[Ct-nfb] Safety is Only Hours Away

[Justin Salisbury]

Hello Deb and everyone,

First, the update: Danielle Palladino, in Rep. Morin’s office, has informed us via Kim Tindall that the bill is effectively dead, that the Connecticut General Assembly decided not to act on it. Thank you to Kim Tindall for being so diligent and building relationships in her local office that would enable us to get this information when we needed it.

About national involvement:
We reached out to legislative coordinators across the country to see if anyone could teach us how to explain why taking us out of the bill would not be discrimination. We knew that it wasn’t, but we were not sure that we knew how to explain it in the legal jargon that lawmakers want to hear. A few lawyers from various parts of the country were able to chime in and help us learn how to explain it. We used those arguments in the process. It is possible, though, that I did not indicate to you which arguments had come from that probe.

I’m still waiting to see the website updated to show that the bill died, but I am definitely going to sleep more easily tonight than I did last night.

Have a good night, everyone!

Justin

Justin Salisbury - Running Thunder Phoenix
Graduate Student
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu<mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu>
Twitter: @SalisburyJustin

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Rival via Ct-nfb
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 2:05 PM
To: 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'
Cc: Elizabeth Rival
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Safety is Only Hours Away

Deb, hope this helps. With the exception of The Seeing Eye which requires students to pay a symbolic fee of $150 for the first dog, $50 for successor dogs and $1 if the student is a blinded veteran, all of these IGDF schools  provide guide dogs to blind people at no cost. Therefore, since the bill requires guide dogs to be received from an IGDF program, it is not a matter of “discrimination” to exclude guide dogs from this bill.  there is simply no need to include provisions for guide dogs  in the bill since there is no cost to the blind person.


From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Deb Reed via Ct-nfb
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 2:37 PM
To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing List
Cc: Deb Reed
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Safety is Only Hours Away

Justin,
I understand that you were working with national to find out if in fact removing guide dogs from the bill would be discriminatory? Was there any results on that question yet? Respectfully, Deb
 Deb Reed, President
National Federation Of The Blind
Central CT Chapter
Phone - 860-584-5221
Email - deb.reed57 at gmail.com<mailto:deb.reed57 at gmail.com>

On Jun 3, 2015, at 2:25 AM, Justin Salisbury via Ct-nfb <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org<mailto:ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>> wrote:
Fellow Federationists:

The last day of this session for the Connecticut General Assembly is Wednesday, June 3.

They still haven’t passed or amended SB 234, the bill that would cause so many problems in the guide dog system as we know it.

If our work was effective, we will soon see the results. If our work was not, we will see that, too. I may not know by the end of the day what happened with the bill because there may be some lag time for everything to get entered after the hectic day of slamming bills through the process, but I will let everyone know as soon as I know.

Whatever the result is, I am proud to have been a part of this effort with my Federation family both in Connecticut and nationally.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Justin

Justin Salisbury - Running Thunder Phoenix
Graduate Student
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu<mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu>
Twitter: @SalisburyJustin

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

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