NFB convention and blind professionals(self.Blind)
submitted 5.24442991255144y ago by redstone1337
I'm thinking of going to the NFB convention this summer to try and meet other blind professionals. In particular I'm interested in meeting other people who work in IT or software development. I've recently lost more vision and am trying to find non-visual ways of doing things. In particular I'm interested in *nix and Windows administration.
However, attending the convention would be a significant cost, especially given I'm trying to save up for a braille display. Would it be worth it to go? Is anyone else here going?
AllHarlowsEve6 points5y ago
At the risk of getting downvoted, you would be better off going to one of the accessible tech conventions, rather than the general NFB convention.
Outside of booths and vendors, there's a not so great culture there, particularly since many, many, many of the people who go do so only to meet up with their friends and if you stay nearby, there's an almost guarantee you'll have to listen to random hookups at the hotel.
I didn't check your username, but many professional women have refused to attend because the staff and security are very blase about groping and sexual assault, and there's always at least one.
WhatWouldVaderDo5 points5y ago
A conference that you should consider is CSUN (typically in the March timeframe). It tends to attract more technical people.
NFB national convention is... quite the experience. Some people love it, and some people hate it.
-shacklebolt-1 points5y ago
I also recommend CSUN.
Marconius4 points5y ago
I'll be there for the whole event and will be posted up at the company booth when the exhibit hall is open. Come find me at the Lyft booth, plus we may be doing a panel to discuss using Lyft while blind and the new Aira integration. I'm an accessibility specialist, am learning how to code to become an accessibility engineer, enjoy using Terminal and Python, but I only focus on app accessibility and website accessibility, nothing for IT or server admin.
redstone1337 [OP]1 points5y ago
Cool. Do you know when I should arrive? Tuesday is seminar day, but I have no idea what that is.
csloth2 points5y ago
If you're currently working in the field and have specific accessibility-related questions, find the Blind Sysadmins email list. Pretty high signal to noise ratio.
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large- scale community websites for the good of humanity. Without ads, without tracking, without greed.