[Blindtlk] Signing Your Name.

[Gary Wunder]

Good morning. I am surprised that anyone would argue that because they are
blind they are entitled not to know something. I think there are certainly
arguments that say that because we are blind we can't know a thing, but
entitled to be exempt from it is quite a different matter. I know lots of
blind people who sign their names. I wouldn't say that they are great names.
Some people joke about the fact that I must be a medical doctor, but the one
thing that is true is that your signature has to be consistent from time to
time otherwise it can easily be argued that it is not authentic. If your
husband really won't learn to sign his name, maybe we need to find someone
who can write a good signature, habit embossed on the signature stamp, and
then have him use it. Of course, if he loses his signature stamp, then he
has also lost his signature to those who would use it fraudulently.

I can understand the difficulty in not writing very legibly, but I can't
understand at all the refusal to use a signature guide or something to keep
you on the line. I suspect you have tried putting a crease in the paper so
that he can follow the line.

The last thing I would say is that, of all of the government agencies there
are to argue with, I think the Internal Revenue Service is the one I would
avoid most strenuously. They can make your life miserable. They can garnish
your wages. They can take Social Security payments. They can take your
house. Wouldn't it be a better use of time to open a case with rehab and get
someone to come and show you how to do a signature of which you could be
proud rather than to proclaim you have some right not to learn it because
you are blind? What about the fun of learning? What about the fun of
converting a lifelong barrier into an asset? 

I hope this may help.

Gary 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Mary Mc Gee
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 11:11 AM
To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Signing Your Name.

Dear Fellow Federationists;

            I need some original thinking here, I believe.  It's tax time
and, as you know, when you're married, sometimes you choose to file a joint
return, which both you and your spouse must sign.  I have no problem doing
this; I'm the one who prepares the thing with the Schedules, etc.  My
husband, who is totally blind, can't sign his name legibly.  (It's debatable
whether my signature is legible.)  Anyway, last year the IRS sent the return
back saying the "spouse's signature is not authentic".  The IRS accepted
mine but not his.  He refuses to use one of those signature guides or
anything else like that.  He writes at an angle and the letters overlap.  He
says he shouldn't have to know how to sign his name.  I disagree.  Every
year at tax time we argue about this because he feels, being blind, he
shouldn't be expected to know how to make a legible signature.  I argue
that, since the majority of people working for the government are sighted
and the signature is your verification, you need to sign government
documents.  

            I guess my question is two-fold:

1.  Does anyone have any suggestions with respect to convincing him that he
needs to make a signature?

2.  Has anyone else had a document returned, when a blind person signed it
and the government refused to accept the signature?

            Last near, I took the think to Sen. Harkin's office and
explained the problem.  I signed release, they took over and sent the return
to the IRS, and I never heard another word till our refund check came.

            Thanks for your input.

Sincerely,

Mary L. McGee

 

 

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