Albany hosts Georgia Federation of the Blind convention

ALBANY — The National Federation of the Blind in Georgia held its annual convention at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Albany this weekend. Organization members gathered at the hotel for amenities and events that included food, vendors and a silent auction. The group gathered to discuss legislation that impacts the blind community and new programs, resources and technology.

The weekendlong event began with a Seniors’ Possibilities Fair on Friday, where the elderly gathered to network and learn more about their options in Georgia. Greg Aikens, president of the federation, explained that the fair targeted the needs of people who are older and who have either been blind for a long time or who have maybe just gone blind to connect the elderly to resources.

“We are primarily an advocacy group,” Aikens said. “We’re blind people speaking for blind people. We organize and make the lives that we want to live, so we work on things like access to education, access to employment, even just access to information, you know, like getting access to the newspaper. We have a newsline service that’s available across the country where people can get access to print newspapers either through the phone or they can read them through an app on the computer.

“We’re part of a national organization that has chapters in all the different states, and here on the state level in Georgia, we have chapters in local cities like there’s one here in Albany. But we have a lot of programs for youth trying to help students transition from high school to either work or college. We have a lot of programs around increasing braille literacy for young children. A lot of children don’t have access to good braille instruction, so we do summer programs.”

Aikens said that if you were to put what the National Federation of the Blind believes into a nutshell, it would be that the organization knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines an individual or the individual’s future. He said that every day the organization works to raise expectations because “low expectations create barriers between blind people and our dream.” He also said that the organization believes that blind people can live the lives they want, and that it’s not blindness that holds them back as much as low expectations of others or the blind people themselves.

“We believe in the power of blind people, and that’s why we’re here to get everybody together and empower them and to make changes whether that’s educational changes or even changing the law to give us more independence and freedom and things like that,” Aikens said.

“The issue that we’re working on currently is a law to protect the rights of blind parents, and right now, unfortunately, in Georgia and all across the country, there are instances where someone comes across a blind parent and is worried that they might not be able to fulfill that roll for no other reason than the fact that they just see a blind person. They have no idea how a blind person might do that, so what has happened is that a well-meaning social worker or medical professional has called the Department of Family and Children Services, and the child is taken away for no reason except for that the parent is blind. We had a bill in this last state legislature to protect the rights of blind parents. It got dropped too late, so we weren’t able to get it through. We’re going to reintroduce that back this next session.”

Aikens said the NFB of Georgia chose Albany as its convention destination for two reasons. He noted that the organization has not been to Albany since 1993. Another reason was that the local Albany chapter was excited about the possibility of hosting the convention. The local chapter, he said, “blew them out of the water” by getting local involvement, sponsors and people to attend.

The group planned a White Cane Rally in Ray Charles Plaza Saturday. October is National Meet the Blind Month, and Oct. 15 is White Cane Safety Day.

“For us, the white cane is a mobility tool, but it’s a symbol of independence,” Aikens said. “It kind of represents us not having to just sit at home and do things. It’s the tool that we use to get out and be independent and mobile so we’re going to — because it’s October and Meet the Blind Month — have a public event where we can kind of celebrate our independence and get people all excited about the work we’re doing as far as legislative work and all of our programs.”

The Sign Language Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses volunteered for the event, offering aid and assistance to the convention goers. According to Congregation Overseer Dan Johnson, the congregation offered to volunteer for all three days of the convention. The volunteers wore red shirts because, Johnson explained, some attendees who are partially blind can see the color red easiest.

For more information about the NFB of Georgia, visit their website at nfbga.org.

Gypsy Crow