Press Releases and News
The NFBI 2008 Convention was featured in ISVI's
monthly newsletter for November 2008. (Requires Adobe Reader) 
Freedom Link - Sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois & The Illinois Association of Blind Students
A program for blind high school students, grades 9 through 12. We will have educational field trips, hands-on learning, fun and fellowship. This program goes from September 2008 through August 2009, with our first meeting on September 27, 2008. Meetings will be held once a month.
Download a copy of the Freedom Link Application and the Freedom Link Flier. (Microsoft Word format)
Ronza Othman was published in the Letters to the Editor in the Southtown Star.
Lipinski: Group needs to talk to you
Dear U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski:
I am writing to you using this forum because you have failed to respond to all my other attempts to meet with you to discuss issues of importance to my organization and me.
I am a member of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois. Each year, we attempt to persuade our elected officials that our political agenda is the one they should support when it comes to determining policies and programs that will enable those who are blind to live independently.
We are concerned about a number of issues, including the impact of quiet cars on blind people's ability to travel independently, Social Security reform, funding the National Library Service's Talking Book Program and others. I have attempted to schedule meetings with you no less than six times in the past two years. I've tried visiting you at both your Chicago and Washington, D.C., offices. I've made no less than eight phone calls asking that you respond to requests to support or oppose certain issues. I have sent you at least eight e-mails.
A colleague of mine, who also lives in your district, has attempted to contact you six times by phone and twice by e-mail. Our legislative chairman has made numerous attempts to contact you. None of us have had a response. Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois have been able to make personal contact with every other member of Congress; you remain the only one with whom we have not met.
Therefore, congressman, I am asking you, using this medium, to please respond to our requests to speak with you on issues of importance to the blind. However, we cannot convey the information you need to consider the issues if you won't meet with us.
Ronza Othman
Burbank
David Meyer was published in the Forest Park Review Letters to the Editor
Lipinski offers anonymous leadership
As election season approaches, I'm sure you are asking many questions about how you should vote for someone whose duty it is to represent you in Congress.
It seems to me that the simplest way to answer this question would be to find out if your congressman voted to support the issues that you as a citizen cared about. Other questions you might ask when making a decision on how to vote for a public official are these. Is he responsive to the constituents in his district? Does he appear to be hard working? Is he visible? Is he accessible?
With these questions in mind, I wish to reiterate experiences that I, along with two of my colleagues from the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois have experienced when attempting to work with 3rd District Congressman Dan Lipinski.
Each year, we attempt to persuade our elected officials that our political agenda is the one they should support when it comes to determining policies and programs which will enable those who are blind to live independently. We conduct visits on Capital Hill as well as to local offices of our elected officials. We also articulate our position on issues through phone calls and e-mails.
Over the past two years I, along with at least one other constituent from Congressman Lipinski's district, and our legislative chairperson, have attempted to reach him to discuss the issues we consider to be most important. As a constituent in Lipinski's district, I have called his office about six times asking for his support on various issues. I have also e-mailed him on two other occasions, requesting a response each time I have done so. To date, I've heard nothing.
In the case of my colleague, whom Congressman Lipinski represents, she has tried to visit him on Capital Hill. She has called him and e-mailed him at both his Washington and Chicago offices, asking for his support on each of six or seven issues during this period of time. She has yet to hear from him directly.
In the case of our legislative chairperson, he has spoken to his staff members on six separate occasions attempting to make appointments for my colleague and me to see Congressman Lipinski personally. In spite of these efforts, we have yet to communicate with him.
It is interesting to note that Congressman Lipinski is the only congressman we, in the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois have yet to make an appointment with in the Chicago area as an organization. What does this lack of interaction suggest? To me it suggests that Lipinski cares so much about his constituents that he would rather ignore us than deal with us.
During the primary season, it was revealed in the Forest Park Review on one occasion that Lipinski has the lowest power ranking of any congressman that has served as long as he has. If others out there have experienced the same lack of accessibility that we in the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois have experienced, it is easy to understand how one would come to this conclusion.
As I see it, a vote for Dan Lipinski is a vote for anonymity.
In closing, I ask you, with this kind of performance does Dan Lipinski deserve your vote?
David Meyer
Forest Park
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