[Iabs-talk] Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans: Priorities for the 111th Congress
AZNOR99 at aol.com
AZNOR99 at aol.com
Mon Jan 26 18:17:59 UTC 2009
Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:
Priorities for the 111th Congress, FIRST Session
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest and largest
organization of blind people in the United States. As the Voice of the Nation’s
Blind, we present 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 social and economic consequences of blindness affect not only
blind people, but also our families, our friends, and our coworkers.
Three legislative initiatives demand the immediate attention of the 111th
Congress in its first session:
1. We urge Congress to ensure the safety of blind and other pedestrians
by passing the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act. This legislation would
require the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to:
· Begin a study within ninety days of its enactment to determine the
most practical means of assuring that blind and other pedestrians receive
essentially similar information to what they now receive from sound emitted by
internal combustion engines;
· Determine the minimum amount of sound necessary to offer sufficient
information for blind pedestrians to make safe travel judgments based on
appropriate scientific research and consultation with blind Americans and other
affected groups;
· Within two years of beginning the study, promulgate a motor vehicle
safety standard to address the needs of blind and other pedestrians by
requiring either a minimum level of sound or an equally effective means of providing
the same information as is available from hearing internal combustion
engines; and
· Apply the standard to all motor vehicles manufactured or sold in
the United States beginning no later than two years after the date it is
promulgated.
2. We urge Congress to work with blind Americans to create a Technology
Bill of Rights for the Blind that mandates consumer electronics, home
appliances, and office equipment to provide user interfaces that are accessible
through nonvisual means. This legislation should:
· Mandate that all consumer electronics, home appliances, and office
equipment be designed so that blind people can access the same functions as
sighted people through nonvisual means and with substantially equivalent ease of
use;
· Create a commission comprised of essential stakeholders to
establish standards for nonvisual accessibility of electronic devices intended for
use in the home or office;
· Endow the commission with enforcement powers or locate it within a
government agency having such powers; and
· Authorize it to reexamine and rewrite standards to keep pace with
the evolution of consumer electronic technology.
3. We urge Congress to promote and facilitate the transition by blind
Americans from recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance benefits to
income-earning, taxpaying, productive members of the American workforce by
enacting legislation to:
· Replace the monthly earnings penalty with a graduated 3-for-1
phase-out (i.e., a $1 reduction in benefits for each $3 earned above the limit);
· Replace the monthly earnings test with an annualized earnings test
with an amount equal to twelve times. Substantial Gainful Activity amount;
and
· Establish an impairment-related work expense deduction for blind
Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries equal to the amount
applicable for this deduction when determining an appropriate income subsidy under
Medicare Part D or 16.3 percent of earnings, whichever is greater.
For more information about these priorities, please consult the attached
fact sheets.
Blind Americans need your help to achieve our goals of economic security,
increased opportunity, and full integration into American society on a basis of
equality. Enactment of these legislative proposals will represent important
steps toward reaching these goals. We need the help and support of each
member of Congress. Our success benefits not only us, but the whole of America
as well. In this time of national economic insecurity, these measures will
contribute to increasing the tax base and encouraging the purchase of consumer
goods.
ENHANCING PEDESTRIAN SAFETY: ENSURING THE BLIND CAN CONTINUE TO TRAVEL
SAFELY AND INDEPENDENTLY
Purpose: To require hybrid, electric, and other vehicles to emit a minimum
level of sound to alert blind and other pedestrians of their presence.
Background: Until recently independent travel for the blind has been a
relatively simple matter, once a blind person has been trained in travel
techniques and has learned to use a white cane or travel with a guide dog. Blind
people listen to the sounds of automobile engines to determine the direction,
speed, and pattern of traffic. Sounds from traffic tell blind pedestrians how
many vehicles are near them and how fast they are moving, whether the
vehicles are accelerating or decelerating, and whether the vehicles are traveling
toward, away from, or parallel to them. With all of this information, blind
people can accurately determine when it is safe to advance into an intersection
or across a driveway or parking lot. The information obtained from
listening to traffic sounds allows blind people to travel with complete confidence
and without assistance. Studies have shown that sighted pedestrians also use
this information when traveling.
Over the past few years, however, vehicles that are completely silent in
certain modes of operation have come on the market, and many more silent
vehicles are expected in the near future. These vehicles are designed to have many
benefits, including improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions, but they
do not need to be silent in order to achieve these intended benefits. An
unintended consequence of these vehicles as they are currently designed is that
they will reduce the independence of blind Americans and endanger the lives,
not only of blind people, but also of small children, seniors, cyclists, and
runners.
Currently the most popular of these vehicles is the gasoline-electric
hybrid, which alternates between running on a gasoline engine and on battery power
(although a few electric automobiles are already on America’s roads and new
all-electric models are planned). The blind of America do not oppose the
proliferation of vehicles intended to reduce damage to the environment, but for
safety these vehicles must meet a minimum sound standard.
On April 9, 2008, Congressmen Ed Towns and Cliff Stearns introduced H.R.
5734 (the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008). This legislation sought
to solve the problem of silent cars by authorizing a two-year study to
determine the best method for allowing blind individuals to recognize the presence
of silent cars, and by requiring that, two years after the study was
completed, all new vehicles sold in the United States must comply with the solution
determined by the study. In the 110th Congress, eighty-eight members of the
House cosponsored this legislation.
Need for Congressional Action: For several years the National Federation of
the Blind has been concerned about the proliferation of silent vehicles.
Recently automobile manufacturers have acknowledged the problems posed to blind
pedestrians by silent vehicle technology and have begun to work with the
National Federation of the Blind to seek solutions. However, federal regulators
have indicated that, in the absence of statistics on injuries or deaths
caused by hybrid vehicles, nothing can be done. Congress must therefore direct
the Department of Transportation to take action. It is crucial that this
problem be addressed before the inevitable avalanche of tragedies involving
blind people, small children, seniors, cyclists, runners, and newly blinded
veterans shocks the nation.
Proposed Legislation: Congressmen Towns and Stearns have reintroduced the
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation to
conduct a study and establish a motor vehicle safety standard that provides
a means of alerting blind and other pedestrians of motor vehicle operation,
based on appropriate scientific research and consultation with blind Americans
and other affected groups. This national motor vehicle safety standard must
have the following characteristics:
a.. In all phases of operation (including times when the vehicle is at a
full stop) vehicles shall be required to emit an omni-directional sound with
similar spectral characteristics to those of a modern internal combustion
engine.
b.. The sound should vary in a way that is consistent with the sound of
vehicles with combustion engines to indicate whether the vehicle is idling,
maintaining a constant speed, accelerating, or decelerating.
The standard need not prescribe the apparatus, technology, or method to be
used by vehicle manufacturers to achieve the required minimum sound level.
This approach will encourage manufacturers to use innovative and cost-effective
techniques to achieve the minimum sound standard.
The addition of components to emit a minimum sound discernible by blind and
other pedestrians will not negatively affect environmental benefits of
gasoline-electric hybrids and other automobiles running on alternate power sources,
and the emitted sound need not be loud enough to contribute to noise
pollution. Automobiles that operate in complete silence, however, endanger the
safety of all of us; silent operation should be viewed as a design flaw
comparable to the lack of seat belts or air bags.
Requested Action: Please support blind Americans by cosponsoring the
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act to authorize the U.S. Department of
Transportation to establish and promulgate regulations specifying a minimum sound standard
for all new automobiles sold in the United States. In the House of
Representatives, members can be added by contacting Emily Khoury in Congressman Towns’
s office, or James Thomas in Congressman Stearns’s office. In the Senate
members can support independence for blind Americans by sponsoring companion
legislation.
Contact Information:
Jesse Hartle
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2233
Email: jhartle at nfb.org
A TECHNOLOGY BILL OF RIGHTS FOR THE BLIND
Purpose: To create a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind that mandates
consumer electronics, home appliances, and office equipment to provide user
interfaces that are accessible through nonvisual means.
Background: In recent years rapid advances in microchip and digital
technology have led to increasingly complex user interfaces for everyday products
like consumer electronics, home appliances, and office equipment. Many new
devices in these categories require user interaction with visual displays,
on-screen menus, touch screens, and other user interfaces that are inaccessible to
individuals who are blind or have low vision. No longer are settings on the
television, home stereo system, or dishwasher controlled by knobs, switches,
and buttons that can be readily identified and whose settings can be easily
discerned, with or without the addition of tactile markings by the user.
Moreover, the use of inaccessible interfaces on office equipment such as copiers
and fax machines makes these devices unusable by the blind and therefore a
potential threat to a blind person’s existing job or a barrier to obtaining
new employment.
This growing threat to the independence and productivity of blind people is
unnecessary since digital devices can function without inaccessible
interfaces. Today text-to-speech technology is inexpensive and more nearly ubiquitous
than it has ever been; it is used in everything from automated telephone
systems to the weather forecasting service broadcast by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. Indeed, a few manufacturers have incorporated
this technology into their products to create talking menus or to articulate
what is on the display; there is no reason why other manufacturers cannot do
so as well. And text-to-speech technology is not the only mechanism by which
consumer electronics, home appliances, and office equipment can be made
accessible to blind people.
Need for Legislation: Currently there are no enforceable mandates for
manufacturers of consumer electronics, home appliances, or office equipment to
make their devices accessible and no accessibility standards to provide guidance
to manufacturers on how to avoid creating barriers to access by the blind.
Congress should therefore enact a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind,
which clearly establishes that manufacturers must create accessible user
interfaces for their products, provide a means for enforcement, and establish
standards that will provide meaningful benchmarks that manufacturers can use to
make their products accessible.
Congress need not mandate a single, one-size-fits-all solution for all
consumer technology. Rather any such legislation should mandate regulations
that set meaningful accessibility standards, while at the same time allowing
manufacturers to select from a menu of potential solutions that, singly or in
combination, will allow blind users to operate the technology easily and
successfully. This will not only give manufacturers the freedom and flexibility
they desire, but encourage innovations that make consumer technology more
usable for everyone.
Proposed Legislation: Congress should enact a Technology Bill of Rights for
the Blind that:
a.. Mandates that all consumer electronics, home appliances, and office
equipment be designed so that blind people are able to access the same functions
as sighted people by nonvisual means and with substantially equivalent ease
of use; and
a.. Creates a commission to establish standards for nonvisual accessibility
of electronic devices intended for use in the home or office. Such a
commission should represent all stakeholders, including organizations of the blind;
manufacturers of consumer electronics, home appliances, and office equipment
or associations representing such manufacturers; and experts on universal
design, electronic engineering, and related fields. This commission should have
enforcement powers or be housed within a government agency having such
powers (e.g., U.S. Department of Commerce), and should be authorized to reexamine
and rewrite standards periodically, as consumer electronic technology
continues to evolve.
Requested Action: Please support blind Americans by introducing legislation
to create a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind (or by cosponsoring once
legislation has been introduced) so that blind people will be able to
participate fully in all aspects of American society. Increased access leads to
increased independence, increased employment, and increased tax revenue.
Contact Information:
James McCarthy
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2240
Email: jmccarthy at nfb.org
REMOVING THE EARNINGS PENALTY: A COMMON SENSE WORK INCENTIVE FOR BLIND
SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFICIARIES
Purpose: To promote and facilitate the transition by blind Americans from
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries to income-earning,
taxpaying, productive members of the American workforce.
Background: The unemployment rate for working-age blind people is over 70
percent. Part of the reason for this disproportionately high statistic is the
myths and misconceptions about the true capacities of blind people. These
erroneous perceptions are manifested when employers refuse to hire the blind.
In addition, governmental programs intended to help blind people meet their
basic economic needs, especially the SSDI program, have had the unintended
consequence of creating an incentive for blind people to remain unemployed or
underemployed despite their desire to work. Low societal expectations result
in low representation of the blind in the workforce. This low representation
of the blind reinforces low societal expectations—it is a vicious circle
that perpetuates systemic employment discrimination against the blind.
Despite the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind, blindness still
has profound social and economic consequences. Governmental programs should
encourage blind people to reach their full employment potential; they should
not encourage economic dependence.
Existing Law: Title II of the Social Security Act provides that disability
benefits paid to blind beneficiaries are eliminated if the beneficiary
exceeds a monthly earnings limit. This earnings limit is in effect a penalty
imposed on blind Americans when they work. This penalty imposed by the SSDI
program means that, if a blind person earns just $1 over $1,640 (the monthly limit
in 2009 following a Trial Work Period), all benefits are lost.
Section 216(i)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act defines blindness as a
disability based on objective measurement of acuity and visual field, as opposed
to the subjective criterion of inability to perform Substantial Gainful
Activity (SGA). For blind people, doing work valued at the SGA earnings limit
terminates benefits but does not terminate disability. Only blind people not
working or those with work earnings below an annually adjusted statutory
earnings limit receive benefits.
Need for Legislation: When a blind person enters the workforce, there is no
guarantee that wages earned will replace SSDI benefits after taxes are paid
and work expenses are deducted. For example, Jane worked as a customer
service representative with an annual income of $35,000 until she became blind
from diabetic retinopathy. Jane meets the criteria for SSDI benefits, which
provide income of $1,060 a month (or $12,720 a year) tax-free while she is not
working. Jane wants additional income to meet her financial needs. After an
adjustment period and blindness skills training, she finds employment as a
part-time representative making $10 an hour for 35 hours a week. Jane grosses
$350 a week for an average of $1,517 a month. Using a conservative 25
percent withholding tax, Jane nets $1,137.50 from her work, combined with her
$1,060 disability benefit, for a net total of $2,197.50 a month. If Jane should
have the opportunity to work full time (40 hours), her weekly salary would go
up to $400 a week for a monthly average of $1,733. This amount is over the
2009 earnings limit, so Jane loses all of her disability benefits. Using the
same 25 percent tax level, Jane nets only $1,300 a month—working an extra
five hours a week has cost Jane $897.50 net income (over $10,500 a year). This
example illustrates the work disincentive contained in current law.
A gradual reduction of $1 in benefits for every $3 earned over the earnings
limit would remove the earnings penalty and provide a financial incentive to
work. The benefit amount paid to an individual will gradually decrease,
while the individual’s contribution to the Social Security trust fund increases
over time. Under this approach, as Jane earns more, she pays more into the
trust fund, and her dependence on benefits decreases.
Monthly earnings evaluations are unnecessarily complicated for both the
beneficiaries and the Social Security Administration. Since the medical
prognosis for blind people rarely changes, and because blindness is objectively
measurable, blind people should be subject to an annual earnings test with the
limit equal to the twelve times applicable monthly SGA amount.
Under current law blind workers frequently pay for items and services
related to their disabilities that are necessary for them to work, and they are
permitted to subtract these Impairment Related Work Expenses (IRWE) from monthly
earnings when determining monthly income. Properly crediting IRWE poses a
serious challenge to the SSDI program and creates a lack of predictability for
the blind person trying to determine whether benefits will be available. To
address both issues, Congress should permit SSDI recipients to claim the
same amount used when determining an income subsidy under the Medicare
prescription drug program, currently 16.3 percent.
Congress should enact legislation to:
· Provide that earnings of blind SSDI beneficiaries in excess of the
annual earnings limit result in a gradual benefit reduction of $1 for each $3
earned over the limit;
· Establish an annual earnings test for blind SSDI beneficiaries; and
· Establish one standard IRWE deduction for blind SSDI beneficiaries
equal to the amount presently applicable for this deduction when determining
an appropriate income subsidy under the Medicare prescription drug program or
16.3 percent of earnings, whichever is greater.&
Requested Action: Please support blind Americans by cosponsoring
legislation that provides a common sense work incentive for blind Social Security
beneficiaries.
Contact Information:
James McCarthy
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2240
Email: jmccarthy at nfb.org
**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy
steps!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De
cemailfooterNO62)
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2009WashingtonSeminarLegislativeAgendaandFactSheets.doc
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 142336 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/iabs-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20090126/8dd4223c/attachment.obj>
More information about the IABS-Talk
mailing list