal design and livable cities organizations and Seattle area citizen boards and commissions. The more of us who show up, the more opportunities we have to bring our valuable perspectives to different issues.
5. All the WA Council of the Blind folks who shared your experiences when I posted a question about audible pedestrian signals.
4. Seattle chapter member Peggy Martinez and the Lighthouse Action Team for working with the SE Seattle District Council and the Seattle Dept of Transportation on some major pedestrian enhancements on Walker St in Seattle, part of multiple walking routes to the Lighthouse and Center Park and other organizations / events in surrounding buildings.
3. Cindy Bennett and people she works with at the UW Information school for working to incorporate accessibility into the design of computer systems. Until now there is not even a systematic way to teach accessibility as part of a computer science program and the work Cindy is part of should lay some important groundwork.
2. The WA Council of the Blind scholarship committee and scholarship winners. I am impressed that two of the winners will be the first person in their families to go to college.
1. All the amazing work that goes into the annual WA Council of the Blind conventions
Another big shout-out to everyone who helps keep our local chapters running.
Warm Wishes to all for a very Happy New Year.
On the horizon for 2015:
--More ways for WA health care consumers to get aucdible prescription labels?
--The 25th Anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Actt. How will YOU celebrate? How will we allrenew our energies for everything we need?
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