[nfb-talk] Legislative Agenda For The 111th Congress:

[Kenneth Chrane]

Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:

Priorities for the 111th 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 present 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 111th Congress in its first session:

1.      We urge Congress to ensure the safety of blind and other pedestrians 
by passing the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act.  This legislation would 
require the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to:

·        Begin a study within ninety days of its enactment to determine the 
most practical means of assuring that blind and other pedestrians receive 
essentially similar information to what they now receive from sound emitted 
by internal combustion engines;

·        Determine the minimum amount of sound necessary to offer sufficient 
information for blind pedestrians to make safe travel judgments based on 
appropriate scientific research and consultation with blind Americans and 
other affected groups;

·        Within two years of beginning the study, promulgate a motor vehicle 
safety standard to address the needs of blind and other pedestrians by 
requiring either a minimum level of sound or an equally effective means of 
providing the same information as is available from hearing internal 
combustion engines; and

·        Apply the standard to all motor vehicles manufactured or sold in 
the United States beginning no later than two years after the date it is 
promulgated.





2.      We urge Congress to work with blind Americans to create a Technology 
Bill of Rights for the Blind that mandates consumer electronics, home 
appliances, and office equipment to provide user interfaces that are 
accessible through nonvisual means.  This legislation should:



·        Mandate that all consumer electronics, home appliances, and office 
equipment be designed so that blind people can access the same functions as 
sighted people through nonvisual means and with substantially equivalent 
ease of use;



·        Create a commission comprised of essential stakeholders to 
establish standards for nonvisual accessibility of electronic devices 
intended for use in the home or office;

·        Endow the commission with enforcement powers or locate it within a 
government agency having such powers; and

·        Authorize it to reexamine and rewrite standards to keep pace with 
the evolution of consumer electronic technology.



3.      We urge Congress to promote and facilitate the transition by blind 
Americans from recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance benefits 
to income-earning, taxpaying, productive members of the American workforce 
by enacting legislation to:



·        Replace the monthly earnings penalty with a graduated 3-for-1 
phase-out (i.e., a $1 reduction in benefits for each $3 earned above the 
limit);



·        Replace the monthly earnings test with an annualized earnings test 
with an amount equal to twelve times. Substantial Gainful Activity amount; 
and



·        Establish an impairment-related work expense deduction for blind 
Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries equal to the amount 
applicable for this deduction when determining an appropriate income subsidy 
under Medicare Part D or 16.3 percent of earnings, whichever is greater.





            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.



ENHANCING PEDESTRIAN SAFETY:  ENSURING THE BLIND CAN CONTINUE TO TRAVEL 
SAFELY AND INDEPENDENTLY





Purpose:  To require hybrid, electric, and other vehicles to emit a minimum 
level of sound to alert blind and other pedestrians of their presence.



Background:  Until recently independent travel for the blind has been a 
relatively simple matter, once a blind person has been trained in travel 
techniques and has learned to use a white cane or travel with a guide dog. 
Blind people listen to the sounds of automobile engines to determine the 
direction, speed, and pattern of traffic.  Sounds from traffic tell blind 
pedestrians how many vehicles are near them and how fast they are moving, 
whether the vehicles are accelerating or decelerating, and whether the 
vehicles are traveling toward, away from, or parallel to them.  With all of 
this information, blind people can accurately determine when it is safe to 
advance into an intersection or across a driveway or parking lot.  The 
information obtained from listening to traffic sounds allows blind people to 
travel with complete confidence and without assistance. Studies have shown 
that sighted pedestrians also use this information when traveling.



            Over the past few years, however, vehicles that are completely 
silent in certain modes of operation have come on the market, and many more 
silent vehicles are expected in the near future.  These vehicles are 
designed to have many benefits, including improved fuel efficiency and 
reduced emissions, but they do not need to be silent in order to achieve 
these intended benefits.  An unintended consequence of these vehicles as 
they are currently designed is that they will reduce the independence of 
blind Americans and endanger the lives, not only of blind people, but also 
of small children, seniors, cyclists, and runners.



            Currently the most popular of these vehicles is the 
gasoline-electric hybrid, which alternates between running on a gasoline 
engine and on battery power (although a few electric automobiles are already 
on America's roads and new all-electric models are planned).  The blind of 
America do not oppose the proliferation of vehicles intended to reduce 
damage to the environment, but for safety these vehicles must meet a minimum 
sound standard.



            On April 9, 2008, Congressmen Ed Towns and Cliff Stearns 
introduced H.R. 5734 (the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008).  This 
legislation sought to solve the problem of silent cars by authorizing a 
two-year study to determine the best method for allowing blind individuals 
to recognize the presence of silent cars, and by requiring that, two years 
after the study was completed, all new vehicles sold in the United States 
must comply with the solution determined by the study.  In the 110th 
Congress, eighty-eight members of the House cosponsored this legislation.



Need for Congressional Action:  For several years the National Federation of 
the Blind has been concerned about the proliferation of silent vehicles. 
Recently automobile manufacturers have acknowledged the problems posed to 
blind pedestrians by silent vehicle technology and have begun to work with 
the National Federation of the Blind to seek solutions.  However, federal 
regulators have indicated that, in the absence of statistics on injuries or 
deaths caused by hybrid vehicles, nothing can be done.  Congress must 
therefore direct the Department of Transportation to take action.  It is 
crucial that this problem be addressed before the inevitable avalanche of 
tragedies involving blind people, small children, seniors, cyclists, 
runners, and newly blinded veterans shocks the nation.



Proposed Legislation:  Congressmen Towns and Stearns have reintroduced the 
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act to direct the Secretary of Transportation 
to conduct a study and establish a motor vehicle safety standard that 
provides a means of alerting blind and other pedestrians of motor vehicle 
operation, based on appropriate scientific research and consultation with 
blind Americans and other affected groups.  This national motor vehicle 
safety standard must have the following characteristics:

  a.. In all phases of operation (including times when the vehicle is at a 
full stop) vehicles shall be required to emit an omni-directional sound with 
similar spectral characteristics to those of a modern internal combustion 
engine.
  b.. The sound should vary in a way that is consistent with the sound of 
vehicles with combustion engines to indicate whether the vehicle is idling, 
maintaining a constant speed, accelerating, or decelerating.
            The standard need not prescribe the apparatus, technology, or 
method to be used by vehicle manufacturers to achieve the required minimum 
sound level.  This approach will encourage manufacturers to use innovative 
and cost-effective techniques to achieve the minimum sound standard.

            The addition of components to emit a minimum sound discernible 
by blind and other pedestrians will not negatively affect environmental 
benefits of gasoline-electric hybrids and other automobiles running on 
alternate power sources, and the emitted sound need not be loud enough to 
contribute to noise pollution.  Automobiles that operate in complete 
silence, however, endanger the safety of all of us; silent operation should 
be viewed as a design flaw comparable to the lack of seat belts or air bags.



Requested Action:  Please support blind Americans by cosponsoring the 
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act to authorize the U.S. Department of 
Transportation to establish and promulgate regulations specifying a minimum 
sound standard for all new automobiles sold in the United States.  In the 
House of Representatives, members can be added by contacting Emily Khoury in 
Congressman Towns's office, or James Thomas in Congressman Stearns's office. 
In the Senate members can support independence for blind Americans by 
sponsoring companion legislation.





Contact Information:

Jesse Hartle

Government Programs Specialist

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

Phone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2233

Email:  jhartle at nfb.org



A TECHNOLOGY BILL OF RIGHTS FOR THE BLIND





Purpose:  To create a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind that mandates 
consumer electronics, home appliances, and office equipment to provide user 
interfaces 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 like consumer electronics, home appliances, and office equipment. 
Many new devices in these categories require user interaction with visual 
displays, on-screen menus, touch screens, and other user interfaces that are 
inaccessible to individuals who are blind or have low vision.  No longer are 
settings on the television, home stereo system, or dishwasher controlled by 
knobs, switches, and buttons that can be readily identified and whose 
settings can be easily discerned, with or without the addition of tactile 
markings by the user.  Moreover, the use of inaccessible interfaces on 
office equipment such as copiers and fax machines makes these devices 
unusable by the blind and therefore a potential threat to a blind person's 
existing job or a barrier to obtaining new employment.



            This growing threat to the independence and productivity of 
blind people is unnecessary since digital devices can function without 
inaccessible interfaces.  Today text-to-speech technology is inexpensive and 
more nearly ubiquitous 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.  Indeed, a few 
manufacturers have incorporated this technology into their products to 
create talking menus or to articulate what is on the display; there is no 
reason why other manufacturers cannot do so as well.  And text-to-speech 
technology is not the only mechanism by which consumer electronics, home 
appliances, and office equipment can be made accessible to blind people.



Need for Legislation:  Currently there are no enforceable mandates for 
manufacturers of consumer electronics, home appliances, or office equipment 
to make their devices accessible and no accessibility standards to provide 
guidance to manufacturers on how to avoid creating barriers to access by the 
blind.  Congress should therefore enact a Technology Bill of Rights for the 
Blind, which clearly establishes that manufacturers must create accessible 
user interfaces for their products, provide a means for enforcement, and 
establish standards that will provide meaningful benchmarks that 
manufacturers can use to make their products accessible.



            Congress need not mandate a single, one-size-fits-all solution 
for all consumer technology.   Rather any such legislation should mandate 
regulations that set meaningful accessibility standards, while at the same 
time allowing manufacturers to select from a menu of potential solutions 
that, singly or in combination, will allow blind users to operate the 
technology easily and successfully.  This will not only give manufacturers 
the freedom and flexibility they desire, but 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, and office 
equipment  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; and


  a.. Creates a commission 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, and 
office equipment or associations representing such manufacturers; and 
experts on universal design, electronic engineering, and related fields. 
This commission should have enforcement powers or be housed within a 
government agency having such powers (e.g., U.S. Department of Commerce), 
and should be authorized to reexamine and rewrite standards periodically, as 
consumer electronic technology continues to evolve.


Requested Action:  Please support blind Americans by introducing legislation 
to create a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind (or by cosponsoring once 
legislation has been introduced) so that blind people will be able to 
participate fully in all aspects of American society.  Increased access 
leads to increased independence, increased employment, and increased tax 
revenue.







Contact Information:

James McCarthy

Government Programs Specialist

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

Phone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2240

Email:  jmccarthy at nfb.org



REMOVING THE EARNINGS PENALTY:  A COMMON SENSE WORK INCENTIVE FOR BLIND 
SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFICIARIES





Purpose:  To promote and facilitate the transition by blind Americans from 
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries to income-earning, 
taxpaying, productive members of the American workforce.



Background:  The unemployment rate for working-age blind people is over 70 
percent.  Part of the reason for this disproportionately high statistic is 
the myths and misconceptions about the true capacities of blind people. 
These erroneous perceptions are manifested when employers refuse to hire the 
blind.



            In addition, governmental programs intended to help blind people 
meet their basic economic needs, especially the SSDI program, have had the 
unintended consequence of creating an incentive for blind people to remain 
unemployed or underemployed despite their desire to work.  Low societal 
expectations result in low representation of the blind in the workforce. 
This low representation of the blind reinforces low societal expectations-it 
is a vicious circle that perpetuates systemic employment discrimination 
against the blind.



            Despite the efforts of the National Federation of the Blind, 
blindness still has profound social and economic consequences.  Governmental 
programs should encourage blind people to reach their full employment 
potential; they should not encourage economic dependence.



Existing Law:  Title II of the Social Security Act provides that disability 
benefits paid to blind beneficiaries are eliminated if the beneficiary 
exceeds a monthly earnings limit.  This earnings limit is in effect a 
penalty imposed on blind Americans when they work.  This penalty imposed by 
the SSDI program means that, if a blind person earns just $1 over $1,640 
(the monthly limit in 2009 following a Trial Work Period), all benefits are 
lost.



            Section 216(i)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act defines 
blindness as a disability based on objective measurement of acuity and 
visual field, as opposed to the subjective criterion of inability to perform 
Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA).  For blind people, doing work valued at 
the SGA earnings limit terminates benefits but does not terminate 
disability.  Only blind people not working or those with work earnings below 
an annually adjusted statutory earnings limit receive benefits.



Need for Legislation:  When a blind person enters the workforce, there is no 
guarantee that wages earned will replace SSDI benefits after taxes are paid 
and work expenses are deducted.  For example, Jane worked as a customer 
service representative with an annual income of $35,000 until she became 
blind from diabetic retinopathy.  Jane meets the criteria for SSDI benefits, 
which provide income of $1,060 a month (or $12,720 a year) tax-free while 
she is not working.  Jane wants additional income to meet her financial 
needs.  After an adjustment period and blindness skills training, she finds 
employment as a part-time representative making $10 an hour for 35 hours a 
week.  Jane grosses $350 a week for an average of $1,517 a month.  Using a 
conservative 25 percent withholding tax, Jane nets $1,137.50 from her work, 
combined with her $1,060 disability benefit, for a net total of $2,197.50 a 
month.  If Jane should have the opportunity to work full time (40 hours), 
her weekly salary would go up to $400 a week for a monthly average of 
$1,733.  This amount is over the 2009 earnings limit, so Jane loses all of 
her disability benefits.  Using the same 25 percent tax level, Jane nets 
only $1,300 a month-working an extra five hours a week has cost Jane $897.50 
net income (over $10,500 a year).  This example illustrates the work 
disincentive contained in current law.



            A gradual reduction of $1 in benefits for every $3 earned over 
the earnings limit would remove the earnings penalty and provide a financial 
incentive to work.  The benefit amount paid to an individual will gradually 
decrease, while the individual's contribution to the Social Security trust 
fund increases over time.  Under this approach, as Jane earns more, she pays 
more into the trust fund, and her dependence on benefits decreases.



            Monthly earnings evaluations are unnecessarily complicated for 
both the beneficiaries and the Social Security Administration.  Since the 
medical prognosis for blind people rarely changes, and because blindness is 
objectively measurable, blind people should be subject to an annual earnings 
test with the limit equal to the twelve times applicable monthly SGA amount.



            Under current law blind workers frequently pay for items and 
services related to their disabilities that are necessary for them to work, 
and they are permitted to subtract these Impairment Related Work Expenses 
(IRWE) from monthly earnings when determining monthly income.  Properly 
crediting IRWE poses a serious challenge to the SSDI program and creates a 
lack of predictability for the blind person trying to determine whether 
benefits will be available.  To address both issues, Congress should permit 
SSDI recipients to claim the same amount used when determining an income 
subsidy under the Medicare prescription drug program, currently 16.3 
percent.



            Congress should enact legislation to:

·        Provide that earnings of blind SSDI beneficiaries in excess of the 
annual earnings limit result in a gradual benefit reduction of $1 for each 
$3 earned over the limit;

·        Establish an annual earnings test for blind SSDI beneficiaries; and

·        Establish one standard IRWE deduction for blind SSDI beneficiaries 
equal to the amount presently applicable for this deduction when determining 
an appropriate income subsidy under the Medicare prescription drug program 
or 16.3 percent of earnings, whichever is greater.



Requested Action:  Please support blind Americans by cosponsoring 
legislation that provides a common sense work incentive for blind Social 
Security beneficiaries.



Contact Information:

James McCarthy

Government Programs Specialist

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

Phone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2240

Email:  jmccarthy at nfb.org