O&M DIVISION ~ AERBVI

Business Meeting Minutes

July 22, 2016

Jacksonville, FL

Draft- Not Yet Approved

I)CALL TO ORDER: Susan called the meeting to order at 7:12 AM EST

II)WELCOME

  1. Roll-Call Executive Committee - (Justin Kaiser):
  2. Officers:Present – Susan Langendonk (Chair), Kevin Hollinger (Past-Chair), Justin Kaiser (Secretary),
  3. District Directors:Present – Mark Carter (Dist 1), Sarah Arch (Dist 3), JoAnne Chalom (Dist 5), Audrey Dannenberg (Dist 6)

(a)Absent – Sherry Holder (Dist 2), Kathy Clarrage (Dist 4), vacant (Chair-Elect),Stephanie Chmielinski (Treasurer)

  1. Parliamentarian – Meg Robertson
  2. Meeting Agenda
  3. Motion to approve the agenda by Laura Bozeman and second by Nora Griffin-Shirley. Agenda approved
  4. Approval of July 2014 Business Meeting Minutes
  5. Minutes amended to reflect that Kevin Hollinger should be referred to as Chair and not president. Motion to approve as amended. Motion seconded and minutes approved as amended.

III)Consent Agenda: Motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion seconded and approved.

IV)Old Business:

  1. AER International Conference Update
  2. O&M Division Awards

a)Thanks to Gala Brooks for putting on a great awards ceremony. Multiple people have reported that this was one of the best events in years and that Gala has done a wonderful job of including the traditions of the Division.

  1. 2017 O&M Division Conference
  2. Once the dust has settled on the 2016 AERI conference, we’ll begin serious planning for the 2017 O&M Conference to be held in Pittsburgh. Some fun activities are being considered to encourage students to participate like a tactile map contest that Kevin & Justin will be organizing. There is a committee sign up sheet at the O&M Division table outside of the exhibit hall.

V)New Business:

  1. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT
  2. AER bylaws proposed changes- Susan

a)The O&M Division EC responded to concerns of many of the past chairs regarding several of the proposed changes. The EC put together the statement that was distributed to the division membership. President Christy Shepard explained her plan for organizing the District Directors, Divisions and Chapters last week, but we still don’t feel this is a good substitute for a well operating Council of Division Chairs or Council of Chapter Presidents. Susan will be speaking up at the AER business meeting against the proposal.

  1. ACVREP task force- Susan

a)Susanwas asked to serve on the task force that was created to discuss the ACVREP International Certification proposal. Task force determined that certification would require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and that international applicants would need to have their preparation accredited. From ACVREP, a motion was made to accept the proposal of the International Taskforce to provide COMS certification to those individuals who meet the same requirements as are found in the U.S. and Canada. This included an independent evaluation by NACES of the equivalency of the foreign degree in comparison with a U.S. bachelor’s degree. The Board however made a decision not to pursue NCCA accreditation in the next 5 years, and this forced a postponement of the decision on the Taskforce proposal. Ultimately, without NCCA mandates the international eligibility criterion can potentially be revised to capture the different professional preparation for O&M Specialists outside the U.S.A. Discussion included the potential of keeping one unifying title of “COMS” by establishing multiple paths to eligibility or create country-specific credentials and criterion (ex. COMS-UK). Individuals with the alternate COMS credentials would be certified to practice in their own countries but not in the U.S.

  1. EAC Webinar

a)This was held in November of 2015 and CE credits were provided free of charge. We had more than 100 people register, which was more than any webinar in the history of AER so that we found that there was a limit of 100 to sign into the webinar. People who registered, but were unable to sign in were allowed to view the recording for free.

  1. Watercooler sessions

a)These sessions were initiated by the Division on Aging. They hold them as an informal discussion on a specific topic. The O&M Division held two to discuss the progress of the ad hoc committee on strategic planning and division initiatives and a third to answer specific questions that members sent in regarding environmental access from the EAC.

  1. Forum Group and Proposed name change of vision professionals

a)This group has been working for several years and most recently posted a paper on the various listservs along with a survey. AER was asked in 2015 to sign as a supporter. The O&M Division, the Low Vision Rehabilitation Division and the Vision Rehabilitation Therapy Division worked together to develop a position and presented it to the AER Board at the November 2015 meeting. The 3 divisions moved that AER not sign on as a supporter of the paper and the AER Board voted in favor of the motion.

  1. Division presence at conferences

a)IMC 15– The O&M Division had a poster at IMC15 in Montreal in July of 2015 outlining the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Planning and Initiatives

b)SOMA– We had a vendor table at SOMA with AER and O&M Division information. We were also able to gather information for several committees that are in the beginning stages of work.

  1. Change In Policy Manual For Vacancy In Chair-Elect

a)Due to the resignation of the Chair-Elect in the middle of 2015, the EC felt the policy to leave the position vacant until the next regular election was detrimental to the operation of the EC. While we followed the policy until the regular election in the spring of this year, we voted to change the policy so that the Nominations Committee would be instructed to do a search for a candidate and make a recommendation to the EC. The EC would then vote on accepting the candidate and appoint that person to the position of Chair-Elect. We were fortunate that Justin Kaiser, the current Secretary was interested in running for Chair and had the experience of being on the Division EC prior to stepping into the Chair position. For someone from outside the EC to take on the position of Chair without having EC experience would be extremely difficult.

  1. COMMITTEE REPORTS
  2. Environmental Access Committee – Janet Barlow

a)Being able to advocate on the need for accessibility and to get traffic engineers to understand the blind and low vision population has been very productive. Traffic engineers now have several research projects on alternative intersections. There is also a resolution on quiet and autonomous vehicles that will be discussed at the AER business meeting. This committee needs some more members.

  1. International Committee – Chair Dr. Laura Bozeman

a)A huge ‘thank you’ to the international committee members for 2014-2016:

  1. Gretchen Good, Liz Underwood, Mike Meteyer, Nurit Neustadt, Mary Ann Zelenski, Pat Kelley, Mickey Damelio, Jane Blaunc, Donna McNear, Nancy Prussing, Sophie Chang, Nancy Rogan

b)The main charge of this committee revolved around regional ambassadors who gather and update information and resources about O&M in their area. That information has been available until the AER website crashed.

c)We continued to need Ambassadors for the following regions: Africa and Europe. Previously, the ambassador had to live in the region they represented; the committee considered the idea of having 2 ambassadors (one of whom can live in North America) since the regions are enormous in scale but recruiting those representatives was unsuccessful.The valuable information that we had is now no longer on the AER website so this seems a moot point.

d)Heartfelt thank you to the Ambassadors who worked so hard to provide regional information during this biennium:

  1. Asia: ChalamYam-iam, East Asia: Michiko Shimizu, Latin America: Carmen Rivera-Bermudez, Middle East: Nurit Neustadt-Noy, North America/Caribbean: Mike Meteyer, Pacific: Gretchen Good

e)An encouraging note is the proposed International Division that will hopefully be voted in to permanent status at this conference.

f)Motion: To discontinue the International Committee of the Orientation and Mobility Division and put these important efforts toward the newly established International Division. Motion withdrawn given the current lack of structure in the International Division. Laura to report back on progress in a year.

  1. Blasch Scholarship Committee 2016 winners

a)There were 16 applicants and the scoring was extremely competitive. Thanks to Dr. Danene Fast for her leadership on this committee.

b)2016 winners

  1. Kirsten “Rishi” Connelly - University of Massachusetts- Boston
  2. Allison Zocchi - University of Massachusetts- Boston

c)2015 winners

  1. Lynn Campbell - North Carolina Central University
  2. Ashley Peterson - Stephen F. Austin State University
  1. Nominations and Elections Committee – Meg Robertson

a)Thanks to Meg Robertson and Eileen Sifferman, co-chairs of the committee and the committee members who worked so hard to find and vet the nominees for each position: Mary Ball-Swartwout, Mickey Damelio, and Erica Ihrke.

  1. AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORTS
  2. O&M dIVISION Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Planning and Initiatives – Kevin Hollinger, Justin Kaiser

a)Starting in late 2014, and continuing throughout 2015, the Committee met with O&M specialists at 13 conferences across the country, and held one open online Water Cooler session. Presentations were made to large groups of O&M specialists at each of these sessions and survey data was obtained from the groups and opportunities for individual feedback on written surveys was given (with 329 individual surveys completed). A conservative estimate of between 1600 to 2000 O&M specialists participated in these sessions. The goal was to obtain input from stakeholders about the priorities, concerns and needs of the O&M profession.

b)The responses to the survey questions revealed that O&M and GDMI professionals would like AER to provide greater advocacy for their professions, promote licensure, and offer more local conferences and CE opportunities. Suggestions to strengthen the O&M/GDMI profession included a need for greater advocacy and awareness of the profession (including licensure and 3rd party reimbursement), a desire for more professional development opportunities, and greater recruitment efforts. When asked for 5-year landmarks that would indicate AER has been successful in addressing member priorities, the top three response themes included:

  1. Launched advocacy, awareness and education procedures
  2. Increased numbers of O&M professionals, AER members and ACVREP certified O&Ms
  3. Established Licensure/3rd party billing

c)We are having three roundtable sessions at this conference specifically to further the discussion on these topics and to assist in develop the strategic plan for the O&M Division moving forward.

  1. PRESENTATION OF THE NEWCOMER-HILL SERVICE AWARD
  2. Recipient is selected by the outgoing Division Chair in recognition of major contributions to the Division during the previous two years. The award is presented during the Division business meeting at each AER International Conference. This award was initiated in 1992 by Bruce Blasch, who was then Division Chair. The award is named after two past Division Chairs, James Newcomer (1985-88) and Everett “Butch” Hill (1988-90). This award is traditionally presented to someone who was helpful to the chair during their term. Many people fit this description, but only one who rarely failed to answer texts, emails, and phone calls on a daily and hourly basis as I struggled with difficult decisions. Susan expressed that her performance as chair would have been much less effective without the constant support of Kevin Hollinger.
  1. Susan - Before I hand this over to Justin for a few words, I want to thank the outgoing officers and district directors for their input and support. I can’t imagine having done this job with their support and that of the many past chairs that stepped up and gave advice.
  2. the 2016-2018 Orientation & Mobility Chair– Justin Kaiser
  3. Thanks to all of the members of the outgoing Executive Committee. I would like to thank Susan especially for her leadership through the last two years and I would like to present this gift from the O&M Division and the Executive Committee to thank her.
  4. Introduction of the new Executive Committee

a)Justin Kaiser (Chair), Susan Langendonk (Past-Chair), Chris Tabb (Chair-Elect), Kathryn Botsford (Secretary), Jenny Wheeler (Treasurer), Loana Mason (District 1), John McAllister (District 2), Margaret Winn (District 3), Julie Boren (District 4), JoAnne Chalom (District 5), Anthony Nigro (District 6)

  1. From the Floor- NA
  2. Motion to Adjourn- Meeting adjourned at 8:15 AM.

O&M DIVSION BUSINESS MEETING

CONSENT AGENDA

July 22, 2016

  1. TREASURER’S REPORT – Stephanie Chmielinski

EXPENSES / 2015 / 2016 / YTD 7/2016
Total Budget / $9,600.00 / $15,441.00
TELEPHONE (calls, webinar calls) / $500.00 / $600.00 / $21.00
PRINTING / $50.00
IT SERVICES (e-blasts, conference calls) / $360.00 / $480.00 / $262.00
AWARDS / SCHOLARSHIPS (Blasch) / $2,000.00 / $2,000.00
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (webinars) / $2,000.00 / $500.00
COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES / $3840.00 / $3,600.00 / $275.00
Other / $900.00 / $1,147.00
2016 Intl Conference / $8,211.00
Total Expensed / $9,600.00 / $1,742.00

A $1,500 donation from Polara Engineering in both 2014 and 2015 was used to pay the hotel and travel expenses for several members of the Environmental Access Committee to attend the Transportation Research Board meetings in January of 2015 and 2016 in Washington, D.C.

  1. ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE REPORTS
  2. O&M Division Ad Hoc Committee on Best Practice in Collaboration: O&M and OT & PT Scope of Practice – Although this committee worked diligently for almost a year to develop a paper outlining the scope of practice of Orientation and Mobility Specialists, the resulting paper was not well received by the initial reviewers. Committee members decided to table the project for the time being. Committee members included: Bill Penrod/Michelle Antinarelli Co-Chairs, Sandy Rosen, Bill Hixon, Susan Langendonk.
  3. Archives Committee – Rod Kossick - My warmest greetings to all the hewers, haulers, fetchers and doers; and yes, the stormy petrels. If you are not familiar with these pronouns and their author, it underscores the need for our Archives Committee and its mission.

We had our beginnings at Hines VA Hospital in 1948 and now 68 years later this type of Orientation and Mobility service has spread throughout the world.

Every profession goes through growing pains and changes, which includes opportunities for dilution of purpose and product. One of the best preventions is to know and understand the philosophy and methods that our pioneers and leaders developed. Some of this is written but I suspect there is a significant amount yet to be discovered and recorded.

Rick Welsh was always aware of this need is our field, and wisely enlisted the wondrously codified talents of Micheal Hudson; and secured the cooperation of the American Printing House for the Blind through Tuck Tinsley, its president. And that brings us to our current need and challenge.

Many of our leaders and heroes have already passed on, and a number are approaching retirement (Please, even though it is said “He is older than dirt,” don’t think of me that way just yet!).

We do have a number of audio and video recordings for posterity, but there is still much to be collected. Each of us should reach out to seniors we know, and beyond that to their families, co-workers and friends to find the back-stories and truths old enough to tell, regarding the development of our profession.

A handwritten note, conversation, anecdote, secret strategy or tactic and legislative/funding skirmish could all be important to our developmental history. Artifacts such as canes and electronic mobility devices are also being sought after. Anybody have an Oleometer or a Twersky tweeter?

APH and Micheal Hudson are ready for you to begin sending contributions, which they will sort, classify and store.

Now I wonder—who will become one with all these new finding and begin to write new chapters for our historical development?

I apologize that I am not at our Conference, having just organized our earthly possessions and moved from California to my home state of Minnesota. The original copy of this report was gobbled up by the fog of packing and is roaming this great country with our furniture, cookware, etc. and will arrive sometime in future.

So I sit on the deck of our new home in Rochester, taking in the woods, creatures and songs of many beautiful birds; cobbling this report and request.

Best wishes to all,

Rod Kossick.

  1. Communications Committee – Viki Poole - It has been my pleasure to edit the last three O&M Division Newsletters (Summer 2015, Fall 2015, and Spring 2016). I am happy to report that each issue was chocked full of news from our members about the good things that are happening in Orientation & Mobility. The Newsletter provides a painless way to keep up-to-date on all the happenings in our Division. Also good news is the support from many vendors from our community. We've had ads from Ambutech, HumanWare, George Zimmerman Low Vision Kit, and Fork in the Road. Please remember to support these vendors whenever possible - we want them to know how much we appreciate their support of the O&M Division Newsletter.
  2. Membership Committee - Meredith Griffin - Division membership has declined, as has total AER membership. The O&M Division membership count as of February was 1001, down from 1037 at the end of 2015. In 2007, the O&M Division membership was 1428.
  1. DISTRICT REPORTS
  2. District 1 – Mark Carter – (Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Northwest Territories, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Yukon Territories.)

It has been my pleasure to fill a partial term (due to the resignation of the elected representative) as district director representing District One of the O&M Division. I provided input and worked with the O&M Division on responses to important issues that came up recently around ACVREP certification and proposed bylaw changes with AER. District 1 is a very large district and it would have been nice to travel to meetings and meet with COMS in the entire region but this was not possible for me. I look forward to attending the AER conference in Jacksonville and meeting with anyone who would like to discuss O&M issues in their state/region and I can be found at the O&M Division table or contacted by email at:.