[Ag-eq] 2009 Washington Seminar Materials

[David Andrews]

Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:
Priorities for the 111th Congress, FIRST Session


           The National Federation of the Blind 
(NFB) is the oldest and largest organization of 
blind people in the United States.  As the Voice 
of the Nation’s Blind, we present the collective 
views of blind people throughout society.  All of 
our leaders and the vast majority of our members 
are blind, but anyone can participate in our 
movement.  There are an estimated 1.3 million 
blind people in the United States, and every year 
approximately 75,000 Americans become blind.  The 
social and economic consequences of blindness 
affect not only blind people, but also our 
families, our friends, and our coworkers.

           Three legislative initiatives demand 
the immediate attention of the 111th Congress in its first session:
1.     We urge Congress to ensure the safety of 
blind and other pedestrians by passing the 
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act.  This 
legislation would require the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to:
·       Begin a study within ninety days of its 
enactment to determine the most practical means 
of assuring that blind and other pedestrians 
receive essentially similar information to what 
they now receive from sound emitted by internal combustion engines;
·       Determine the minimum amount of sound 
necessary to offer sufficient information for 
blind pedestrians to make safe travel judgments 
based on appropriate scientific research and 
consultation with blind Americans and other affected groups;
·       Within two years of beginning the study, 
promulgate a motor vehicle safety standard to 
address the needs of blind and other pedestrians 
by requiring either a minimum level of sound or 
an equally effective means of providing the same 
information as is available from hearing internal combustion engines; and
·       Apply the standard to all motor vehicles 
manufactured or sold in the United States 
beginning no later than two years after the date it is promulgated.


2.     We urge Congress to work with blind 
Americans to create a Technology Bill of Rights 
for the Blind that mandates consumer electronics, 
home appliances, and office equipment to provide 
user interfaces that are accessible through 
nonvisual means.  This legislation should:

·       Mandate that all consumer electronics, 
home appliances, and office equipment be designed 
so that blind people can access the same 
functions as sighted people through nonvisual 
means and with substantially equivalent ease of use;

·       Create a commission comprised of 
essential stakeholders to establish standards for 
nonvisual accessibility of electronic devices 
intended for use in the home or office;
·       Endow the commission with enforcement 
powers or locate it within a government agency having such powers; and
·       Authorize it to reexamine and rewrite 
standards to keep pace with the evolution of consumer electronic technology.

3.     We urge Congress to promote and facilitate 
the transition by blind Americans from recipients 
of Social Security Disability Insurance benefits 
to income-earning, taxpaying, productive members 
of the American workforce by enacting legislation to:

·       Replace the monthly earnings penalty with 
a graduated 3-for-1 phase-out (i.e., a $1 
reduction in benefits for each $3 earned above the limit);

·       Replace the monthly earnings test with an 
annualized earnings test with an amount equal to 
twelve times. Substantial Gainful Activity amount; and

·       Establish an impairment-related work 
expense deduction for blind Social Security 
Disability Insurance beneficiaries equal to the 
amount applicable for this deduction when 
determining an appropriate income subsidy under 
Medicare Part D or 16.3 percent of earnings, whichever is greater.


           For more information about these 
priorities, please see below or consult the attached fact sheets.

           Blind Americans need your help to 
achieve our goals of economic security, increased 
opportunity, and full integration into American 
society on a basis of equality.  Enactment of 
these legislative proposals will represent 
important steps toward reaching these goals.  We 
need the help and support of each member of 
Congress.  Our success benefits not only us, but 
the whole of America as well.  In this time of 
national economic insecurity, these measures will 
contribute to increasing the tax base and 
encouraging the purchase of consumer goods.

ENHANCING PEDESTRIAN SAFETY:  ENSURING THE BLIND 
CAN CONTINUE TO TRAVEL SAFELY AND INDEPENDENTLY


Purpose:  To require hybrid, electric, and other 
vehicles to emit a minimum level of sound to 
alert blind and other pedestrians of their presence.

Background:  Until recently independent travel 
for the blind has been a relatively simple 
matter, once a blind person has been trained in 
travel techniques and has learned to use a white 
cane or travel with a guide dog.  Blind people 
listen to the sounds of automobile engines to 
determine the direction, speed, and pattern of 
traffic.  Sounds from traffic tell blind 
pedestrians how many vehicles are near them and 
how fast they are moving, whether the vehicles 
are accelerating or decelerating, and whether the 
vehicles are traveling toward, away from, or 
parallel to them.  With all of this information, 
blind people can accurately determine when it is 
safe to advance into an intersection or across a 
driveway or parking lot.  The information 
obtained from listening to traffic sounds allows 
blind people to travel with complete confidence 
and without assistance. Studies have shown that 
sighted pedestrians also use this information when traveling.

           Over the past few years, however, 
vehicles that are completely silent in certain 
modes of operation have come on the market, and 
many more silent vehicles are expected in the 
near future.  These vehicles are designed to have 
many benefits, including improved fuel efficiency 
and reduced emissions, but they do not need to be 
silent in order to achieve these intended 
benefits.  An unintended consequence of these 
vehicles as they are currently designed is that 
they will reduce the independence of blind 
Americans and endanger the lives, not only of 
blind people, but also of small children, seniors, cyclists, and runners.

           Currently the most popular of these 
vehicles is the gasoline-electric hybrid, which 
alternates between running on a gasoline engine 
and on battery power (although a few electric 
automobiles are already on America’s roads and 
new all-electric models are planned).  The blind 
of America do not oppose the proliferation of 
vehicles intended to reduce damage to the 
environment, but for safety these vehicles must 
meet a minimum sound standard.

           On April 9, 2008, Congressmen Ed Towns 
and Cliff Stearns introduced H.R. 5734 (the 
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008).  This 
legislation sought to solve the problem of silent 
cars by authorizing a two-year study to determine 
the best method for allowing blind individuals to 
recognize the presence of silent cars, and by 
requiring that, two years after the study was 
completed, all new vehicles sold in the United 
States must comply with the solution determined 
by the study.  In the 110th Congress, 
eighty-eight members of the House cosponsored this legislation.

Need for Congressional Action:  For several years 
the National Federation of the Blind has been 
concerned about the proliferation of silent 
vehicles.  Recently automobile manufacturers have 
acknowledged the problems posed to blind 
pedestrians by silent vehicle technology and have 
begun to work with the National Federation of the 
Blind to seek solutions.  However, federal 
regulators have indicated that, in the absence of 
statistics on injuries or deaths caused by hybrid 
vehicles, nothing can be done.  Congress must 
therefore direct the Department of Transportation 
to take action.  It is crucial that this problem 
be addressed before the inevitable avalanche of 
tragedies involving blind people, small children, 
seniors, cyclists, runners, and newly blinded veterans shocks the nation.

Proposed Legislation:  Congressmen Towns and 
Stearns have reintroduced the Pedestrian Safety 
Enhancement Act to direct the Secretary of 
Transportation to conduct a study and establish a 
motor vehicle safety standard that provides a 
means of alerting blind and other pedestrians of 
motor vehicle operation, based on appropriate 
scientific research and consultation with blind 
Americans and other affected groups.  This 
national motor vehicle safety standard must have 
the following characteristics:
    * In all phases of operation (including times 
when the vehicle is at a full stop) vehicles 
shall be required to emit an omni-directional 
sound with similar spectral characteristics to 
those of a modern internal combustion engine.
    * The sound should vary in a way that is 
consistent with the sound of vehicles with 
combustion engines to indicate whether the 
vehicle is idling, maintaining a constant speed, 
accelerating, or decelerating.
           The standard need not prescribe the 
apparatus, technology, or method to be used by 
vehicle manufacturers to achieve the required 
minimum sound level.  This approach will 
encourage manufacturers to use innovative and 
cost-effective techniques to achieve the minimum sound standard.
           The addition of components to emit a 
minimum sound discernible by blind and other 
pedestrians will not negatively affect 
environmental benefits of gasoline-electric 
hybrids and other automobiles running on 
alternate power sources, and the emitted sound 
need not be loud enough to contribute to noise 
pollution.  Automobiles that operate in complete 
silence, however, endanger the safety of all of 
us; silent operation should be viewed as a design 
flaw comparable to the lack of seat belts or air bags.

Requested Action:  Please support blind Americans 
by cosponsoring the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement 
Act to authorize the U.S. Department of 
Transportation to establish and promulgate 
regulations specifying a minimum sound standard 
for all new automobiles sold in the United 
States.  In the House of Representatives, members 
can be added by contacting Emily Khoury in 
Congressman Towns’s office, or James Thomas in 
Congressman Stearns’s office.  In the Senate 
members can support independence for blind 
Americans by sponsoring companion legislation.


Contact Information:
Jesse Hartle
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2233
Email:  jhartle at nfb.org

A TECHNOLOGY BILL OF RIGHTS FOR THE BLIND


Purpose:  To create a Technology Bill of Rights 
for the Blind that mandates consumer electronics, 
home appliances, and office equipment to provide 
user interfaces that are accessible through nonvisual means.

Background:  In recent years rapid advances in 
microchip and digital technology have led to 
increasingly complex user interfaces for everyday 
products like consumer electronics, home 
appliances, and office equipment.  Many new 
devices in these categories require user 
interaction with visual displays, on-screen 
menus, touch screens, and other user interfaces 
that are inaccessible to individuals who are 
blind or have low vision.  No longer are settings 
on the television, home stereo system, or 
dishwasher controlled by knobs, switches, and 
buttons that can be readily identified and whose 
settings can be easily discerned, with or without 
the addition of tactile markings by the 
user.  Moreover, the use of inaccessible 
interfaces on office equipment such as copiers 
and fax machines makes these devices unusable by 
the blind and therefore a potential threat to a 
blind person’s existing job or a barrier to obtaining new employment.

           This growing threat to the 
independence and productivity of blind people is 
unnecessary since digital devices can function 
without inaccessible interfaces.  Today 
text-to-speech technology is inexpensive and more 
nearly ubiquitous than it has ever been; it is 
used in everything from automated telephone 
systems to the weather forecasting service 
broadcast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration.  Indeed, a few manufacturers have 
incorporated this technology into their products 
to create talking menus or to articulate what is 
on the display; there is no reason why other 
manufacturers cannot do so as well.  And 
text-to-speech technology is not the only 
mechanism by which consumer electronics, home 
appliances, and office equipment can be made accessible to blind people.

Need for Legislation:  Currently there are no 
enforceable mandates for manufacturers of 
consumer electronics, home appliances, or office 
equipment to make their devices accessible and no 
accessibility standards to provide guidance to 
manufacturers on how to avoid creating barriers 
to access by the blind.  Congress should 
therefore enact a Technology Bill of Rights for 
the Blind, which clearly establishes that 
manufacturers must create accessible user 
interfaces for their products, provide a means 
for enforcement, and establish standards that 
will provide meaningful benchmarks that 
manufacturers can use to make their products accessible.

           Congress need not mandate a single, 
one-size-fits-all solution for all consumer 
technology.   Rather any such legislation should 
mandate regulations that set meaningful 
accessibility standards, while at the same time 
allowing manufacturers to select from a menu of 
potential solutions that, singly or in 
combination, will allow blind users to operate 
the technology easily and successfully.  This 
will not only give manufacturers the freedom and 
flexibility they desire, but encourage 
innovations that make consumer technology more usable for everyone.



Proposed Legislation:  Congress should enact a 
Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind that:

    * Mandates that all consumer electronics, 
home appliances, and office equipment  be 
designed so that blind people are able to access 
the same functions as sighted people by nonvisual 
means and with substantially equivalent ease of use; and

    * Creates a commission to establish standards 
for nonvisual accessibility of electronic devices 
intended for use in the home or office.  Such a 
commission should represent all stakeholders, 
including organizations of the blind; 
manufacturers of consumer electronics, home 
appliances, and office equipment or associations 
representing such manufacturers; and experts on 
universal design, electronic engineering, and 
related fields.  This commission should have 
enforcement powers or be housed within a 
government agency having such powers (e.g., U.S. 
Department of Commerce), and should be authorized 
to reexamine and rewrite standards periodically, 
as consumer electronic technology continues to evolve.

Requested Action:  Please support blind Americans 
by introducing legislation to create a Technology 
Bill of Rights for the Blind (or by cosponsoring 
once legislation has been introduced) so that 
blind people will be able to participate fully in 
all aspects of American society.  Increased 
access leads to increased independence, increased 
employment, and increased tax revenue.



Contact Information:
James McCarthy
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2240
Email:  jmccarthy at nfb.org

REMOVING THE EARNINGS PENALTY:  A COMMON SENSE 
WORK INCENTIVE FOR BLIND SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFICIARIES


Purpose:  To promote and facilitate the 
transition by blind Americans from Social 
Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) 
beneficiaries to income-earning, taxpaying, 
productive members of the American workforce.

Background:  The unemployment rate for 
working-age blind people is over 70 
percent.  Part of the reason for this 
disproportionately high statistic is the myths 
and misconceptions about the true capacities of 
blind people.  These erroneous perceptions are 
manifested when employers refuse to hire the blind.

           In addition, governmental programs 
intended to help blind people meet their basic 
economic needs, especially the SSDI program, have 
had the unintended consequence of creating an 
incentive for blind people to remain unemployed 
or underemployed despite their desire to 
work.  Low societal expectations result in low 
representation of the blind in the 
workforce.  This low representation of the blind 
reinforces low societal expectations­it is a 
vicious circle that perpetuates systemic 
employment discrimination against the blind.

           Despite the efforts of the National 
Federation of the Blind, blindness still has 
profound social and economic 
consequences.  Governmental programs should 
encourage blind people to reach their full 
employment potential; they should not encourage economic dependence.

Existing Law:  Title II of the Social Security 
Act provides that disability benefits paid to 
blind beneficiaries are eliminated if the 
beneficiary exceeds a monthly earnings 
limit.  This earnings limit is in effect a 
penalty imposed on blind Americans when they 
work.  This penalty imposed by the SSDI program 
means that, if a blind person earns just $1 over 
$1,640 (the monthly limit in 2009 following a 
Trial Work Period), all benefits are lost.

           Section 216(i)(1)(B) of the Social 
Security Act defines blindness as a disability 
based on objective measurement of acuity and 
visual field, as opposed to the subjective 
criterion of inability to perform Substantial 
Gainful Activity (SGA).  For blind people, doing 
work valued at the SGA earnings limit terminates 
benefits but does not terminate disability.  Only 
blind people not working or those with work 
earnings below an annually adjusted statutory 
earnings limit receive benefits.

Need for Legislation:  When a blind person enters 
the workforce, there is no guarantee that wages 
earned will replace SSDI benefits after taxes are 
paid and work expenses are deducted.  For 
example, Jane worked as a customer service 
representative with an annual income of $35,000 
until she became blind from diabetic 
retinopathy.  Jane meets the criteria for SSDI 
benefits, which provide income of $1,060 a month 
(or $12,720 a year) tax-free while she is not 
working.  Jane wants additional income to meet 
her financial needs.  After an adjustment period 
and blindness skills training, she finds 
employment as a part-time representative making 
$10 an hour for 35 hours a week.  Jane grosses 
$350 a week for an average of $1,517 a 
month.  Using a conservative 25 percent 
withholding tax, Jane nets $1,137.50 from her 
work, combined with her $1,060 disability 
benefit, for a net total of $2,197.50 a 
month.  If Jane should have the opportunity to 
work full time (40 hours), her weekly salary 
would go up to $400 a week for a monthly average 
of $1,733.  This amount is over the 2009 earnings 
limit, so Jane loses all of her disability 
benefits.  Using the same 25 percent tax level, 
Jane nets only $1,300 a month­working an extra 
five hours a week has cost Jane $897.50 net 
income (over $10,500 a year).  This example 
illustrates the work disincentive contained in current law.

           A gradual reduction of $1 in benefits 
for every $3 earned over the earnings limit would 
remove the earnings penalty and provide a 
financial incentive to work.  The benefit amount 
paid to an individual will gradually decrease, 
while the individual’s contribution to the Social 
Security trust fund increases over time.  Under 
this approach, as Jane earns more, she pays more 
into the trust fund, and her dependence on benefits decreases.

           Monthly earnings evaluations are 
unnecessarily complicated for both the 
beneficiaries and the Social Security 
Administration.  Since the medical prognosis for 
blind people rarely changes, and because 
blindness is objectively measurable, blind people 
should be subject to an annual earnings test with 
the limit equal to the twelve times applicable monthly SGA amount.

           Under current law blind workers 
frequently pay for items and services related to 
their disabilities that are necessary for them to 
work, and they are permitted to subtract these 
Impairment Related Work Expenses (IRWE) from 
monthly earnings when determining monthly 
income.  Properly crediting IRWE poses a serious 
challenge to the SSDI program and creates a lack 
of predictability for the blind person trying to 
determine whether benefits will be available.  To 
address both issues, Congress should permit SSDI 
recipients to claim the same amount used when 
determining an income subsidy under the Medicare 
prescription drug program, currently 16.3 percent.

           Congress should enact legislation to:
·       Provide that earnings of blind SSDI 
beneficiaries in excess of the annual earnings 
limit result in a gradual benefit reduction of $1 
for each $3 earned over the limit;
·       Establish an annual earnings test for blind SSDI beneficiaries; and
·       Establish one standard IRWE deduction for 
blind SSDI beneficiaries equal to the amount 
presently applicable for this deduction when 
determining an appropriate income subsidy under 
the Medicare prescription drug program or 16.3 
percent of earnings, whichever is greater.

Requested Action:  Please support blind Americans 
by cosponsoring legislation that provides a 
common sense work incentive for blind Social Security beneficiaries.

Contact Information:
James McCarthy
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2240
Email:  jmccarthy at nfb.org

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