[il-talk] FW: [Nfb-announce] Social Security Told to Modernize for the Blind

[Syed Yousufuddin]

> Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:36:52 -0500
> To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
> From: dandrews at visi.com
> Subject: [Nfb-announce] Social Security Told to Modernize for the Blind
> 
> Subject: Social Security told to modernize for the blind
> 
> Social Security told to modernize for the blind
> 
> Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
> 
> Tuesday, October 20, 2009
> 
> (10-20) 17:17 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The Social Security Administration
> must
> give the nation's 3 million blind or visually impaired recipients the
> option
> of receiving benefit notices in braille or by audio computer disc, a
> federal
> judge in San Francisco said Tuesday.
> 
> Ruling in a nationwide class-action suit, U.S. District Judge William
> Alsup
> said that by sending notices only by mail and phone calls, the agency is
> violating
> a law that guarantees the disabled equal access to its programs. He
> ordered
> the government to make the additional choices available by April 15.
> 
> The case involves some of the 100 million notices the Social Security
> Administration sends each year to its 61 million beneficiaries, advising
> them of scheduled
> appointments, program changes, tax filings and possible benefit cuts.
> 
> About 250,000 Americans receive benefits because of blindness, and
> another
> 2.7 million blind or sight-impaired people get Social Security for other
> reasons.
> 
> Under rules authorized by Congress in 1988 and 1990, they can choose to
> be
> notified of agency actions by mail, with a follow-up phone call, or by
> certified
> mail with a return receipt. Those who make no choice are contacted by
> mail
> without a phone call.
> 
> Alsup said the current system may have been effective 20 years ago, but
> no
> longer provides the "meaningful access" the law requires, in light of
> advanced
> technology.
> 
> Little evidence was presented that blind people had lost benefits
> because of
> inadequate notice, Alsup said, but the current system is ineffective for
> at
> least some recipients.
> 
> For example, he said, a blind person who needs to respond to a written
> notice must wait until someone is available to read it aloud, and may
> have
> problems
> meeting government deadlines.
> 
> Alsup said the Social Security Administration refused to acknowledge
> that it
> was even covered by the anti-discrimination law until after the suit was
> filed
> in 2005, and "has been quick to find lame excuses for noncompliance."
> 
> The agency must inform all blind and visually impaired recipients by
> Dec. 31
> that they will have the choice of getting notices in braille or by
> Microsoft
> Word CD in mid-April, Alsup said. He said those who want another option,
> such as notification by e-mail, must be allowed to request it and show
> why
> they
> need it.
> 
> "This is a huge benefit," said attorney Silvia Yee of the Disability
> Rights
> Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. She
> said
> the ruling will allow many recipients "to have an independence in
> working
> with the (Social Security Administration) that they've never had
> before."
> 
> Many sight-impaired recipients, particularly the young and those who
> become
> blind later in life, can't read braille, Yee said, "but for people who
> do
> read
> braille, it's their first choice." She said the CD option would
> particularly
> help younger recipients.
> 
> Lowell Kepke, spokesman for the Social Security Administration's
> regional
> office in Richmond, said the agency "will review the order and take
> whatever
> actions
> are appropriate."
> 
> 
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