[blindlaw] lack of accessible student loan info

[Susan Kelly]

Mine are (finally) paid off, but I ran into the same problem when I
began losing my vision a couple of years ago.  The folks on the phone
were not exactly helpful when I called to explain the problem, either,
which for me was maintaining access to the on-line payment and document
delivery system as more and more layers of security were layered into
the process.  Hopefully someone can force them to come into compliance
with accessibility....

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Mark BurningHawk
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 7:51 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: [blindlaw] lack of accessible student loan info

Hello:

For as long as I have had a government student loan, I have faced the
problem of inaccessibility when requesting deferment documents and other
paperwork.  They insist on sending me paperwork, and their on-line
documents are only available in PDF, as is the federal government's way.

Which brings me to my question:  Based on the recent decision forcing
the SSA to provide its documents in accessible format, can I use that to
force the government student loan people to make my paperwork accessible
to me?

The fact is, I live alone and in a rural area, and there aren't any
sighted people nearby that I feel comfortable with, that I'd want going
through my mail, much less knowing my social security number or
financial information, yet due to the inaccessible format of the
documents I need to fill out to keep my account in good standing, I am
forced to allow others privy to this information.  Often my loan has
been delinquent because of delays which came about due to my inability
to find someone who could help me fill these documents out.  My credit
score and other such record have been hurt over the long term by this
situation.  

Any ideas whether this decision is applicable across these lines?
Thanks. 

Mark BurningHawk
Skype and Twitter:  BurningHawk1969
Home:  Http://MarkBurningHawk.net/
Namaste!


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