[Nfbmo] I hope you are writing and calling
Melissa Smith
mdsmith32811 at gmail.com
Wed Jun 21 03:46:31 UTC 2017
d
Melissa Smith
On 6/19/2017 5:53 PM, Gary Wunder via Nfbmo wrote:
> At Saturday's board meeting we talked about HR 620, the ADA Education > and Reform Act of 2017. What it says is that if some public >
accommodation or business discriminates against you, you have the >
responsibility not only to tell them about the law, but you must give >
them sixty days in which to respond to your concern. Below is the >
letter I sent to Representative Vicky Hartzler. I hope you will > write.
We work too hard to get the legislation that protects us > enabled to
silently sit by and watch as it is dismantled. Getting a > quality
education and a good job is an uphill battle at best. We > don't need
obstacles deliberately placed in our path. We don't > exercise all of
the control in the situation, but we do have the > opportunity to let
our views be known, to say to our representatives > from Missouri that
we are constituents who demand the right to be > heard, to be
considered, and to be understood. Please do your part. > My letter is
below: > > > > > > Dear Representative Hartzler: > > > > I strongly urge
that you oppose HR 620. This bill proposes to > eliminate frivolous
claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act, > but it totally
misses the mark. Its remedy is to say that none of the > provisions of
the act can be enforced unless a person with a > disability who
encounters discrimination first explains that > discrimination to the
person or business offering a service and then > gives the business or
public accommodation sixty days to respond. > When a blind person
encounters a website that will not work with > screen reading software
and attempts to apply for a job using that > site, what are the chances
that that job will remain open? When a > blind person finds it necessary
to sue a university because the > professor says there is no place for a
blind person in the class, how > will that person ever participate if he
or she must tell the > professor and the University that discrimination
is occurring and > then give them sixty days to respond? What other law
suggests that > those it is meant to protect must be the educators? I
can think of > none, and for me the message that gets sent over and over
again is > that blind people must wait, wait, wait. If this were a new
law, I > could understand a phase-in or maybe even some kind of a >
grandfathering provision, but this law has been on the books since >
1990. The ADA has received all kinds of news coverage both in the >
general media and in publications that are read by businessmen and >
women. > > > > If you want to stop lawsuits filed by big law firms that
do not > truly represent the interests of blind people and do not result
in > changes in the behavior of public institutions and businesses,
figure > out a way that does not put all the responsibility on the
person or > persons being discriminated against. The challenges that
face blind > people in getting an education and seeking employment are
already > substantial enough; let our laws encourage not discourage. I
think it > is nothing less than reasonable for blind and otherwise
disabled > people to expect this of you. Please do not support House
Bill 620-in > fact, actively oppose it, and be an evangelist for seeing
that blind > people get an education, a job, and a first-class place in
our > first-class communities. > > > > > > > > Gary Wunder > > > >
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