My name is Kirsten Poston. I am a DHHIG Board Member. I am speaking on my own here as Kirsten Poston, not as DHHIG.
I am posting this message because I hear the members. I understand you. I know your frustrations. I want to reach out to each one of you and encourage you to volunteer for DHHIG if you want to make this organization stronger.
To those of you who are already volunteering, THANK YOU. To those of you who submitted suggestions for improvement, THANK YOU. Please understand that the current board of directors who have tirelessly volunteered their time and efforts, have indeed worked hard. They don’t have to be beat up, or talked down on, or personally attacked. What we need is a venue and a level playing field where everyone’s ideas are taken into consideration. There are so many issues that are amongst us. Yes Change is good.
If you are in support of a DHHIG member Town Hall meeting before the NTC conference, Please respond below this posting.. Please express and tell the DHHIG Board of Directors that you want to become apart of the solution to addressing the underrepresentation of deaf and hard of hearing people in the government.
Please express you want to lend your time and energy into helping DHHIG to serve as a resource for the government, overcoming barriers, working to address the very issues that affect our deaf government employees. Helping to strengthen our bylaws, producing blogs/vlogs, managing our website, recruiting new members, supporting the Red Tape Campaign, One Day Seminar and future DHHIG Programs. If everyone could just give a little bit of their time and energy and focus on what the real issues are that will help set this organization on track and tend to this well-oiled machine, DHHIG will be guaranteed to stay strong for the next 100 or so years. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT.
This blog site was a brilliant idea, I’ve told my fellow board members that. UTILIZE it in a positive fashion… We have got some BEAUTIFUL people signing beautiful messages… Good or bad, I hear you. I am most interested in hearing MORE from you, because I know it takes an entire community to stand on each others shoulders to rise up and achieve something. We must put our differences aside and work together. Tell us how you envison DHHIG serving you..
Also tell us how you can serve DHHIG… I know MY door is open.. Is yours?
March 18, 2009 at 5:13 am |
Kirsten,
Yes my door is OPEN! I offered to volunteer my services for the By-Laws chair, I hope that DHHIG will allow me in.
Everyone else- please volunteer as we have a lot of issues both internally and externally.
I have one for DHHIG- Department of Education still DENY us videophone access…. Do Do?
March 18, 2009 at 11:52 am |
That is a great letter Kirsten.
But it sidesteps the current issues. We have been notified that several members have volunteered this should help implement the Voting process. What’s the hold up so that members can start to run for current positions?
I am not interested in reading about DEFENSES of how DHHIG works. Nor am I interested in reading personal defenses of how people have given there time and are getting “beat up”. I am interested (you know me) in seeing IMPLEMENTS of the voting process begun.
I haven’t seen anyone attacked, I have seen people ASSUME that they were attacked because a difference of opinion was expressed about how it can be improper for some business behaviors to continue.
March 18, 2009 at 12:33 pm |
Deb- yes, they really need to address the election concerns since we called for transparency.
March 19, 2009 at 2:37 pm |
*pah* (hands in air) pleased to see you (Kirsten) decided to hear us out and seeking for solutions! I hope to see more “boardies” to become of the solution if they want to make this organization stronger as well.
– like you said, utilize it in a postive fashion.
A Town Hall is a great idea- in my opinion, this should happen soon to implement the voting process before the upcoming election in May.
March 19, 2009 at 2:44 pm |
Socorro,
I thought some more about the town hall. I just don’t see the benefit if the election is just around 40 days away. Do you think the new administration should take care of that, right away after the election? Even if we had town hall, how will that help us with just 40 days left? There is not much the current administration can do in 40 days.
Our concern should be “ensuring that the election will be open and fair for everyone” but at the same time we can raise other issues such as transparency, by-laws, ethics so on so everyone can keep those in mind for the next administration and hope that they will resolve it.
March 19, 2009 at 2:55 pm |
Steve and Socorro, I hope you guys run for the Chair and Vice-chair! DHHIG really needs new people in along with some veterans to steer it in new direction.
March 19, 2009 at 6:00 pm |
I concur!
It is very ineffective and inefficient not to have implements in place to help the voting process run smoothly.
BTW: I noticed number 6 on the voting processes that was posted on the DHHIG website earlier before it was taken down again….
My question is: If a candidate puts in his papers for nomination..why must he also fax a signed document saying that it’s ok to post it?
OBVIOUSLY if he’s running for office, he knows that it’s going to be posted on the DHHIG website. I think number 6 that was listed should be thrown out. It gives too much room for error. It is possible that on the eve of the voting that it can be said that a candidate’s paper did not come though, so his nomination was not posted.
I do not believe that it is a good idea to have so many controls in position that puts so much responsiblity on the board members. As we can see they are very, very busy. So, to make it easier for them, let’s just realize that people running for office are giving their agreement when they send in their nomination packets!!!
Also Look at the 11:45 am arrangement http://www.dhhig.info/ntc/2009/program.html#schedule …where is the time involved for voting or having candidates put on their platform? Voting for our new leaders is VERY important, yet only small time of the hour or half an hour is scheduled for this??? It’s squeezed in there with the Luncheon. Town hall meeting with DHHIG Board members, and then the Vote Results Announced?
Does anyone know how much time has been slated for the candidates? How many have sent in nominations?
March 19, 2009 at 10:02 pm |
Hello, please note that this NTC schedule is still in flux. There is a note at the bottom of the webpage that says “Conference content is subject to change.”
In fact we have already made adjustments to the schedule on the first day, but they have not yet been posted. Please be patient with the NTC schedule–it is a work in progress. As to the amount of time slated for the candidates, that has not yet been discussed.
I must add a disclaimer here, I am only the NTC workshop coordinator, I don’t have any knowledge at all about the status of the election process.
March 20, 2009 at 10:17 am |
Good Morning folks,
It’s good to see a nice round of responses to my posting. I had anticipated the Town Hall meeting as a DHHIG meeting where people discuss ideas and provide feedback on what they want to see in DHHIG’s future. Whether it is the old administration or new administration that organizes the town hall meeting, the issues impacting deaf and hard of hearing government employees extends well beyond the walls of DHHIG in my opinion.
Clearly DHHIG’s mission is to serve as a resource and information clearinghouse for our deaf and hard of hearing government workers. There has never in the history of this organization been a meeting established where the exchange of fresh ideas on the issues that impact deaf and hard of hearing government employees as a sole event. DHHIG has sponsored a “Dialogue with DHHIG” in the past but they were always tied into its annual training programs such as NTC or the One Day Seminars.
Issues such as videophone access in the workplace, job advancement opportunities, increased training in the importance of networking, Mentoring/job coaching, building the pipelines for future DHHIG programs, Understanding the Reasonable Accommodations process, mastering the art of volunteering, and what it means to you are all good topics of discussion. Not to mention the membership outside of the Washington DC area, who also would like to contribute to this cause.
Again, for clarity, I am speaking as myself here. I think its nice for CFDGE for putting together a social networking luncheon. I hope it is successful and that there is a good turnout of concerned members.
Kirsten