[desert-voice] A few things to update you here on desert voice

Hello everyone,
I hope things are going well with everyone. I'm looking forward to our next 
meeting. I'll announce that on the site as a forum post. 
I have some things to run by here on desert voice, most of them positive and 
really cool. 
Unfortunately, there's one little piece of bad news, so I thought I'd get that 
over with.

Recently, just in case no one knew about it, they had the anual ACB convention 
in Louisville Kentucky. They had discussed a bill that the nfb was trying to 
pass. Apparently, I didn't know this until now, but employers are allowed to 
apply for certificates here in the US that allows them to pay disabled workers 
less than the minimum wage. I really didn't know this. I think this might be 
the reason people like Jeremy and Debbie get paychecks of like 6 to 10 dollars 
every couple weeks. It doesn't matter what you're doing for work, even if it is 
the simplest things. We need to give that person confidence in knowing that 
they have a real job,, but apparently they are being taken advantage of by 
being paid less than the minimum wage. This affects me greatly, because I have 
to always keep encouraging my husband that he's doing a good job, but he 
constantly thinks he's a failure because he's only getting little tiny 
paychecks. I realize that his organization is a non-profit organization and 
they are doing the best that they can, but no worker should be paid less than 
minimum wage, reguardless of their disability. 

The NFB wanted to pass a bill that would get rid of that, and wanted there to 
be at least a fare minimum wage for those with disabilities. This is one thing 
I believe in, even though the nfb doesn't have good ways of solving problems. 
Some one had posted an excerpt of audio from the convention that's only a few 
minutes long. This was audio at the CCB convention. I really didn't like it, 
because first of all, they wanted to move on the motion that this bill do not 
be passed. They wanted this nfb bill that would make it the law that employers 
pay their workers minimum wage to not pass. The gentleman who was speaking 
clearly stated in an irritated voice that this was an NFB bill and that they 
were moving on a do not pass solution. The shocking thing is, while I listened 
to this audio, I heard him also say that this wouldn't affect a majority of 
blind people, about 98 percent of blind people. What about the rest of the 
blind people, even those with other disabilities? Do they not matter? I really 
feel that it is unfair that employers are actually allowed to pay disabled 
workers less than the minimum wage. The nfb was trying to change that, and I 
believe that because it was an nfb bill, that was enough reason to make the ACB 
decide to vote to not pass it. I really think this battle of the organizations 
is really getting out of hand, and we're the ones to suffer for it.
I'll post the link to this excerpt of audio. If possible, I want you to 
download it. I'm so shocked that no one at the convention spoke up. They just 
let  them vote on this do not pass solution. I'm sorry, but  I don't care who 
you are, you should still be at least paid the minimum wage for your hours.
I really can't believe the ACB went against this bill. As much as I dislike the 
nfb's logic in some issues, I think they had something right by passing this 
bill. I'm gonna post the link below for you to download this audio. Tell me 
what you think.
http://t.co/2Ojs1DT

Moving on to the next thing I'd like to discuss in this email. I decided to 
create a category sometime next week on our blog called getting to know us. I 
thought it would be neat to make seperate blog posts for each indicidual so 
they can sort of introduce themselves to whomever should read the blog on the 
site. Linda already posted a comment to the main blog post. I was thinking of 
making that a seperate post in this category. I thought that I can start 
collecting sort of a biography from each of you and put it up there on the 
blog, so that people can get to know the group. You can email me here on the 
list with your bios, or, you can write them in a word document and attach it to 
an email. Whatever you feel comfortable doing. I thought this owuld be perfect 
to get a bio of everyone on the site. Tell me what you think of that idea. For 
those who can't write a bio, I'll record one with them while we're at the 
meeting if we get the chance.

The next order of business is actually quite neat. i was browsing online for a 
phone chat line for Jeremy to try. He likes to chat on phone systems more than 
typing on the computer. Anyway, I found a different conferencing system. The 
cool thing about this is although it is a long distance number, it's a number 
dedicated spacifically to us. You can create your own custom greeting and the 
business will record it for you for free. Not only that, but  you can make up 
your own access code. I wanted you guys to try out this new conferencing system 
and tell me what you think. Here are the steps to follow
1. Dial this number: (218)895-3017
It will say the following greeting that I set up: Welcome to the desert voice 
conference line. This is a fun and positive place, so please be clean and 
respectful towards others. Thank you. Then it will tell you that the service 
was brought to you by free conference pro, and to enter your code.
I made up the code that spells fun, 411. The code goes like this: 386411
If you want, the cool thing about this service is that I can sign you up for 
individual accounts, and you guys can have your own codes if you ever needed to 
have your own private rooms. I thought this would be great with this new 
number. The callers will be greeted with something more than just a generic 
greeting and it will let them know they are in the right place. If you wanted, 
you can invite people to these conference calls as well, and what I really like 
is that you can also lock the conference so people don't keep coming in and 
causing interuptions.
Anyway, tell me what you guys think of this new system. I think it's pretty 
neat!
I've gotta go, the hubby just got home, but I thought I would run these things 
by you so you are all informed.
Take care, everyone and have a good day. I'll see you at the meeting.
Melissa Roe

Sent from my iPhone

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