[Ncabs] Fw: [Nfb-legislative-directors] Schools out against the TEACH Act!

Sun Sep 7 20:25:28 UTC 2014

Hello students and everyone else!

Lauren's email below is self explanatory.  Let us make sure we discuss ACE and its unsubstantiated position with our senators, our reps, and their educational assistants based in their D.C. offices as well as district offices.  A professional offence is often better than a "catch up" defense.  If they have not heard from ACE yet they certainly will!

Thank you!
Sharon Newton
NC Legislative Committee

----- Original Message ----- 
From: McLarney, Lauren via Nfb-legislative-directors 
To: 'nfb-legislative-directors at nfbnet.org' 
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2014 1:55 PM
Subject: [Nfb-legislative-directors] Schools out against the TEACH Act!

Hi Team,

I am writing to urge you to take action on some frustrating news. The American Council on Education (ACE) is an outspoken lobbying association that represents colleges and universities; and last Friday, ACE wrote a letter to Senator Harkin outlining their position on his proposed higher education draft. In that letter, ACE opposes a provision modeled, almost verbatim, after the TEACH Act. This is what ACE said: 

"Accessible Instructional Materials (Sec. 931): This provision creates an impossible to meet standard for institutions and will result in a significant chilling effect in the usage of new technology. Such a proposal, if implemented, will seriously impede the development and adoption of accessible materials, harming the very students it is intended to assist."

Most of you have hopefully seen President Riccobono's blog post about this, so you probably already read this and find it puzzling. The provision does not create any standards, let alone an "impossible to meet" one, and ACE offers no explanation or data to back up their claims that this will stifle innovation and result in the opposite outcome of what the bill intends to do. Even more puzzling, it is in ACE's best interest to get accessibility guidelines that will make it easier for them to comply with the law and avoid litigation! The NFB has tried repeatedly to engage ACE through Congressman Petri, but the best ACE can offer is this two sentence statement that seemingly makes no sense. The TEACH Act is almost a year old and is only four pages long - where is the meaningful analysis and dialogue? We have no choice, but to assume they are just against finding a solution for blind students.

Members of Congress are keen to listen to the higher education lobby at times like this, but blind students are stakeholders too. We cannot allow this empty statement to carry more weight than our sound, data-driven position that guidelines are the best solution. The Members of Congress are returning on Monday, so use this weekend to mobilize your membership and make calls, send tweets, and email staffers about this! Below is a model letter, but make it your own. We have to come back from this recess swinging and ACE's statement is the perfect springboard for a new wave of advocacy. Let me know how I can be a tool for you to coordinate this effort, and share with me how it goes!

Cheers,

Lauren

Sample letter:

Dear [Staffer's name],

I hope you had a nice recess! I am writing on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind of [Fill in NFB affiliate] about the Technology, Education and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act (S. 2060/H.R. 3505), or TEACH Act. I last reached out on [fill in prior date], but as a reminder, the TEACH Act offers a simple, non-controversial solution to the very complicated problem of inaccessible educational technology and the impact that kind of discrimination has had on blind college students. 

Most offices want to know what schools think about the bill. Last Friday, the American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter to Senator Harkin regarding a provision in his higher education reauthorization draft that is modeled after the TEACH Act. Their statement can be found here, http://www.aascu.org/policy/federal-policy/outreach/LettertoHarkinHEA09292014.pdf, and they totally missed the mark. It says the provision creates an "impossible to meet standard," that will chill the usage of new technology. It goes onto say the provision will do the opposite of what it intends to do without any data or explanation for how that is so.

You have asked us challenging questions about this bill, so we hope you will look at ACE's position with the same critical eye. The TEACH Act creates voluntary accessibility guidelines that tells schools what accessibility looks like so they'll know what to demand and how best to comply with the law; how is this an "impossible to meet standard?" The bill also incentivizes schools to use those guidelines with a safe harbor from litigation; isn't this what ACE should want? Our goal is to stimulate the market, but ACE says guidelines will have the opposite effect. I hope you will reach out to ACE and demand an explanation for why this is true and ask if they have a substitute proposal that might have a better outcome. 

We want to improve access for students with disabilities, so we developed a solution that has widespread support. Fifteen different groups endorse the initiative, and over fifty Members of Congress have cosponsored, including your fellow delegates, [fill in delegate names]. You can see how well-received our solution is by visiting www.nfb.org/teach. ACE has offered no solution and no public comment other than this two sentence statement. Who will you side with? I hope your boss will overlook their rhetoric and come on board as a cosponsor. Can we count on his/her support?

Sincerely,

[Your name and contact info.] 

Lauren McLarney

Government Affairs Specialist

National Federation of the Blind

200 East Wells Street

Baltimore, MD 21230

410.659.9314 ext. 2207

The National Federation of the Blind 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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