[MD-AtLarge] Sad News and Annapolis Issues

[nfbmd]

Hello all,

 

I am sorry to have to tell you that Ken Canterbery died on January 9 after a
very long struggle with the complications of diabetes.  Ken was a member of
the Board of Directors in the 1990’s.  He was one of the early presidents of
the Baltimore County Chapter.  Ken had great energy and spirit.  He
especially loved working on our Annapolis issues.  Ken’s service will be at
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 8212 Philadelphia Rd, Rosedale, MD 21237 on
Saturday, January 20.  The family will receive visitors at 10:30 am and the
service will begin at 11 am.  

 

Below are the four issues that we will be discussing with legislators on
January 18.  If you are joining us, please let your chapter president know
immediately so that we can count you in our various transportation plans.
We will be letting you know about letters and hearings later, so please read
these issues even if you can’t attend on the 18th. 

 

January 18, 2018

 

Maryland General Assembly

Legislative Priorities for the 2018 Session

 

 

Table of Contents    

 

 
Page

 

Restoring the Secret Ballot to Disabled Voters
2

               

Illustration of Voting Ballots
4

 


               Suggested Letter to Chairman McManus
5                           

 

 

Establishing the Maryland Remote Access to Information Program (RAIP)
6

for Deaf-blind Individuals


 

 

Strengthening Nonvisual Access Procurement Enforcement
9

 

 

Appropriation for the Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Access (CENA) to
12

Education, Public Information, and Commerce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To:                        Members of the Maryland General Assembly

From:                   Members of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland

Contact:              Sharon Maneki, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

9013 Nelson Way

Columbia, MD 21045

Phone: 410-715-9596

Email: nfbmd at earthlink.net <mailto:nfbmd at earthlink.net> 

 

Subject:               Restoring the Secret Ballot to Disabled Voters

Date:                    January 18, 2018

 

THE PROBLEM

Many blind and disabled voters must use the Election Systems and Software
(ES&S) ExpressVote Ballot Marking Device (BMD) to cast their ballots.  This
machine produces a paper ballot that is smaller in size and different in
content from the ballot that is hand marked by voters who do not need an
accessible voting system. (Smaller ballot measures 4.24’’ x 14’’ with a
1.24’’ diagonal cut at top right corner; larger ballot measures 8.5’’ x
17’’.  See illustration on page 3.)  Primary election candidates in the 2016
election whose names appeared on the second or third screens of the BMD
threatened legal action, complaining that navigating to these screens was
too difficult.  The State Board of Elections (SBE) responded to these
complaints by severely limiting the use of the ExpressVote, by deploying
only one of these devices to each polling place.  SBE further limited the
use of these machines by only requiring two voters per polling place to use
the machine.  Thus, in the 2016 elections, ballots cast by disabled voters
were segregated and too easily identifiable in the overall collection of
ballots.  Therefore, ballots cast by disabled voters were no longer secret.
SBE plans to use these same segregating and discriminating procedures during
the 2018 primary and general elections. 

PROPOSED ACTION

The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland requests that each Delegate
and Senator contact David J. McManus, Jr., Esq., Chairman of the State Board
of Elections, to demand that SBE restore the secret ballot protection to
disabled voters and end this practice of segregation by going back to its
original plan to require at least 30 voters to use the ExpressVote BMD in
each polling place.  See attached sample letter.  

BACKGROUND

Maryland Election Law Article §9-102(f)(1), Annotated Code of Maryland,
states that a voting system selected and certified by the Maryland SBE shall
"provide access to voters with disabilities that is equivalent to access
afforded voters without disabilities without creating a segregated ballot
for voters with disabilities."   On December 18, 2013, the Attorney General
of Maryland issued an opinion that states that if SBE chooses to certify an
accessible ballot marking device that produces a ballot that is different in
size and/or content from the hand-marked ballots, SBE “must establish
randomized polling-place procedures to ensure that a significant number of
non-disabled voters will use the accessible voting system to protect the
secrecy of the ballots cast by voters with disabilities.”  Requiring only
two voters to use the ExpressVote BMD does not meet the definition of
randomized polling procedures.  

 

The experience of the 2016 primary and general elections demonstrated that
all voters had little difficulty in navigating to multiple screens on the
BMD.  The fears of candidates that voters would not be able to vote for them
were unfounded.  Data from the 2016 elections demonstrated segregation
because twelve counties had several precincts where only one voter used the
ExpressVote BMD.  The votes of these people were definitely identifiable.
These jurisdictions were: Baltimore City, and Anne Arundel, Baltimore,
Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Harford, Howard, Prince George’s,
Washington and Wicomico Counties.  

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland and Disability Rights
Maryland gave written and oral testimony to SBE concerning the need to
protect the constitutional right of voters with disabilities to cast a
secret ballot.  We urged SBE to increase the use of the ExpressVote BMD for
the 2018 elections.  Seven Maryland county boards of elections also gave
written and oral testimony to SBE, stating their need to have the
flexibility to provide additional ExpressVote BMDs at the more heavily used
polling places and at polling places with large senior populations.  SBE
turned a deaf ear to the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland,
Disability Rights Maryland and these counties.  

 

CONCLUSION

Voters with disabilities are entitled to the same right to cast a secret
ballot afforded to nondisabled voters. SBE should not be permitted to
subvert the rights of disabled voters to the unfounded fears of candidates.
The current plans for the 2018 elections violate the call for randomization
procedures for both disabled and nondisabled voters to use the ExpressVote
BMDs issued in the 2013 Attorney General’s opinion.  The Maryland General
Assembly must put a stop to this voting segregation and discrimination.
Please urge SBE to set a goal of encouraging at least 30 voters to use the
ExpressVote BMD in each polling place.  

IILLUSTRATION OF BOTH SAMPLE BALLOTS, SIDE BY SIDE 

 

SAMPLE LETTER TO CHAIRMAN MCMANUS

Please write to Chairman McManus to express your concern about the current
voting procedures and the negative impact these will have on blind and
disabled voters.  (Please send me a copy to the cc: I have included at the
bottom.) You may use as much of the following language as you deem
necessary:

 

David J. McManus, Jr., Esq., Chairman

State Board of Elections

P.O. Box 6486
Annapolis, MD 21401-0486

 

info.sbe at maryland.gov <mailto:info.sbe at maryland.gov> 

 

 

Dear Chairman McManus,

 

I understand that the Maryland State Board of Elections plans to instruct
election judges to limit the use of the ExpressVote ballot marking device in
the upcoming 2018 primary and general elections.  Establishing the quota
that two voters per polling place must use the ExpressVote ballot marking
device has led to, and will continue to lead to, segregation and
discrimination.  Since disabled voters must use this machine and the ballot
is different in size and content than the hand-marked ballot, their votes
can be easily identified and will no longer be secret.  

 

The strength of any democracy is measured by voter participation.  Voter
participation must be private and fair to all citizens.  I strongly
recommend that you revise your plans for the upcoming elections to increase
the number of voters that should be encouraged to use the ExpressVote ballot
marking device.  Maryland should not be promoting segregation and
discrimination in its voting system and should be guaranteeing that every
voter can cast a secret ballot.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

cc: Sharon Maneki   nfbmd at earthlink.net <mailto:nfbmd at earthlink.net>  or
9013 Nelson Way, Columbia, MD 21045

 




 

 

 

To:                        Members of the Maryland General Assembly

From:                   Members of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland

Contact:              Sharon Maneki, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

9013 Nelson Way

Columbia, MD 21045

Phone: 410-715-9596

Email: nfbmd at earthlink.net <mailto:nfbmd at earthlink.net> 

 

Subject:               Establishing the Maryland Remote Access to
Information Program (RAIP) for Deaf-blind Individuals 

Date:                    January 18, 2018

 

THE PROBLEM

Access to all types of information is the greatest obstacle to living a
fruitful life faced by deaf-blind people today.  They often remain isolated
from family and friends, struggle to maintain independence and have
difficulty in participating in all aspects of community life.  Deaf-blind
people need customized individualized services to overcome the barriers of
dual sensory limitations.  Maryland can reduce these barriers by putting new
communications technology to work in serving the needs of deaf-blind
citizens. 

 PROPOSED ACTION

The Maryland General Assembly should adopt legislation to create the Remote
Access Information Program (RAIP), to be located in the Department of
Disabilities to test the advantages of using technology to assist deaf-blind
people in reaching full participation in all aspects of community life.
This program shall be funded by the Telecommunications Access of Maryland
(TAM) within the Department of Information Technology. 
BACKGROUND

Deaf-blindness is a unique disability.  Deaf-blind people use some of the
techniques that blind people use and some techniques that deaf people use.
However, they often need extra assistance to compensate for this dual
sensory loss.  Depending on the degrees of these limitations, deaf-blind
individuals require customized, individualized services.  Some communicate
by using sign language while others use their voice.  Some deaf-blind people
acquire information by reading Braille while others read large print.  In
the most severe cases, individuals use manual deaf-blind fingerspelling.
Regardless, they have the same desire for full participation in all aspects
of community life as the rest of society.  Many deaf-blind people do not
achieve their goals for independence, education and employment because they
cannot obtain the services they need. 

The authors of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) recognized the need
to ensure that hearing and speech impaired individuals, including the
deaf-blind, have the right to gain information and to communicate through
telecommunications.  Title IV of the ADA outlines the services that these
individuals must receive.  Deaf-blindness has always been one of the
categories of disabled people to be served under Title IV of the ADA.  

Telecommunications Access of Maryland (TAM) is a state agency within the
Maryland Department of Information Technology that oversees all Maryland
Relay services and programs, including the Maryland Accessible
Telecommunications (MAT) program.  MAT distributes telecommunications
equipment needed by deaf-blind people to independently make or receive phone
calls.  Since the inception of Maryland Relay in 1991, deaf-blind
individuals have been served in both the Relay and equipment distribution
programs. 

Communications and access to information have increased dramatically with
the invention of the smartphone.  Smartphones offer greater opportunities
for deaf-blind people both to obtain information and enhance their ability
to communicate with others.  The use of a smartphone is not just limited to
voice communication. For instance, people can use the smartphone to read or
listen to text.  Not only can smartphones be used to take pictures, but
these pictures can then be transmitted to other smartphones or to computers.
By judiciously linking a pair of camera-mounted eyeglasses and a smartphone,
a deaf-blind person may take a picture of her environment, relay that
picture to a human assistant located anywhere, and receive an accurate
verbal or text description of the environment from that human assistant. 

It is time for Maryland to provide the advantages of remote access
information technology to its deaf-blind citizens.




 

ADVANTAGES OF THE RAIP

Services to deaf-blind children and adults in Maryland are very limited. The
meager services that do exist are fragmented and not available statewide.
The use of remote access information technology will allow the state of
Maryland to serve more of its deaf-blind population. Personal assistants who
are available to provide information to deaf-blind people in a local area
will be able to serve a greater number of deaf-blind people in a larger
area. 

A second advantage is the greater flexibility of service delivery. For
example, some deaf-blind people use a personal assistant to accomplish
everyday essential tasks such as buying groceries.  If an emergency occurs,
a remote personal assistant would be able to meet this need more quickly
because such service is on-demand.  If a deaf-blind person wants to attend a
job fair, but no one is available to physically accompany her, then the
remote assistant could help by reading the signs for the various booths and
describing other environmental information as she walks through the fair.
This display of independence will make a great selling point to potential
employers.  

 CONCLUSION

Deaf-blind individuals can be productive members of society if they receive
the quantity and quality of services that they need to overcome the barriers
created by their dual sensory limitations.  Remote access technology should
be considered as a method to decrease the large information gap experienced
by deaf-blind people.  Telecommunications Access of Maryland already has the
responsibility to provide access to information for deaf-blind people.
Therefore, they should take advantage of the advancements that remote access
technology offers.   




 

 

 

To:                        Members of the Maryland General Assembly

From:                   Members of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland

Contact:              Sharon Maneki, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

9013 Nelson Way

Columbia, MD 21045

Phone: 410-715-9596

Email: nfbmd at earthlink.net <mailto:nfbmd at earthlink.net> 

 

Subject:               Strengthening Nonvisual Access Procurement
Enforcement

Date:                    January 18, 2018

 

THE PROBLEM

Maryland has excellent laws that require state government agencies to make
information and communication technology (ICT), and technology services,
such as websites, accessible to the blind.  Unfortunately, these laws are
poorly enforced and sometimes completely ignored.  Consequently, blind
citizens are denied access to information that is available to the rest of
the public. Blind state employees are often ineffective at their jobs
because they do not have nonvisual accessible tools to do their work.

  

PROPOSED ACTION

In 1998 and 2000, the General Assembly enacted legislation to incorporate
nonvisual access requirements into the procurement process. The Maryland
General Assembly should now strengthen these laws by enacting the “Nonvisual
Access Cost-Savings Act” of 2018.  This proposed legislation establishes
penalties for noncompliance by vendors, thus saving taxpayer money, and will
update the 2000 law to reflect changes in current technology.  

 

 

 

BACKGROUND

Blind people can use special screen reading devices that enable them to read
data and fill out forms by using synthetic speech or Braille output devices.
These screen reading devices will work only if the websites, document
formats, or other hardware and software are designed to accommodate
nonvisual access. The methods for nonvisual access are well known and well
documented. The first publicly available accessibility guidelines were
published in 1995 and have been updated periodically. Yet, the problem of
nonvisual access remains unresolved in Maryland and elsewhere.

The executive branch of Maryland state government continues to discriminate
against blind citizens by denying us access to public information and
services. This discrimination persists even though there are specific state
and federal laws requiring access for all citizens. These laws have been in
effect for decades. 

When the state of Maryland solicits bids from vendors, it requires the
products in question to include nonvisual access. The concept used in state
and federal laws of placing nonvisual access requirements in the procurement
process is a good one. It is cost-effective for vendors to incorporate
nonvisual access during the design phase of the product rather than having
to go back later and redesign the product. Why then does the problem of
nonvisual access remain? 

 

CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT AND SAVINGS

The proposed legislation should include the following provisions for
contract enforcement and the payment of penalties which will result in net
savings to Maryland state government:

 

*	The present procurement law includes no consequences for a vendor’s
failure to provide nonvisual access. 

 

Currently, a vendor has no incentive to comply with procurement
accessibility requirements. Strengthening the procurement law by providing
for vendor penalties will demonstrate the importance of the requirement to
the vendor. Charging any vendor to remediate the product so it contains
nonvisual access components will also save money for the state.  The
following two reasonable requirements will not have a detrimental impact on
the vendor, but will ensure enforcement of the contract and achieve the goal
of nonvisual access. 

 

1.	Requiring that all state contracts with any vendor shall include a
provision that, upon a determination within eighteen months from procurement
or latest upgrade, if any access barriers are present, the Department of
Information Technology (DOIT) shall notify that vendor of such access
barriers, and that vendor shall be required to remediate those barriers.

 

2.	Requiring the DOIT to notify a vendor of the access barrier in
writing at the vendor’s place of business, and requiring that vendor, at its
own expense, to remedy the defect. Should that vendor fail to remediate the
access barrier within twelve months from the date of notice, a civil penalty
shall be applied at the rate of 1% of the total purchase price of the
contract for each day until the problem is remediated, or until the full
price of the contract is refunded.  

 

No vendor should object to this requirement because it has a year to fix the
problem before any penalty is invoked. Placing a cap on the penalty that is
the price of the contract, is fair to the vendor while helping the state to
recoup its losses. In the long run such a penalty will allow full
enforcement of the contract while saving the state money.

 

*	The procurement law needs to be updated to accommodate changes in
technology. 

 

Technology has improved and changed dramatically since the nonvisual access
requirements in the procurement law were enacted in 2000. During these
eighteen years, technologies have become more powerful and cheaper. For
example, instead of buying a desktop system for thousands of dollars, an
iPad Pro can be purchased for $600. Currently, the procurement law allows a
vendor to ask for an exemption to the nonvisual access requirement if adding
the accessibility features would cost an additional 5%. Since it is cheaper
to produce technology, the limit of this exemption is too low. Raising the
exemption to 15% would be a more reasonable reflection of the actual
accessibility cost, and it is still fair to the vendor. Raising the
exemption to 15% will close the floodgates that currently permit vendors to
opt out of accessibility requirements.  

 

The state of Maryland adopted the federal government’s Section 508 Nonvisual
Accessibility standard as its standard of operation. Since the federal
government has recently updated this standard, the state of Maryland should
adopt the new updated standard by January 1, 2019. This new standard should
apply to all future technologies to be purchased by the state of Maryland.
Any implemented technology that is compliant with the old standard should be
“grandfathered in.” This is a reasonable timeline because the new standard
already exists. 

 

CONCLUSION

The proposed legislation should not discourage vendors from bidding on state
procurement contracts for information technologies. The components for
nonvisual access are readily available and relatively inexpensive to
acquire. What vendors must understand is that there is a “right way” and a
“wrong way” to implement these components. Without careful thought,
integrating nonvisual access into the overall design of a system for
information technology can be disastrous. However, finding the “right way”
does not require a stroke of genius or an immense amount of work. Vendors
now have an inordinate amount of prior successful experiences which they can
adapt to fit their needs.  

Nonvisual access to public information provided by the state of Maryland
should be improving because the knowledge and tools now exist to provide
greater access. According to state and federal laws, Maryland is not
supposed to purchase information and communication technology products or
services that are not accessible to the blind. Blind citizens do not
currently have the same access to information as the rest of the general
public, because Maryland does not enforce its laws. Maryland should be a
model employer of persons with disabilities. However, Maryland ignores the
accessibility laws and blind workers do not have the tools to perform their
jobs efficiently. The state of Maryland should receive the nonvisual access
that it has already paid for.  It is time to strengthen the procurement law
to ensure that nonvisual access becomes a reality.  




 

 

 

 

To:                        Members of the Maryland General Assembly

From:                   Members of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland

Contact:              Sharon Maneki, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

9013 Nelson Way

Columbia, MD 21045

Phone: 410-715-9596

Email: nfbmd at earthlink.net <mailto:nfbmd at earthlink.net> 

 

Subject:               Appropriation for the Center of Excellence in
Nonvisual Access (CENA) to Education, Public Information, and Commerce

Date:                    January 18, 2018

 

PROPOSED ACTION

The Maryland General Assembly should keep the $250,000 appropriation in the
Governor’s Budget for the CENA to Education, Public Information, and
Commerce.  

 

BACKGROUND

In 2014, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) founded the NFB Center
of Excellence in Nonvisual Access (CENA). The CENA is a center of expertise,
best practices, and resources that enables business, government, and
educational institutions to more effectively provide accessible information
and services to blind citizens. The State of Maryland, through the Maryland
Department of Disabilities (MDOD), partners with the CENA to support a
series of projects under the Nonvisual Accessibility Initiative (NVAI) with
an aim to establish Maryland as a leader in nonvisual accessibility. 

 

 

NEW PROJECTS


Accessibility Inclusion Fellowships


The “Final Report of the Study on Accessibility Concepts in Computer
Science, Information Systems and Information Technology Programs in Higher
Education,” was submitted to the governor and to the General Assembly on
August 8, 2017.  This report recommended that three annual fellowships be
awarded to instructors that include accessibility concepts within at least
one course offering in their institution. The NFB will administer and
coordinate the Accessibility Inclusion Fellowship program.


Accessibility Hackathon


The NFB will coordinate and host a multi-day hackathon (a forum where groups
of individuals come together for creative problem solving) focused on
accessibility and consisting of coding projects, innovative integration of
assistive technologies, and accessibility policy. The goal of the
Accessibility Hackathon is to provide an opportunity for the community of
individuals committed to accessibility to learn new strategies and
techniques, while fostering innovation. 

 

CONTINUING INITIATIVES


Enhancement of the Accessible Academic EBook Program


The HathiTrust is a consortium of institutions offering more than eleven
million titles digitized from around the world. The NFB will build on the
information gathered from the initial pilot project to determine how to
expand and better deliver the content offered through the HTDC (HathiTrust
Digital Consortium). We will explore partnerships toward the development of
policies and standards that will allow the sharing of this content. 


Accessibility Boutiques and Training Seminars 


The NVAI has contributed to a number of informal accessibility-specific
boutiques and training seminars. The boutiques are several hours long and
are open to the public at no cost to Maryland citizens. The larger training
seminars are more intensive and can take place over several days. The
intended impact is to increase accessibility awareness and the knowledge of
educators, government administrators, businesses, and others about the tools
and training they can use to better provide nonvisual access to their
programs and services. 


Accessibility Switchboard


The Accessibility Switchboard is a dynamic online accessibility portal that
provides up-to-date information to consumers about accessible websites,
emerging technology, and frequently encountered accessibility
problems/solutions; and also provides information specific to government,
corporate, and educational institutions on building accessible websites. The
NFB will continue the development of this resource. 


 


WayFinding Technology


Emerging nonvisual access navigation or wayfinding technologies offer
orientation and information solutions to a variety of public and commercial
venues, including public transportation information. As Maryland reinvests
in its infrastructure the time is right to ensure nonvisual access to public
spaces for its diverse populace by implementing the use of nonvisual
wayfinding technologies. In FY2019, we will be assisting with the
installation of preferred wayfinding solutions in a variety of public
spaces.

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

Access to information remains one of the greatest barriers faced by blind
persons.  To reduce these barriers the National Federation of the Blind
established the CENA to provide information about best practices and to
develop innovative techniques for achieving nonvisual access.  The Maryland
General Assembly should allow this state-of-the-art program to continue by
approving the $250,000 appropriation in the Governor’s Budget under the
Maryland Department of Disabilities.  

 

 

 

 

Sharon Maneki, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

410-715-9596

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland knows that blindness is not
the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

 

 

 

Sharon Maneki, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

410-715-9596

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland knows that blindness is not
the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

 

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