The Other Faces of Advocacy
by Judy Wilkinson

For decades, when people ask what CCB did, we all knew to answer, "CCB gives scholarships and does advocacy work for people who are blind or have low vision."

Yet when we use the term "advocacy," most of us think of our legislative efforts, so competently handled for years by Jeff Thom and now adding our new advocate, Sylvia Reese. We think of Capital visits and efforts like the successful District Days recently undertaken by our members under the guidance of the Governmental Affairs Committee, co-chaired by Alice Turner and Ardis Bazyn.

But there are a number of other strings to our advocacy bow which all too often remain in the shadows.

Year in year out, we have two seats on the Department of Rehabilitation's Blind Advocacy Committee (BAC): whose current chair is Chris Fendrick, president of the Greater Bakersfield Chapter; for years Jeff Thom and Mitch Pomerantz (immediate past chair) served. Jason Holloway is our other member at the BAC table, and in my distant youth, even I once served. Year in, year out, this group which advises DOR on matters of concern to blind people impacted by the department, holds day-long quarterly meetings.

We all love our library services, and several CCB members serve on the advisory committee to the Talking book Library in Sacramento. Warren Cushman is our official representative, but CCB members Richard Rueda and Connie Bateman serve as well. This committee too meets in day-long gatherings quarterly, year in year out!

Jeff travels far and wide representing our interests: on Wednesday (May 15) he will serve on a panel at the Northern California conference of AER (Association of Educators and Rehabilitation) discussing key legislative issues. He also serves as secretary on the board of Disability Rights California (DRC). Just before our convention, DRC is sending him to a conference in Baltimore where, though he technically represents them, he will obviously bring back anything crucial to the interests of CCB. He often tells me, almost offhandedly, of various places he's been invited to present.

From time to time, we are invited to sit on other advisory groups. As a result of our recent partnership with Cruise Automations, we are filling out the necessary paperwork to enable us to give feedback on this vital autonomous vehicle issue to the California Public Utilities Commission.

Before leaving this aspect of our advocacy work, I extend deepest gratitude to Eugene Lozano! I can't tell you how many emails I get like one I received last week from an O&M instructor at CSB (The California School for the Blind) in Fremont, lamenting dangerous crossings without proper APS (Accessible Pedestrian Signals) near the school. What a no brainer! I forwarded her email to our transportation and infrastructure access guru, Gene Lozano! For decades, Gene served and still serves quietly behind the scenes on various access committees including those monitoring access to various park and trail systems. Sorry Gene, I don't have room for that many names.

In our ongoing legal efforts, the lawyers don't do all the work! Since I assumed office, I have attended several day-long mediation sessions where litigants work with a mediator to reach a resolution of their differences before opting to go to trial. On occasion, Jeff has accompanied me, and my husband Steve Mendelsohn, in his capacity as Chair of our Advocacy Committee, always attends to advise me in my capacity to act on behalf of CCB. These sessions are often grueling and exhausting. I need to come up to speed (become an expert) on legal matters often new to me. For instance just last Thursday, May 9, we attended a mediation session involving DHCS (the California Department of Healthcare Services): regarding inaccessible documents which Medi-Cal recipients need but do not yet receive in alternative formats. I had to learn a whole alphabet soup of terms; had to become clear about a number of laws and statutes and court rules like General Order 56, so as to render intelligent comments to our attorneys from DRA (Disability Rights Advocates, and DREDF (Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund) both based in Berkeley) as well as DRC (Disability Rights California). Thank goodness for Steve's invaluable coaching and advice!

Over the past two years, I attended mediation sessions on behalf of our accessible voting case in San Mateo County and our accessible voting machines case in Alameda County, where I was ably informed by Noel Runyan who served on the taskforce implementing and monitoring voting machine access. We were awarded $25,000 in that case, but our oversight expertise was due in huge part to Noel. But others served ably: member Jeremy Johansen and Mike Cole.

Another kind of session I've attended are "monitoring" sessions. Once a settlement is reached, often there is a period where monitoring occurs to make sure the defendants are doing what they have agreed to do. Just ten days before last week's mediation session, I attended a monitoring session along with Christina Mills, Director of CFILC (California Foundation of Independent Living Centers) with AirBandB regarding guest access for people with mobility issues and guide dog users. AirBandB staff has been tremendously cooperative since our settlement and have willingly given us feedback during these sessions. For instance, they are dealing with hosts who all of a sudden have developed allergies to animals; they have been warned about such behavior. A host asked if he could charge a wheelchair user more because of supposed extra cleanup. He was told he had to charge all his guests the same rates! I look forward to attending the last of these monitoring sessions in November.

Then there are the countless individual calls for advice: everything from how to deal with social security to housing problems to job discrimination: calls ably handled mostly by Jeff and Steve.

We can't help everyone, especially those who think we are a service agency, like the irate individual from San Leandro who was indignant when he demanded we provide O&M instruction! (Of course he isn't a member). There are other calls where all too often we don't have anyone in the area. A caring nurse at a rehab facility in Grass Valley called recently, hoping we could help by hooking a blind patient due to be discharged with someone in the area who knew something about blindness. Our database turned up no one, though I talked with her generally about adjusting to blindness.

Many of you are representing these other faces of advocacy in your local communities: serving on various task forces such as accessible transportation commissions; you serve on civic boards; you attend hearings. I don't know your names, but you advocate for CCB all the time.

Someone told me recently that a person they were having lunch with said no one should bother with CCB since it was being sucked into a black hole. Frankly, nothing will suck us into that black hole faster than people with attitudes like that! Thank goodness most of us are out there on the front lines, far too busy doing the Council's work to notice what a failure the organization is!