[Blindvet-talk] Fwd: [Nfbnet-members-list] Washington Seminar Materials

[MisterAdvocate at aol.com]

____________________________________
 From: dandrews at visi.com
To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
Sent:  1/21/2013 3:27:42 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: [Nfbnet-members-list]  Washington Seminar Materials


Since some people had problems opening up the attachments  which were sent 
out yesterday -- I am resending the material with everything  in the body of 
this message.  I apologize for any inconvenience this may  have caused any 
of you.

David Andrews


Legislative Agenda  of Blind Americans:
Priorities for the 113th Congress, FIRST  Session





The National Federation of the Blind  (NFB) is the nation’s oldest and 
largest nationwide organization of blind  people.  As the voice of the nation’s 
blind, we represent 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 NFB’s three legislative initiatives for 2013  are: 

·        The Fair  Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act 
This legislation phases out  Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 
which allows employers to pay  disabled workers subminimum wages.  By 
ending this exploitative,  discriminatory practice, disabled Americans will 
receive equal protection  under the law to earn at least the federal minimum wage 
and reach their full  employment potential.    
·        The Technology, Education  and Accessibility in College and Higher 
Education Act 
Electronic  instructional materials and related technology have replaced 
traditional  methods of learning in postsecondary settings.  Although it would 
be  inexpensive to create e-books, courseware, applications, and other 
educational  devices and materials in accessible formats, the overwhelming 
majority of  these materials are inaccessible to disabled students.  This bill 
calls  for minimum accessibility standards for instructional materials, ending 
the  “separate but equal” approach to  learning.
·        Equal Access to  Air Travel for Service-Disabled Veterans (HR 164)
The Space Available  Program allows active-duty military, Red Cross 
employees, and retired members  of the armed services to travel on military 
aircraft if there is space  available.  HR 164 reverses the exclusion of 100 
percent service-disabled  veterans who were discharged before retirement and 
entitles them to the  program’s privileges.   


The real problem of  blindness is not the loss of eyesight; it is the 
misunderstanding and lack of  information that exist.  Given the proper training 
and opportunity,  blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance.  Blind 
Americans need  your help to achieve these goals and reach economic security 
and full  integration into society.  Supporting these measures will benefit 
more  than just the blind, as promoting our economic welfare increases the 
tax  base.  We urge Congress to hear our demands for equality and support  
these legislative initiatives.  



The Fair Wages  for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013


Current labor laws unjustly prohibit workers  with disabilities 
from reaching their full socioeconomic  potential.



Written in 1938, Section 14(c) of the  Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 
discriminates against people with disabilities  by allowing the secretary of 
labor to grant Special Wage Certificates to  employers, permitting them to pay 
workers with disabilities less than the  minimum wage.  Despite enlightened 
civil rights legislation prohibiting  discrimination on the basis of 
disability, this antiquated provision is still  in force, with some disabled 
workers making only three cents an hour.  

The subminimum wage model actually benefits the employer, not  the worker. 
Subminimum wage employers receive taxpayer and philanthropic  dollars 
because the public believes they are providing training and employment  for people 
with disabilities.  The executives use the substantial  proceeds to 
compensate themselves with six-figure salaries on the backs of  disabled workers 
they pay pennies per hour.  People who raise their own  standard of living 
while taking advantage of those who do not have the same  rights as every other 
American are engaging in discrimination, not  charity.  

This discrimination  persists because of the myths that Section 14(c) is:

Myth  1…a compassionate offering of meaningful work.  Although the entities 
 that engage in this practice demand the benefits that come from being  
recognized as employers, subminimum wage work is not true  employment.   These 
so-called employers offer days filled with only  repetitive drudgery for 
which workers are compensated with third-world wages,  leading disabled 
employees toward learned incapacity and greater dependence on  social programs.

Myth 2…an employment training tool for  disabled workers. Fewer than 5 
percent of workers with disabilities  in subminimum wage workshops will 
transition into integrated competitive  work.  In fact data show that they must 
unlearn the skills they acquire  in a subminimum wage workshop in order to 
obtain meaningful employment.   Therefore Section 14(c) is a training tool that 
perpetuates ongoing  underemployment.

Myth 3…a controversial issue among the  disability community. More than 
fifty disability-related organizations and  counting support the repeal of 
Section 14(c) of the FLSA, and many former  subminimum wage employers have 
abandoned the use of the Special Wage  Certificate without terminating anyone.  
Only entities profiting from  this exploitive practice refuse to acknowledge 
that it is  discrimination.   

The Fair Wages for Workers with  Disabilities Act of 2013:  

Discontinues the practice  of issuing Special Wage Certificates.  The 
secretary of labor will no  longer issue Special Wage Certificates to new 
applicants.   

Phases out all remaining Special Wage Certificates over a  three-year 
period.  Entities currently holding Special Wage  Certificates will begin 
compensating their workers with disabilities at no  less than the federal minimum 
wage, using the following schedule:   
·        private for-profit entities’  certificates will be revoked after 
one year;  
·        public or governmental  entities’ certificates will be revoked 
after two years; and  
·        nonprofit entities’  certificates will be revoked after three 
years.  

Repeals  Section 14(c) of the FLSA.  Three years after the law is enacted, 
the  practice of paying disabled workers subminimum wages will be officially 
 abolished, and workers with disabilities will no longer be excluded from 
the  workforce protection of a federal minimum wage.   




STOP THE DISCRIMINATION.
Create opportunities for  real work at real wages.

Cosponsor the Fair Wages for Workers  with Disabilities Act.





For more information  contact:
Anil Lewis, Director of Advocacy and Policy
National  Federation of the Blind
Phone: (410) 659-9314, Extension  2374    email: _alewis at nfb.org_ 
(mailto:alewis at nfb.org) 



The  Technology, Education, and Accessibility 
in College and Higher Education Act  (TEACH)


Inaccessible technology in the classroom  creates a separate-but-equal 
approach to learning that discriminates  against disabled students. 


The evolution of technology has  fundamentally changed the education 
system.  The scope of  instructional materials used to facilitate the teaching and 
learning process  at institutions of higher education has expanded.  
Curricular content  comes in the form of digital books, PDFs, webpages, etc.; and 
most of this  content is delivered through technology such as courseware, 
library databases,  digital software, and applications. These advancements 
have revolutionized  access to information, but the majority of these materials 
are partially or  completely inaccessible to students with disabilities.  

Barriers to access for disabled students create a  separate-but-equal 
approach to learning.   According to a 2009  Government Accountability Office 
report, approximately 10.8 percent of  students enrolled in postsecondary 
institutions had some disability.  The  mass deployment of inaccessible 
electronic instructional materials creates  barriers to learning for millions of 
disabled students.  When a website  is not compatible with screen-access 
software, a blind student is denied  access to online course information; if 
nondisabled students are using an  inaccessible e-reader, a student who cannot 
read print has to petition the  school for an accessible device and thus 
potentially different content.   This approach to access is discriminatory and 
places unnecessary barriers in  the way of students with disabilities.  

Technology  exists to remedy this discrimination, but postsecondary 
institutions are not  investing in accessibility.  Innovations in text-to-speech,  
refreshable Braille, and other technologies have created promise for equal  
access for disabled students; yet an unacceptable number of postsecondary  
institutions do not make it a priority to purchase accessible  technology.  
Schools are buying inaccessible instructional materials and  then separate, 
accessible items on an ad-hoc basis for students with  disabilities.  Some 
resort merely to retrofitting the inaccessible  technology, which sometimes 
makes accessibility worse.  Until  postsecondary institutions harness their 
purchasing power, the market for  accessible instructional materials will 
remain limited, and disabled students  will continue to be left behind. 

Equality in the classroom is  a civil right.   Section 504 of the 
Rehabilitation Act and the  Americans with Disabilities Act prohibit discrimination 
on the basis of  disability.  The deployment of inaccessible instructional 
materials  violates these laws.  
Technology, Education, and Accessibility in  College and Higher Education 
Act:  

Develops  accessibility guidelines for instructional materials.  The Access 
 Board will consult experts and stakeholders to develop technical  
specifications for electronic instructional materials and related information  
technologies so that those materials are usable by individuals with  
disabilities.  

Establishes a minimum accessibility  standard for instructional materials 
used by the government and in  postsecondary academic settings.  The 
Department of Justice will  implement the guidelines developed by the Access Board 
as enforceable  standards applicable to all departments and agencies of the 
federal government  and institutions of higher education covered in Titles II 
and III of the  Americans with Disabilities Act.  
Promotes competition while  ensuring equality.  The guidelines provide 
guidance to manufacturers  on how to develop products that are fully accessible 
to disabled users, and  the required standards will ensure that all 
colleges, universities, and  federal agencies procure and deploy only fully 
accessible instructional  materials, ending the separate-but-equal approach to  
learning.    



PROTECT EQUALITY IN THE  CLASSROOM.

Cosponsor the Technology, Education, and  Accessibility
in College and Higher Education Act  (TEACH).




For more information contact:
Lauren  McLarney, Government Affairs Specialist
National Federation of the  Blind
Phone: (410) 659-9314, Extension 2207    email:  lmclarney at nfb.org



Equal Access to Air Travel  for Service-Disabled Veterans (HR 164)


The Space Available Program denies 100 percent  of
Service-Disabled Veterans the opportunity to  participate.


Discharged service-disabled veterans are not  entitled to air travel 
privileges to which other members of the military have  access.  The Space 
Available Program allows members of the  active military, some family members, Red 
Cross employees, and retired members  of the armed services to travel on 
military aircraft if space is  available.  However, members of the military who 
are 100 percent service  disabled do not qualify for this program because 
they do not fall into one of  those categories.

This unintentional exclusion denies  discharged service-disabled veterans a 
privilege to which they would be  entitled had they not been disabled 
during service.  Those service  members who are disabled during active duty and 
are medically discharged do  not have the chance to stay on active duty or 
fulfill the twenty years  requirement to become qualified for this program.  
Had they not been  medically discharged, 100 percent service-disabled 
veterans are likely to have  served until retirement. These men and women have 
earned the right to  space-available travel just as others have because they 
have defended our  country.  

Equal Access to Air Travel for  Service-Disabled Veterans would:  

Provide travel privileges  to totally disabled veterans.  This bill amends 
Title 10 of the U.S.  Code, to permit veterans who have a service-connected, 
permanent disability  rated as total to travel on military aircraft in the 
same manner and to the  same extent as retired members of the Armed Forces 
entitled to such travel.  



HONOR OUR SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS WITH  
PRIVILEGES THEY ARE ENTITLED TO.

Cosponsor HR  164.



To cosponsor the bill,  contact:

Mirium Keim, Legislative Assistant
Office of  Congressman Bilirakis (R-FL)
Phone: (202) 225-5755 email: _mirium.keim at mail.house.gov_ 
(mailto:mirium.keim at mail.house.gov)   

For more information contact:
Jesse Hartle, Government  Affairs Specialist
National Federation of the Blind
Phone: (410)  659-9314, Extension 2233 email: _jhartle at nfb.org_ 
(mailto:jhartle at nfb.org) 





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