[Ncabs] ACE LOBBY AGAINST TEACH - VERY IMPORTANT TO CONTACT LEGISLATORS ABOUT THIS

[sharon_newton]

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