Announcement about Senate Bill 449

Steven Brown: Hi! I’m Steven, OAD Legislative Committee Chair. Some of you may have met me or seen me at the NAD Legislative Advocacy Training. I am excited that it was beneficial for you. We had such wonderful and successful workshops. Thank you for coming.

I want to share information about Senate Bill 449, and what’s happening on March 26th at 3:00pm at the Capitol building in Salem. I will briefly explain some tips for if you want to participate in the hearing. If you want to share your stories that is fine; we need you to come. Before we discuss these tips, I encourage you to write or vlog your stories for practice. Send these to me or Chad, OAD President, and we will provide you with feedback. These stories are due before March 25th at noon so we can send your stories to the legislators’ committee staff to have for their records. Please send us your videos or written stories before March 24th to ensure that Chad and I will have time to provide feedback for you. On March 25th at noon we will compile all of your stories and send them to the committee staff.

Now I have some suggestions or tips for you. First, you will want to address yourself to the chair, Gelser, and members of committee. Second, you will state your name and who you are there representing, i.e. OAD, yourself, or any other organization. Third, state whether you are Deaf, hearing, hard of hearing or Deaf-blind. Fourth, state that you are here in support of Senate Bill 449. Fifth, share your stories; remember there is a time limit of 2 to 5 minutes. Finally, you will conclude by saying something like “thank you for the opportunity to share my story with you. I am here for any questions you may have.”

If the committee members do have questions for you, you should begin your response by saying, “Chair Gelser and members of committee (including their last names), to answer your question, I...”

Just a reminder that you have 2 to 5 minutes to share your stories and then answer questions if they are asked by the chair or members of committee.

Please contact us if you have any questions. I look forward to working with you and seeing you in Salem. It is an exciting opportunity to finally have a permanent office for Deaf, Deaf-Blind, and Hard of Hearing. Thank you!