[Nfbmo] Resending Washington Fact Sheets
Gary Wunder
GWunder at earthlink.net
Mon Jan 17 15:43:53 UTC 2011
Several of you said that you did not receive our fact sheets for the
Washington Seminar. Here they are.
Gary
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:
. 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.
. Create 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, 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.
. 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 an independent
commission within the Department of Education to set uniform nationwide
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 an independent commission, 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:
. Establishes that manufacturers must create accessible user
interfaces for their products,
. Provides a means for enforcement, and
. 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:
. 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.
. 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.
. Establishes within the Department of Justice the authority to
enforce the regulations promulgated by the commission established by this
legislation.
. 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
Email: ,lmclarney at nfb.org>
----------
Ensuring Equal Education for Blind Children:
Setting Standards That Promote Excellence
Purpose:
To establish an independent commission to set uniform nationwide
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 an independent
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 an independent commission 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
Email: <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
Email: <jhartle at nfb.org>
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