Thank you for your interest in participating in Democracy in Action at the 2026 Washington Seminar. We are excited you are considering attending Washington Seminar this year. All events are held at the Holiday Inn Capitol and we conduct our Congressional appointments in teams at the offices of our members of Congress.
If you are a Project RISE student or staff, please do not use this registration form. Your participation is being arranged separately. All other members, please use the form below to let us know if you plan on attending the NFBV Winter Board Meeting on Monday, January 19 and subsequent legislative appointments on Tuesday, January 20.
Remember, hotel reservations at the Delta should be made on or before Monday, January 5 and can be be completed at this link:
The 2026 NFB National Convention takes place in Austin, Texas July 3-8, and it's an experience you don't want to miss! Many of those who have attended our national NFB conventions are amazed at how meeting and interacting with over 3000 other blind and low vision convention attendees has positively changed their lives. They not only learn how the problems of vision loss can be overcome, but also experience the confidence that comes with solutions.
Over the years, I have had the pleasure of visiting many of our state NFB chapters.
One common wish I heard from chapter leaders was that they were frustrated because they didn’t have the membership numbers they wanted. After listening to them for a while, I realized they were comparing themselves to some idealized group with lots and lots of members, resources, and money in the bank.
Before there was Zoom, the internet, telephones, or even the Postal Service, we needed ways to share messages and keep people connected. In ancient Israel, to mark the calendar, people needed to know when the new year began.
To mark the start of a new year in the fall, every community would build a bonfire on the top of a hill. On the first night of the new year, they would light the bonfire. Others would observe and lite the fire on their own hill. From community to community, each would know the start of a new beginning and celebrate the connection that kept them all together.
Accessible Education Materials
WHEREAS, access to the full curriculum is vital for participation in in-person and virtual education settings for all students; and
WHEREAS, Accessibility barriers impede full access to the educational environment for blind and low vision students and for others with print disabilities; and
For those of you interested in entrepreneurship, we try to run articles from time to time to help you in that venture. Without a doubt, setting up a website is essential to your operation. Here are a few ideas on how to get started.
Launching your own website does not have to be as complicated as people make it out to be. In fact, you can knock it out in a few simple steps:
The following remarks were delivered to the NFB of Virginia state convention on November 4, 2017 by Gao Lai.
When my son was 6 months old, the doctor said my son would never be able to see the world like me. It was scary. My mind was flooded with questions. I can tell you my biggest
worries were how will my son be independent and take care of himself when I die? Will he graduate from college? Will he have a career? Will he ever move out of my basement? How will he get around? I was looking at a 6-month-old and I was petrified for his future.
Too many young people wind up in jobs they hate because they followed someone else's advice about how to use their talents. You would think that after a certain age we would be capable of making major choices independent of the influence of family, friends, or career guides, but too often we allow someone else's well-intentioned promptings to steer us in directions we would never have chosen for ourselves.
By Sarah Patnaude
The sun was shining; the breeze was blowing. I could hear the crashing of waves in the distance. It was a normal week spent at my childhood vacation spot: Nags Head, North Carolina. Except it wasn’t. Unlike most thirteen year olds, I couldn’t be found bogey boarding or swimming. I wasn’t playing basketball or even relaxing inside. Instead, I made the porch my fortress for the week. You see, the back porch was my practice stage.