[Diabetes-talk] Iowa Diabetes Action Network Meeting and Resolution

[Jerry Hathaway]

Sandy great work with the division and the resolution. I plan to send a copy 
of the resolution to our state president to see if we can get it passed at 
our state convention in November. We are trying to get a division started up 
in Oregon. I would appriciate any information or ideas to help our division 
and improve the life for blind diabetics in Oregon.

Jerry Hathaway

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sandi Ryan" <sjryan2 at gmail.com>
To: "Diabetes Talk for the Blind" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 5:19 PM
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] Iowa Diabetes Action Network Meeting and Resolution


> Hi Everyone,
>
> I wanted to let you all know that the first official Annual Meeting of the 
> Diabetes Action Network of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa 
> was a success.  Our meeting was held during the state affiliate 
> convention, on Friday afternoon, October 4, 2013.  Around 30 people 
> attended our meeting, with 24 paying dues for 2014.  We conducted a little 
> business--talking about the history of the division, electing a new 
> secretary and Board member, and passing a resolution (see below).  Dr. 
> Nancy Kane, a well-known Des Moines endocrinologist, spoke with us about 
> diabetes basics, potential complications (including some hardly mentioned 
> in the usual list), and answered audience questions.  We are very happy 
> with the meeting's results.
>
> The resolution passed by the IDAN moved on to the Resolutions Committee, 
> where it was altered a bit and passed on to the Affiliate.  On Sunday 
> morning, October 6, the convention passed the resolution unanimously.
>
> Below is the resolution passed by the convention.  We look forward to 
> working with DANs across the country and others interested in this issue 
> at the national level.
>
> Sandi
>
> NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
>
> OF IOWA
>
>
>
> Resolution 13-02
>
> Regarding Advocacy to Make Diabetes Tools and Technology Accessible to the 
> Blind
>
>
>
> WHEREAS, The National Federation of the Blind has, since 1940, championed 
> the independence of the blind and worked to make the world accessible to 
> and safe for the blind; and
>
>
>
> WHEREAS, to help increase the independence of blind people, the National 
> Federation of the Blind has fought to make technology, readily available 
> to the sighted, accessible for the blind; and
>
>
>
> WHEREAS, according to the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National 
> Institutes of Health (NIH), diabetic retinopathy is the most common cause 
> of blindness, affecting 4.1 million American adults over age 40, and
>
>
>
> WHEREAS, very little technology currently on the market for constantly or 
> periodically monitoring blood glucose, accurately delivering insulin, or 
> performing other tasks to control diabetes is accessible to the blind, and 
> insulin pens carry a disclaimer that they should not be used by the blind 
> without supervision; and
>
>
>
> WHEREAS, technology has been demonstrated to increase diabetes control in 
> the sighted, and the same technology, made accessible to the blind would 
> improve diabetes control among blind and visually impaired diabetics, and 
> increase independence in maintaining such control;; and
>
>
>
> WHEREAS, the need for improved accessibility of lifesaving diabetes 
> technology has been largely overlooked: Now, therefore,
>
>
>
> BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa in 
> convention assembled this sixth day of October, 2013, in the city of 
> Altoona, Iowa, that the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa and its 
> Diabetes Action Network division work closely with companies developing 
> pens, pumps, glucometers, and other lifesaving diabetes control tools and 
> technology to integrate accessibility for the blind into the design and 
> manufacture of such items; and
>
>
>
> BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa 
> enlist the support of the American Diabetes Association, the American 
> Association of Retired Persons, the American Association of Clinical 
> Endocrinologists, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to 
> establish and implement accessibility standards for diabetes technology; 
> and
>
>
>
> BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa 
> urge manufacturers of technology that provides information to the blind 
> about diabetes management to recognize that creating technology useful 
> only to the sighted creates a circumstance that discriminates against the 
> blind, and urge such manufacturers further to recognize that the blind of 
> Iowa will join with other blind people throughout the nation to take such 
> action as may be necessary to end this discrimination; and
>
>
>
> BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Iowa Diabetes Action Network publicize 
> widely the inaccessibility of diabetes tools and technology as they are 
> currently marketed, and the unnecessary hardship their inaccessibility 
> creates in the lives of blind diabetics.
>
>
>
>
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