20250325 Tuesday Topics Originally Broadcasted March 25, 2025, on ACB Media 1 Participants shared their stories about spring traditions, sports, and memorable moments! From March Madness, Baseball, to April Fools' pranks, Lent, and Easter, let’s talk about how this season impacts our lives.

Hear how a new affiliate has survived its first five years. This program is the third in a series. The first explored the ways ACB consciously works to create and foster leadership. The second program explored how our policies ought to be applied in times of uncertainty and perhaps even outright hostility to many of our cherished values. This time we o explore and celebrate one of ACB'S newest affiliates which is celebrating its fifth birthday. How has Next Gen done? What do they see as their strengths and weaknesses? What are their plans for the future? Do they contemplate major changes? How do they measure success? Is it based just on members? Does it depend on contributions to ACB? Right now membership is, I think, limited to people under forty. That may have changed! Does Next Gen believe it should fundamentally alter what it does, who can be members or altering its objectives. The idea of consciously creating an affiliate whose members have to be younger than the average ACB member seems like a good one! Has it worked?

Join us as we explore difficult questions and invite you to share your views of where ACB should go! We will explore what we believe is an important issue. There has been a lot of debate recently on the lists about how ACB should function in the future especially in an environment where some cherished liberal values are being questioned. Should ACB confine its role to dealing with blindness issues? How much should we be involved in DEI and DEIA issues? We have a longstanding history of coalitioning with other Civil Rights organizations. What have we gained from that involvement? To what extent have other organizations been prepared to be vocal on blindness issues? To what degree have minority members of ACB been welcomed by other civil rights groups? Is there danger for ACB if we align ourselves with a range of groups seeking recognition of controversial elements such as gender dysphoria? Is there a middle road? Are we obliged by our history to go all in for civil rights for minorities of all kinds? Where should we stand with regard to gender, to race, to national origin, to religion, and to other traditional components of civil rights legislation. We have put together a panel of individuals who represent a range of views. It is also my hope that you will make your opinion heard on issues that are neither easy nor simple!

Tuesday Topics will once more welcome folks who strive mightily to develop new leaders for the American Council of the Blind. I of course refer to the folks from the Durward k. McDaniel committee who also work on the Chase Fellows Program. In addition they conduct the Berle Colley Leadership group. Actually they may be different committees but I hope that we will have a chance to hear from all the groups that are working on developing new leaders for ACB. In previous years we have had a chance to hear from former Chase folks and DKM winners as well as getting an idea of how the Leadership Institute is doing and details concerning the mentorship program. This is being handled by separate committees so I am hoping that all of those groups will be represented. At the heart of what all these groups are doing is an understanding that ACB needs to create new leaders. We have found various ways to do this and ACB needs to know just how effective all these approaches are!

Holly days, holy days, holidays! In February there are several! Which are they and what do they mean? From 7:00 to 9:00 eastern time on February 4 Tuesday Topics will be available on a variety of platforms. We have been somewhat serious over the past few shows so this time we want to explore three holidays or, perhaps more accurately, two birthdays and a holiday. Abraham Lincoln and George Washington create Presidents' Day and on February 14 cupid appears for Valentine's day. We would love to hear about your most unusual cupid day or really any story you would care to tell about that holiday. Did you send out cards in school? Did you send out just one card in school? Were there embarrassing Valentine occurrences? Many people don't pay much attention to Presidents' Day. Should we care more? What qualities do we celebrate with both of the named chief executives? Are they worthwhile?

Tuesday Topics will continue our discussion of employment. As often happens, we are unable to handle everything we plan for when we get into our Tuesday Topic. on our last program there was lots to learn and lots to think about and lots that's worth hearing. I encourage many of you who did not listen to go get our podcast. Represented on our show was ACB'S Employment Committee and our Government Employees affiliate. We covered what both employment groups are doing but what we were not able to do is get to the really current element of our discussion. A lot is happening with the Federal government! How will it affect people with disabilities? What should ACB do about it? We are told that people with disabilities will not be seriously affected. Many do not believe this! We will explore what is going on. We will consider the future of employment for people with disabilities. In addition to looking at Federal employment, we will consider employment at the state and local level. Has that been altered by the new rule concerning title Ii of the Americans with Disabilities Act that went into effect last April? I think there is still more to be said about how we can work with Vocational Rehabilitation. We will have some new members of the employment committee who were not a part of our first show and Patrick Sheehan will be back to represent Government Employees!

There is some disagreement about the exact percentage of people who are blind who are unemployed and apparently unable to find work. What is clear is that well over half of those supposedly seeking jobs are not finding them. ACB has set up an employment committee to work on these issues and we will be exploring with some of its members what they have been up to since we last talked with them. We have also invited Patrick Sheehan of the Government Employment affiliate. Without holding anyone responsible for taking actions on all of the issues that are out there, we will consider some questions that we have not asked before. How well is Vocational Rehabilitation doing? Can we make it better? How? How much is artificial intelligence affecting the unemployment rate? Are many people who are blind being denied interviews because they are triaged out of the picture because of lack of experience or their disability or not having a driver's license. What should we do if this is happening? The new administration has taken actions concerning some Federal employees. Do we need to be concerned? If so, why and what should we do about any concern we may have? You probably have questions about employment as well and certainly have experiences you have had job hunting. We will invite you to talk about what happened and we will offer suggestions about what might make things better!

Right at the end of our last show a question was raised that I hope will be sufficient to keep us talking for our whole program. The question that was raised was "Have you ever played the blind card"? It will be interesting to see if my notion of what that question means is the same as Brian's who actually asked it. For me, the "blind card" means that you are making it clear that you are blind so as to acquire an advantage that you might otherwise not have. Allowing yourself to be moved to the front of a line in the airport because your cane was noticed might be an example. Acquiring a permit that allows you to use a disabled parking spot might be another. There are lots of times on calls when we might say "I am blind". This may or may not confer an advantage! Is it fine to play "the blind card"? When is it not appropriate? When is it mandatory that you play it! Missouri and Australia both have blind pensions regardless of income. Is this a good thing or not? I think virtually all counties offer an extra homestead exemption for people who are blind. Is this appropriate? I hope you will think of times when the "blind card" is a good thing and I suspect that some of you will tell us about times the "blind card" should not be played.

on Tuesday January 14 Tuesday Topics will be available in aeall its usual forms and places. By Tuesday the year will be two weeks old and many of us will have made resolutions that we are teetering on the brink of losing control of as other activities fill our days. How can we change that? What is the value of making resolutions? Are there positive benefits, asieade from the obvious ones, that happen because we stick to what we say we are going to do? Can we take specific steps that will make maintaining our resolutions more likely? What are the benefits beyond the resolutions themselves of following through?

We will once more have the two Debbies, Debbie Hazelton and Debbee Armstrong, our psychological gurus to help us sort through all the intricacies of the resolutions reality.

Tuesday Topics will begin its two hour fairwell to 2024. What were the high points? What are things we will be glad to see the last of, if any? Were there technological developments of consequence in the blindness field? How about ACB? What was 2024 like for our organization? A special interest affiliate became our largest chapter. We held a convention in Jacksonville where those present were about the same as those attending via zoom. We found ourselves with lots of debates but continued to grow our internet presence. We have a new Executive Director and have said good bye and hello to a number of employees. There are new resolutions we have passed; new initiatives we have begun; and new causes and concerns we have begun to espouse. The country and the world have also changed! Join us as we explore the year that almost was and will have been soon!