[Nfb-new-hampshire] Fw: [nfb-talk] Fw: Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:
Ed Meskys
edmeskys at roadrunner.com
Tue Jan 25 19:02:31 UTC 2011
If this is a typical conservative reaction to the needs of the blind, we
have little hope of achieving anything from this congress. Ed Meskys
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kenneth Chrane" To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 12:00 PM
Subject: [nfb-talk] Fw: Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:
This ambassador sure hates the NFB.
Ken Chrane
----- Original Message -----
From: Carol
To: kenneth.chrane at verizon.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:55 AM
Subject: Fw: Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:
----- Original Message -----
From: Illinois Ambassador
To: Carol
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:
Do not spam this address again. We do not and will not work with anything
that is defacto related
I used to work with EEOC and the American Disabilities Act is filled with
Constitutional violations.
If you think it is ok to hinder the growth of one group to cater to another,
you are mis-guided.
All you people want is more legislation to enslave the masses with your
agendas, whether honorable or not.
There are other ways to help the blind and it sure isn't through more
legislation and taxation or tax credits.
YOU do more harm thank good.
On 1/24/2011 9:13 PM, Carol wrote:
Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:
Priorities for the 112th Congress, FIRST Session
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest and largest
organization of blind people in the United States. As the Voice of the
Nation's Blind, we represent the collective views of blind people throughout
society. All of our leaders and the vast majority of our members are blind,
but anyone can participate in our movement. There are an estimated 1.3
million blind people in the United States, and every year approximately
75,000 Americans become blind. The social and economic consequences of
blindness affect not only blind people, but also our families, our friends,
and our coworkers.
Three legislative initiatives demand the immediate attention of the 112th
Congress in its first session.
Initiative 1
We urge Congress to work with blind Americans to create a Technology Bill
of Rights for the Blind which mandates that consumer electronics, home
appliances, kiosks, and electronic office technology and software provide
user interfaces that are accessible through nonvisual means.
This legislation should:
a.. Mandate that all consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks, and
electronic office technology and software be designed so that blind people
are able to access the same functions as sighted people by nonvisual means
and with substantially equivalent ease of use.
b.. Create a commission within the Department of Commerce to establish
standards for nonvisual accessibility of electronic devices intended for use
in the home or office. Such a commission should represent all stakeholders,
including:
- organizations of the blind;
- manufacturers of consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks,
and electronic office technology and software, or associations representing
such manufacturers; and
- experts on universal design, electronic engineering, and related
fields.
· Establish within the Department of Justice the authority to
enforce the regulations promulgated by the commission established by this
legislation.
a.. Authorize the commission to reexamine and rewrite standards
periodically as consumer electronic technology continues to evolve.
Initiative 2
We urge Congress to work with blind Americans to establish a commission
within the Department of Education to set uniform national standards for the
education of blind students in grades K-12. The Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act and other existing laws and regulations do not
currently provide objective standards to measure the educational progress of
blind students.
This legislation should:
· Create a commission within the Department of Education, comprised
to ensure representation of all stakeholders, to set educational standards
for blind children, and to promulgate regulations.
Initiative 3
We urge Congress to increase business opportunities for disabled Americans
by enacting the Americans with Disabilities Business Opportunity Act.
This legislation should:
· Authorize tax credits to for-profit businesses that purchase
goods or services from businesses owned by individuals with disabilities
(including from businesses operated under the federal Randolph-Sheppard
program),
· Amend Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act to include people
with disabilities as presumptively socially disadvantaged,
· Change federal procurement law to provide that businesses owned
by individuals with disabilities (including businesses operated under the
federal Randolph-Sheppard program) are included on the list of preferred
small businesses to which subcontracts must be awarded, and
· Create training and technical assistance programs to prepare
individuals with disabilities to operate businesses capable of securing
federal and private contracts.
For more information about these priorities, please consult the attached
fact sheets.
Blind Americans need your help to achieve our goals of economic security,
increased opportunity, and full integration into American society on a basis
of equality. Enactment of these legislative proposals will represent
important steps toward reaching these goals. We need the help and support
of each member of Congress. Our success benefits not only us, but the whole
of America as well. In this time of national economic insecurity, these
measures will contribute to increasing the tax base and encouraging the
purchase of consumer goods.
A TECHNOLOGY BILL OF RIGHTS FOR THE BLIND
Purpose:
To mandate that consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks, and
electronic office technology provide user interfaces and software that are
accessible through nonvisual means.
Background:
In recent years rapid advances in microchip and digital technology have
led to increasingly complex user interfaces for everyday products such as
consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks, and electronic office
technology. Many new devices in these categories require interaction with
visual displays, on-screen menus, touch screens, software, and other user
interfaces that are inaccessible to people who are blind or have low vision.
Settings on the stove, dishwasher, or home entertainment system are no
longer controlled by knobs, switches, and buttons that can be easily
discerned and readily identified. Inaccessibility of these devices is a
major barrier to a blind person's independence and productivity. If a blind
person cannot operate the interfaces of basic office equipment or software
such as copiers, fax machines, and basic word processing programs, that
person's opportunity to join the workforce or maintain an existing job is in
great jeopardy.
Many popular, cost-effective mechanisms are available for manufacturers to
create interfaces usable through nonvisual means. For example,
text-to-speech technology is inexpensive and more prevalent than it has ever
been-it is used in everything from automated telephone systems to the
weather forecasting service broadcast by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. Apple has incorporated VoiceOver (a
text-to-speech function) into the touch-screen iPhone, making it the only
fully accessible wireless handset on the market. The key is to build in
nonvisual access at the design stage. Despite these available accessibility
solutions, the majority of manufacturers have continued to design interfaces
that do not include nonvisual means of use. This trend of inaccessibility
will continue to grow as technology becomes more advanced and accessibility
solutions are ignored.
Need for Legislation:
No enforceable mandates currently exist for manufacturers of consumer
electronics, home appliances, kiosks, or electronic office technology to
make their products accessible to blind consumers. There are also no
accessibility standards to provide guidance to manufacturers on how to avoid
creating barriers to access for the blind.
Congress should enact a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind that:
a.. Establishes that manufacturers must create accessible user
interfaces for their products,
b.. Provides a means for enforcement, and
c.. Establishes standards that will provide meaningful benchmarks that
manufacturers can use to make their products accessible.
The legislation should not mandate a single, one-size-fits-all solution
for all consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks, or electronic office
technology. Rather it should mandate regulations setting meaningful
accessibility standards that allow manufacturers to select from a menu of
potential solutions or create new ones. This will not only give
manufacturers the freedom and flexibility they desire, but will also
encourage innovations that make consumer technology more usable for
everyone.
Proposed Legislation:
Congress should enact a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind that:
a.. Mandates that all consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks, and
electronic office technology be designed so that blind people are able to
access the same functions as sighted people by nonvisual means and with
substantially equivalent ease of use.
b.. Creates a commission within the Department of Commerce to establish
standards for nonvisual accessibility of electronic devices intended for use
in the home or office. Such a commission should represent all stakeholders,
including:
- organizations of the blind;
- manufacturers of consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks,
and electronic office technology and software, or associations representing
such manufacturers; and
- experts on universal design, electronic engineering, and related
fields.
a.. Establishes within the Department of Justice the authority to
enforce the regulations promulgated by the commission established by this
legislation.
b.. Authorizes the commission to reexamine and rewrite standards
periodically as consumer electronic technology continues to evolve.
Requested Action:
Please support blind Americans by sponsoring the Technology Bill of Rights
for the Blind to ensure that blind people can fully participate in all
aspects of society. Increased access leads to increased independence,
increased employment, and increased tax revenue.
Contact Information:
Lauren McLarney
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2207
E-mail: lmclarney at nfb.org
ENSURING EQUAL EDUCATION FOR BLIND CHILDREN:
SETTING STANDARDS THAT PROMOTE EXCELLENCE
Purpose:
To establish a commission within the Department of Education to set
uniform national standards for the education of blind students in grades
K-12.
Background:
Blind students have been integrated into America's public schools since
the 1960s, but educators have never made an attempt to quantify or measure
the quality of their education consistently and effectively. Although
school districts are required by law to provide a "free, appropriate public
education" to all students with disabilities, current regulations and
practices only establish what services and accommodations blind students
will receive individually and do not measure or attempt to measure the
effectiveness of these services and accommodations. All too often this
means that blind students are burdened with low expectations and inferior
educational services.
To the extent that a blind child's performance is poor, too many educators
incorrectly believe that this occurs because of the child's incapacity due
to blindness rather than because of the inadequacy of the services and
accommodations provided. The real problem, however, is what former
President George W. Bush called "the soft bigotry of low expectations." The
low expectations of educators for blind children become self-fulfilling
prophecies when blind students receive inadequate Braille instruction; are
not provided textbooks and other educational materials in specialized
formats on time; or are not given adequate instruction in the skills of
blindness including the use of access technology. Materials supporting the
Common Core State Standards recently developed by the National Governors
Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School
Officers state that students with disabilities "must be challenged to excel
within the general curriculum and be prepared for success in their
post-school lives, including college and/or careers" and must receive
appropriate accommodations to achieve academic excellence. In order for
this goal to become a reality, however, uniform national standards are
needed to ensure that blind students have the skills they need to perform at
age- and grade-appropriate levels throughout their educations. Such
standards will finally put an end to the vicious circle of low expectations
and inadequate services that has condemned far too many blind children to
lives of frustration, illiteracy, and ultimately poverty.
Existing Law:
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides that every
student with a disability must have an Individualized Education Program
(IEP), agreed upon by a team that includes the student's parents, teachers,
and school administrators. While the IEP sets out what services and
accommodations a student will receive and sets goals for the individual
student's progress, the effectiveness of the IEP itself is not measured
against objective benchmarks in order to determine whether the blindness
skills being taught and services being provided are allowing the student to
perform to the same standards as other students of the same age, grade
level, or level of intellectual functioning. Procedures exist for a child's
parents to object if they believe that the IEP is not being followed or
needs to be changed, but the process is onerous and puts the burden of proof
on the parents to show that the child is not receiving an adequate
education, rather than on school administrators to show that the IEP is
producing good results. Uniform standards outlining the services and
accommodations that must be made available to all blind children, as well as
the specific blindness skills the students need to acquire in order to
succeed, would solve this problem by establishing benchmarks against which
each child's performance would be measured, providing a clear and unbiased
assessment of whether the child is being educated effectively.
Need for Legislation:
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other existing laws
and regulations do not currently provide objective standards to measure the
effectiveness of the education of blind students against accepted standards
like the Common Core State Standards. Such standards must be set by a
regulatory body that consists of and receives input from all stakeholders,
including educators, blind Americans, and parents of blind children.
Congress should enact legislation that creates a commission within the
Department of Education, to ensure representation of all stakeholders in
order to set educational standards for blind children and to promulgate
regulations providing for the enforcement of the standards throughout the
United States. Only through the establishment of objective standards by
such an independent body will blind children in America finally be freed
from the chains of inadequate instruction, lackluster educational support,
and low expectations.
Requested Action:
Please support blind Americans by sponsoring legislation to establish a
commission within the Department of Education to set standards for the
education of all blind children in America.
Contact Information:
Jesse Hartle
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2233
E-mail: jhartle at nfb.org
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY ACT
Purpose:
To unleash the entrepreneurial capacity of Americans with disabilities in
order to reduce the staggering unemployment rate among these individuals and
welcome them into the mainstream of American business.
Background:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than two-thirds of
Americans with disabilities are unemployed or vastly under-employed. Strong
and innovative initiatives are necessary to remedy this problem and put
Americans with disabilities to work. To a substantial degree America's
economic success is tied to the freedom to engage in entrepreneurial
activity and create one's own wealth. It has long been the policy of the
United States to promote the economic well-being of traditionally
disadvantaged groups by creating a variety of business incentive programs
that allow these groups to participate in the mainstream of the nation's
economy. These programs have not, however, been extended to Americans with
disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Business Opportunity Act
(ADBOA) would greatly expand the ability of Americans with disabilities to
secure entrepreneurial opportunities by:
· Authorizing tax credits to for-profit businesses that purchase
goods or services from businesses owned by individuals with disabilities
(including from businesses operated under the federal Randolph-Sheppard
program);
· Amending Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act to include people
with disabilities as presumptively socially disadvantaged;
· Changing federal procurement law to provide that businesses owned
by individuals with disabilities (including businesses operated under the
federal Randolph-Sheppard program) are included on the list of preferred
small businesses to which subcontracts must be awarded; and
· Creating training and technical assistance programs to prepare
individuals with disabilities to operate businesses capable of securing
federal and private contracts.
Need for Legislation:
Each of the four components of the ADBOA would enhance the ability of
businesses operated by Americans with disabilities to be fully integrated
into the mainstream of the American economy. Together these components
would reduce the unemployment rate among Americans with disabilities and
make them fully productive members of society.
1. Tax Credits: One effective method of encouraging and enticing
business entities to subcontract with, or purchase goods and services from,
businesses owned or operated by Americans with disabilities is to offer such
entities tax credits. These tax credits would allow traditional businesses
to realize substantial tax savings and also promote the goal of integrating
businesses owned by people with disabilities into the economic mainstream.
2. Amendment of Section 8(a): Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act
is a powerful program allowing businesses owned by racial, cultural, and
ethnic minorities or women to secure federal contracts. Anyone seeking
Section 8(a) certification must prove that he/she is socially and
economically disadvantaged. Individuals who are from a racial, cultural, or
ethnic minority or women are presumed to be socially disadvantaged. It is
currently possible for individuals with disabilities to secure 8(a)
certification, but such individuals must prove that they are socially
disadvantaged. It is onerous to establish such a disadvantage under current
laws and regulations. Placing people with disabilities on the presumptive
list of those who are socially disadvantaged would create a much easier path
to 8(a) certification for such individuals and therefore to the opportunity
to secure federal contracts.
3. Changes to Federal Procurement Practices: Under current law
business entities attempting to secure large federal contracts must
guarantee that they will subcontract a portion of the work to small
businesses that are owned by traditionally disadvantaged populations.
Businesses owned by individuals with disabilities are currently not on the
list of disadvantaged populations. ADBOA will permit for-profit business
entities attempting to secure large federal contracts to meet procurement
requirements by subcontracting with businesses owned by individuals with
disabilities.
4. Establishment of Technical Assistance and Training Programs:
Through the award of federal grants, ADBOA would establish technical
assistance and training programs allowing business owners with disabilities
to acquire the technical expertise to secure federal contracts and otherwise
maximize entrepreneurial opportunities. The purpose for these federal
grants will be to increase substantially the number of individuals with
disabilities capable of operating successful businesses. The emphasis in
federal disability policy in the past has not been on providing people with
disabilities the tools and training necessary to support themselves. Rather
many governmental programs for the disabled have been based on a welfare
model. ADBOA would emphasize economic independence for individuals with
disabilities by training them to run their own businesses. ADBOA grants
would also allow entities to create tools to assist individuals with
disabilities in running a successful business.
Requested Action:
Please support blind Americans by sponsoring the Americans with
Disabilities Business Opportunity Act, legislation to increase business
opportunities for disabled Americans.
Contact Information:
Jesse Hartle
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2233
E-mail: jhartle at nfb.org
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