[MD-Sligo] Rania Dima's Testimony to a US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee

[terrypowers59 at gmail.com]

I think this is the same lady, I heard about on the news, a few days, ago!

Fox 5!

Terry

 

 

From: MD-Sligo <md-sligo-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Brown, Debbie via
MD-Sligo
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2021 11:43 AM
To: lras at sprynet.com; Sligo Creek Chapter list, NFB of Maryland
<md-sligo at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Brown, Debbie <dabro at loc.gov>
Subject: Re: [MD-Sligo] Rania Dima's Testimony to a US Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee

 

Thanks, Rania!

 

Debbie

 

 

From: MD-Sligo <md-sligo-bounces at nfbnet.org
<mailto:md-sligo-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On Behalf Of Lloyd Rasmussen via
MD-Sligo
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2021 11:40 AM
To: md-sligo at nfbnet.org <mailto:md-sligo at nfbnet.org> 
Cc: Lloyd Rasmussen <lras at sprynet.com <mailto:lras at sprynet.com> >
Subject: [MD-Sligo] Rania Dima's Testimony to a US Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee

 

This document is linked to as a part of the NFB's monthly newsletter to
friends and donors. She has done us proud. I have taken the PDF version and
converted it to text, so it's in the body of this message.

Lloyd Rasmussen, Secretary, Sligo Creek Chapter

------

My USPS Experience 

Rania Dima 

Frederick, Maryland 

Member, National Federation of the Blind 

 

As an aspiring author, the intake of knowledge and literature is important,
and as a new Braille 

learner, getting my hands on a steady supply of Braille is crucial. This
material is sent by federal, 

state, and private agencies via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) as free
matter for the blind. 

According to its website, this federally-funded postage is to be treated as
first-class mail. 

However, free matter for the blind has long experienced delays. Prior to the
COVID-19 

pandemic, delivery times ranged from one to two weeks. Post pandemic, they
have increased 

to one to two months. While other mail has mostly returned to normal, free
matter for the 

blind has not, and these lengthy delays have impeded my ability to learn
Braille. 

 

When the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled (LBPD)
asked me to 

join the Braille E-reader pilot program, I readily agreed. The first device
was sent out on 

October 21, 2020. It should have arrived within a week. On November 10th, a
librarian informed 

me that other patrons had also not received their mailed packages, and I was
issued a 

replacement. It wasn't until Christmastime that the two packages arrived
together. Refreshable 

Braille displays are expensive, and I suddenly had two in my possession. 

 

Because of my E-reader connectivity issues with the online service, I opted
for Braille 

book cartridges. The first, sent on April 12, 2021, was never delivered and
was returned to the 

library by USPS for unknown reasons. LBPD sent another book cartridge on
June 9th. It came 

exactly one month later while regular mail from Baltimore reaches Frederick
within a few days. 

 

On behalf of the National Library Service, the Gallup Poll is surveying
E-reader 

participants at two, four and six month intervals. Because the original
E-reader was delayed, it 

arrived just as the surveys began, and of the three, I could only complete
one survey. The 

Braille book cartridges came too late for me to properly assess the E-reader
device. Based on 

follow-up phone calls, I fear that I will time out of this poll, and the
opportunity for feedback 

and funds allocated for my participation in this pilot program will have
been wasted. 

 

Mail delays have also affected free matter for the blind from other
organizations. In 

March of 2020, the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services ordered
literacy books to 

continue my Braille learning at home. These books did not arrive until the
summer, delaying my 

progress. In the fall, I began virtual Braille instruction. At the end of
our three month session, 

my instructor had still not received her Braille books. Lessons were to
continue once the next 

set of books arrived. Conditioned by the prolonged mail delays, I waited for
the books and it 

wasn't until March of 2021 that I learned that the new order had fallen
through. It was another 

one to two months before they were finally in my hands. The lengthy delays
have made having 

consistent lessons difficult and my virtual instruction has been postponed
until this fall. 

 

The USPS offers a mail tracking system called Informed Delivery that could
have allowed 

me to verify the status of my packages. However, this image-based program is
not accessible to 

blind users. In 2018, the National Federation of the Blind requested that
USPS make this system 

accessible but no action was taken. 

 

Letter-sized mail is similarly affected. As a companion to virtual
instruction and to 

accelerate my learning, I also enrolled in a correspondence-based Braille
literacy course through Hadley School for the Blind. Due to mail delays, the

instructor has waived the 

requirement that I wait for the grading of submitted written work before
moving on to the next 

lessons. Though this is a missed opportunity for timely feedback, it is the
only solution given the 

drawn out correspondence via free matter for the blind. 

 

My transition to Braille is vital. Born sighted, I am no longer able to read
print, and I yearn to make the switch from audio to Braille. This transition

is not simply a preference; I have a profound hearing loss and I am losing
the last of my hearing. From my perspective, the federal, state and private

agencies that support me are being thwarted, and I feel marginalized when
free matter for the blind suffers prolonged delays that regular mail does
not.

 

 

My voice is but one from the many who have been affected. Attached to this
testimony is Resolution 20-2105 which was recently passed by the members of
the National Federation of the Blind. 

 

 

Resolution 2021-05: Regarding Mail Problems that 

Interfere with NLS Services 

WHEREAS, the National Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Print
Disabled, Library of Congress, and its cooperating network libraries provide
books

and magazines in specialized formats to blind and print-disabled children,
working-age adults, and seniors losing vision; and 

 

WHEREAS, this valuable service not only provides the major source of reading
material for these people, but also fosters literacy skills for children,

interaction in community life for adults, and hope and encouragement for the
newly blind; and 

 

WHEREAS, NLS and its network libraries depend on the United States Postal
Service (USPS) to distribute its materials and the digital players, Braille
displays,

and other equipment needed to listen to or read these books; and 

 

WHEREAS, these libraries are permitted to use the Free Reading Matter
provisions of the postal regulation and the USPS claims on its website that
Free

Reading Matter is "treated as First-Class Mail for purposes of processing,
delivery and forwarding, and return if undeliverable"; and 

 

WHEREAS, from June 2020 to the present, far too many library customers
across the nation have experienced long delays or total absence in receiving
their

books and equipment, even though the libraries have sent them to the
individual patron using the USPS; and 

 

WHEREAS, this failure by the USPS not only has a detrimental effect on the
lives of blind and print-disabled Americans, but is also creating a loss of

taxpayer dollars since digital players, Braille displays, and other valuable
equipment are stuck in the post office, never reaching the people who need

it; and 

 

WHEREAS, blind and print-disabled citizens cannot use the USPS Informed
Delivery service for residential customers to see if they will be receiving
library

materials or equipment because it is inaccessible; and 

 

WHEREAS, in Resolution 2018-19, the National Federation of the Blind urged
USPS to make this service accessible and informed the agency that it was
violating

federal law, but the result was no action; and 

 

WHEREAS, although Congress created and funded the Books for the Blind
program under the Pratt-Smoot Act of 1931, neither the Library of Congress
nor Congress

itself demands any accountability from the USPS, which plays a vital role in
the success or failure of the program: Now, therefore, 

 

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
assembled this tenth day of July, 2021, that this organization condemn and
deplore

the failure of the United States Postal Service to deliver materials and
equipment to and from library patrons in a timely manner; and 

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization insist that the Librarian of
Congress annually issue a report card to USPS based on data from NLS and its

cooperating network libraries on the timely delivery of materials and
equipment; and 

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization strongly urge the United
States Congress to require the USPS to report to the Congress on steps that
the

USPS intends to take to improve timely delivery of library materials and
equipment to ensure that these items are truly treated as First-Class Mail;
and

 

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization demand that the USPS
immediately end its discriminatory practices by making its Informed Delivery
service

accessible to blind and print-disabled citizens.

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