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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Below is a letter I have sent to the entire New York Assembly. Our Blind Parent’s Right to Parent Act has passed the New York State Senate and been delivered to the Assembly for their passage.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Please, Everyone, Contact your Assemblymember and encourage them to co-sponsor A1071 (Simon) and to contact Assemblyman Donowitz’s office (<span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333'>518-455-5965) Chair of the Judiciary Committee, to get this important legislation reported out of committee and passed before the end of this legislative session. The session ends on June 20<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thank you for your hard work and immediate attention to this urgent matter.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Mike Robinson, President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>National Federation of the Blind of New York State, inc<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>716-222-3632<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>716-222-3NFB<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>Dear Assemblymember </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>«Name»</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>On June 6, 2018 the New York Senate Children and Families Committee reported, the Senate passed and delivered to the Assembly S3266, (Parker), which <span style='color:black'>Prohibits the making of decisions concerning guardianship, custody or visitation or adoption petitions solely based on a parent's, guardian's or custodian's blindness. </span>This very important legislation would ensure New York families could not be torn apart by the misconception that parents are incapable of raising children solely because they are blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'>The Assembly bill, (A1071, Simon) currently has 37 co-sponsors and multi-sponsors and is in the Judiciary Committee. We are asking Assemblymember </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'>«Name»</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'> to <u>cosponsor this bill</u> and help us <u>encourage Assemblyman Jefferey Dinowitz to report</u> the Blind Parent’s Right to Parent Act out of committee and get it on the docket before the end of this legislative session.</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'>Below is our fact sheet regarding the Blind Parent’s Right to Parent Act and the importance it has to blind New Yorkers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'>Feel free to contact us to discuss this essential legislation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'>Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'>Michael P. Robinson, President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'>National Federation of the Blind of New York State, inc.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>PROTECTING THE RIGHT OF BLIND PARENTS TO RAISE A FAMILY AND RETAIN CUSTODY OF THEIR CHILDREN<span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>All blind Americans have the constitutional right to found a family, to freely and responsibly decide on the number and spacing of their children, and to retain the custody of their offspring on an equal basis with others. Unfortunately, blind people are often stripped of these constitutional rights when state statutes, judicial decisions, and child welfare practices are based on the presumption that blindness automatically means parental incompetence. This is a misconception; the truth is that, given the proper tools and training, blind people can compete on terms of equality with their sighted peers, and blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Many sighted people do not understand the techniques that blind people use to accomplish everyday tasks. Judges, social workers, and state officials assume that a blind person cannot perform those tasks. Using alternative techniques, blind people are capable of living independent, productive lives, including providing safe and loving homes for their children. For example, blind people put small tactile dots over markers on home appliances so that they can independently operate them. Blind parents may have their young children wear a small bell on their shoes so that the parent will know the child's location. Blind parents will also pull a stroller behind them rather than push the stroller in front of them so their long white cane or guide dog will find obstacles or enter an intersection before the child and stroller do. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>When sighted parents are involved in a guardianship, adoption, custody, or visitation proceeding, their parental capabilities and how those capabilities affect the best interest of the child are thoroughly evaluated through a careful review of evidence. Too often, however, judges summarily dismiss a blind parent's capabilities under the misconception that blind people are incapable of almost anything, despite evidence on the record proving otherwise. Blind parents involved in these proceedings must first overcome any bias or low expectations of the judge, and then also provide evidence negating those misconceptions above and beyond the normal burden placed on sighted parents. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Widespread misconceptions about blindness often trigger a state agency to act, unsolicited, against the wishes of a blind parent. One of many devastating reports of discrimination occurred in 2010, when the state of Missouri wrongfully deemed a blind couple unable to care for their 2-day old daughter, who remained in protective custody until the family was reunited after a 57-day battle. These parents had done nothing to demonstrate parental incompetence other than happening to have had a child and been blind. Yet, the agency solely considered their blindness and decided to take action. In fact, in the Missouri case and many others, the parents had voluntarily contacted social service officials in order to seek advice and assistance and to ensure that all of their child's needs were being met. Instead, they found themselves stripped of custody. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>In 2011, a blind mother in Troy, New York, who voluntarily placed her children in foster care for reasons unrelated to her blindness, was later denied the right to have her children returned to her, such denial based solely on her blindness. For approximately four years, this mother was permitted to see her children only three times per week, for a total of five hours, and only with sighted supervision. This case was settled in 2015 with the assistance of attorneys retained by the National Federation of the Blind, and full custody was granted. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>The occurrences in Missouri and in Troy are not isolated incidents. Some have been favorably resolved through the intervention of advocacy organizations of the blind. Others do not come to our attention, and end in tragic results. Such arbitrary and discriminatory conduct by courts and agencies against blind parents and their children undermines the parent/child relationship and runs counter to the family values that are the bedrock of American society. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><b>We call upon the Legislature and the Governor to enact the Blind Persons' Right to Parent Act, A01071 (Simon) and S03266 (Parker).<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>