Well, I received a reply to my open letter to the #ARRL. It was defensive, and said that my call for a position statement on inclusive ham radio was "political" and they would make no such statement.
I need to process and think about it before deciding what to do, but this is disheartening to say the least.
Here's the ARRL attempting to boot our local ARRL director for trying to insist on open meetings et al, they now have him under investigation by the "Election and Ethics (E&E) Committee"
There's something that's happened recently over at the #arrl, which is the national #hamradio organization for the USA.
ARRL identified, by name, clubs and organizations that produce educational videos as "being in competition with" the ARRL "Learning Center".
ARRL then retaliated against these clubs and organizations, calling them up and stating that these organizations would be excluded from ARRL publications and partnerships
I'm reaching out to the mastodon #hamradio community to find out if there's anyone in the Houston, Texas area that will be holding an exam session. I tried the Facebook route but that failed miserably and I don't trust the #ARRL exam session listings. Are their any volunteer examiners in the Houston area that can help steer me in the right direction outside of MeetUp and Facebook. :)
Jim Danielson (AC9EZ), a local #HamRadio acquaintance, apparently wrote an article for the February issue of QST. And guess which blind ham will never be able to read it because the #ARRL refuses to grant us access to their online publications?
@simon I remember finding the vendor was some no-name company out of the UK, but decided it wasn't worth my effort to hack around. The #ARRL knows about these problems and are happy to do nothing about them. That's what we get when old able-bodied white dudes run the show, I guess. #HamRadio
Wow I've got 30 co-signatories so far on my open letter to the #ARRL about working to promote equity and inclusion in #hamradio Thanks for the support, folks.
It appears the #ARRL is busy stirring up a hornet's nest, they apparently are going to start charging their Life Members for paper copies of #QST... $48/year. Lots of those Life Members specifically subscribed assuming they would get the magazine for free. #hamradio
I decided to re-enlist (heh) in the #ARRL. There are small but positive signs of progress there, and I figure that they probably dismiss complaints/observations from non-members out of hand... My hope is that they step up and show some actual leadership with regard to politics, diversity, hate speech, etc. It's a ridiculously low bar but it would be a further step in the right direction. #hamradio
It makes me angry, frustrated & sad to know that there's a lot of #AmateurRadio from which I am excluded as a #blind person because of poorly designed inaccessible software which developers either ignore reports outright or just refuse to remediate. #accessibility#HamRadio#ARRL
I had an excellent experience presenting about the Technical Advisor, Technical Specialist, amd Technical Coordinator positions at #ARRL yesterday for San Diego #ares
I'm in the attached photo, taken by Bruce Kripton.
About 50 in-person attendees, lots of excellent #hamradio questions, and I'll be back with a followup.
San Diego Section is one of 18 ARRL Sections without a TC.
Sigh...so the #ARRL just posted this pic on the book of faces, which shows a guy soldering some kit, smiling, and wearing a shirt with and assault rifle and "Come and Take It" written on the front. This is not a good look, and it makes me (also a white male) not want to engage in the hobby.
We have a long, long way to go to make #hamradio and inclusive and welcoming hobby. When our national Association posts this kind of thing, it shows they just don't get it.
I'm listening to this #RATPAC presentation on the #ARRL and I'm finding it all quite discouraging. All I know is this: I can't abide a CEO who thinks providing #blind members only #QST summaries rather than full articles like everyone else constitutes #accessibility diversity and inclusion. I'm still a member, but I think it is long past major organizational cultural change so that everyone feels included rather than left out. #AmateurRadio#HamRadio
When thinking about the behavior and mentality of current #ARRL leadership, everyone, please realize that David Minster thinks blind people only deserve access to QST article summaries rather than full first-class #accessibility and full participation. Sighted hams, how would you feel about getting only abridged short summaries of things rather than full content? #AmateurRadio#HamRadio