National Association of the Deaf

For many years now, The NAD Broadcaster has been the primary publication of the National Association of the Deaf, distributing the news of the Association. It has been sent to both national members of the NAD (those who join the NAD directly for $30 or $15 a year) and the State Association (SA) members of the NAD (those who join their State Association only, and NAD receives only $3 a year per member from their membership to cover the Broadcaster, support for a SA representative to attend annual SA President/ Representatives Conference and much more).

The NAD is working to revise all of its member benefits; to make them more fair, and the changes in publications is part of that effort.

The Broadcaster has become too expensive to send to both national and SA members of the NAD equally. In addition, the NAD intends to participate fully in all the communications technology available in the 21st century.

Two New Publications

We're not abandoning either our national or our SA members! Instead, we're creating two new periodicals - both as yet unnamed. The national periodical, in magazine format, will be published six times a year: April/May, June/July, August/September, October/November, December/January, and February/March. Much of the focus in the current Broadcaster § feature stories on issues of importance to deaf and hard of hearing people, such as education, interpreting, and access rights, will be highlighted.

The state periodical will be published four times a year, in March, May, September, and November. This will be more of a newsletter and the focus will be state and regional stories. In addition, stories from the national periodical that would benefit from wide distribution will be shortened and reprinted in the SA periodical.

Both publications will be letter-sized (8 1/2 by 11 inches). Advertising sizes will be the same in both publications, but specifications and costs will be different.

There will be no crossover in the mailing list, as there has been with the Broadcaster. After the first issues, national members will receive only the national publication; State Association members will receive only the SA publication. This is one way the NAD can encourage members to join both the NAD and their State Association.

Taking Advantage of Technology

With the speed of world communications today, printed publications are no longer the first with the news -- email and web communications claim that honor now. Also, since cost is less of a factor in creating email and web stories it's more affordable to post long stories on the Web site than it is to print them.

The NAD will use both of these features, speed and length, to the best advantage. We will rely on the ezine and the Web for breaking news and action alerts. And, longer versions of stories, with more photos may be found on the Web site. Some things currently in the Broadcaster will disappear from the periodicals and will be posted only on the Web. We will also focus efforts on developing the member-only section of our web site.

More NAD Benefit Changes that Affect SA Members

The publications changes are not the only member benefit changes you will see starting in April 2001.State Association members will no longer receive the membership discount on conference registration -- that will be for national members only. However, each SA will be able to take advantage of the first Early Bird discount for all of their official delegates. The following chart, below, explains the changes in membership benefits for National and State Association members. Changes were also made for affiliate membership (non-profit and for-profit), which will be explained at a later date.

Membership Category
   

Annual Dues
   

Benefits

National NAD Members
   

$30.00/$15.00
   

- NAD Magazine
- Conference registration discount
- 20% discount on NAD publications/novelties
- Access to Member Only area on NAD website
- Ezine; electronic updates
- National Member recognition at Conference

State Association Affiliates
   

$100 per SA
plus $3.00 per person
   

- SA Newsletter
- Occasional electronic alerts/updates
- Conference registration discount (Early Bird I) for official SA delegates only.
- SA Presidents/Representatives:
one (1) financial support equilvalent to two nights in hotel; two day workshop/seminar program

To Do Now

These changes are to begin with the April/May issue of the new national publication. Things you can do now include:

    Check your membership status.
    Find out if you are a national or state association only member of the NAD by checking the label on this issue. If you see 6 2001 on the top line, it means that your national membership will expire in June 2001. If you see a state abbreviation, such as MA, it means you are a state association member. If both codes are shown on the first line, you are both a national and state association member. If only a state abbreviation shows up, e.g., AK, it means you are member of Alaska Association of the Deaf, but not a national NAD member. Be a member of both and receive all of the above benefits shown below. The Conference registration discount alone can save you triple your membership fee! The 20% discount on publications and novelties from the NAD Bookstore adds more to your savings.

    Join the NADezine.
    Right now, the electronic magazine (E-zine) is open to anyone who is interested. Eventually this will become a member-only ezine, but you can take advantage of it right now and see if you like it. Go to www.egroups.com/ group/NADezine and join, it's free!

    Log on http://www.nad.org/.
    Look at the NAD website often for late breaking news and information.