[il-talk] FW: Support for HB2626

[Deborah Kent Stein]

Using Patti's template, here is the letter I sent today to my representative
in the Illinois legislature, Michael McAuliffe. You can tweak either version
to make it your own. 

 

Debbie

 

 

Dear Representative McAuliffe,

 

I write to urge your support of HB2626, the Parental Rights for the Blind
Act. This bill, which was introduced by Representative Laura Fine, was voted
out of committee on March 15. I testified on behalf of this bill before the
Domestic Relations Subcommittee on March 8, and I urge you to vote for its
passage.

 

I have been totally blind since birth, and I am the mother of a now grown-up
sighted daughter who is married and employed as a teacher. Through the
National Federation of the Blind and its Illinois affiliate, I have provided
resources and mentoring for blind parents in this state and throughout the
country for more than twenty years. HR 2626 is badly needed. Far too often
custody decisions and decisions made by DCFS in which one or both parents
are blind are made solely on the basis of blindness. Based on my own
experience and that of hundreds of other blind parents,  I firmly attest
that blind people can and do raise children effectively. We handle the tasks
of parenting by using nonvisual techniques, just as we conduct every other
aspect of our lives. Because they do not understand how the most basic tasks
can be handled nonvisually, health care professionals, social workers,
attorneys, and judges frequently assume that parenting without sight is
impossible. 

 

The concerns that led to the creation of HR2626 are far from theoretical.
Within the past few months in Illinois, a newborn child was removed from a
blind mother while still in the hospital. DCFS accused the mother of abuse
and neglect, even though the child had never left the hospital nursery. In a
recent divorce case, a sighted mother argued that her blind spouse should
not be permitted visitation with their children unless a sighted person was
present at all times. When the marriage was intact, he was frequently the
sole caregiver for the children, but his blindness was used against him
during the divorce proceedings. HB2626 would prevent DCFS from overreaching
based upon misconceptions about blindness, and it would stop estranged
spouses from employing blindness as a weapon in court.

 

HR2626 still protects children if blindness should be a real issue. A judge
simply would enter specific findings, and DCFS would have to provide the
blind parent with the same supportive services given to any other parent.
Right now Illinois case law holds that the ADA is inapposite when it comes
to supportive services. Therefore, a parent who could care for children if
networked into the blind parent community for mentoring and if taught
adaptive techniques may be separated from a child unnecessarily.

 

Senator Mulroe has committed to help with this bill in the Senate. It has
bipartisan support as it was preintroduced by Senator Resin. Please support
children and parents who should be together in a loving household. It is
wrong to assume that blind people can't parent effectively based on the
misunderstanding of the capacity of the blind. It is bad for children and it
is bad for our state generally. Furthermore, the unnecessary removal of
children from the home is fiscally irresponsible. For humane and fiscal
reasons HB2626 is past due. Please give this bill your wholehearted support!

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. I can
be reached at (773) 203-1394. 

 

Deborah Kent Stein

First Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Illinois

Dkent5817 at att.net <mailto:Dkent5817 at att.net> 

773-203-1394

 



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