[Nfbsatx] Fwd: [nfb-texas members] Fw: Legislative Alert-Washington Seminar Fact Sheets Available

Jose Martinez jose.martinez07 at gmail.com
Sat Jan 9 19:58:58 UTC 2010


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Angela S. Wolf" <angelawolf at austin.rr.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 11:10:38 -0600
Subject: [nfb-texas members] Fw: Legislative Alert-Washington Seminar
Fact Sheets Available
To: members at nfb-texas.org

Hello,  All:
 I hope that everyone had a great holiday and Happy New Year!  Here is
information on the issues for this year's Washington Seminar.

Thanks,
Angela
----- Original Message -----
From: Hartle, Jesse
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 1:19 PM
Subject: Legislative Alert-Washington Seminar Fact Sheets Available


Fellow Federationists:



I am writing to you to let you know that the fact sheets for the 2010
Washington Seminar are now on the NFB Web site.  They can be found on
the "NFB 2010 Washington Seminar" page at
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Washington_Seminar.asp.  For your convenience,
the fact sheets are also attached to this e-mail.  The hot issues for
the 2010 seminar are:



-- Passage of the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act;

-- Passage of a Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind; and

-- Passage of the Blind Persons Return to Work Act.



            Please review these fact sheets in preparation for your
appointments during Washington Seminar.  We expect that bills related
to the Technology Bill of Rights and a Senate companion bill to the
Blind Persons Return to Work Act will soon be introduced.  When these
bills are introduced, the fact sheets will be updated to include that
information.



            Should you have questions, I have included my contact
information at the bottom of this message.  I look forward to seeing
all of you at Washington Seminar as we work towards passage of these
crucial issues.  Once again, thank you in advance for all of your hard
work.



Jesse M. Hartle

Government Programs Specialist

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

Phone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2233

E-mail:  jharle at nfb.org



JMH/wmb



Attachments



Legislative Agenda of Blind Americans:

Priorities for the 111th Congress, SECOND 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 111th Congress in its second 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 that which 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 that consumer
electronics, home appliances, kiosks, and electronic office technology
provide user interfaces that are accessible through nonvisual means.
This legislation should:



·         mandate that all consumer electronics, home appliances,
kiosks, and electronic office technology 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 Department of Justice with the authority to
enforce the regulations promulgated by the commission established by
this legislation; and



·         authorize the commission to reexamine and rewrite standards
periodically as consumer electronic technology continues to evolve.



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



·         replace the monthly earnings penalty with a graduated
three-for-one 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 in an amount equal to twelve times the 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 enact the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, which will
establish a motor vehicle safety standard to alert blind and other
pedestrians of the presence of silent hybrid and electric vehicles.





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 to travel
with a guide dog.  Blind people listen to the sound 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 auditory 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 endanger the
safety, not only of blind people, but also of small children, seniors,
cyclists, and runners.





Need for Congressional Action:  For several years the National
Federation of the Blind has been concerned about the proliferation of
silent vehicles.  These concerns were validated by a recent report
from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which
concluded that at low speeds hybrid and electric vehicles are twice as
likely to be involved in accidents with pedestrians as vehicles with
internal combustion engines.  Recently automobile manufacturers have
acknowledged the dangers posed to blind pedestrians by silent-vehicle
technology and have begun to work with the National Federation of the
Blind to craft solutions.  While participation from some manufacturers
is an important first step, many others continue to take a
wait-and-see approach on this important issue.  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 (including newly blinded
veterans), small children, seniors, cyclists, and runners shocks the
nation.





Proposed Legislation:  The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 734
and S. 841) was introduced by Congressmen Towns and Stearns in the
House and by Senators Kerry and Specter in the Senate.  This
legislation directs 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), pedestrians must be able to identify vehicles by
nonvisual means.
  b.. The motor vehicle safety standard must also provide pedestrians
with the range of information that is currently provided by combustion
engines, including 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 safety
standard.  This approach will encourage manufacturers to use
innovative and cost-effective techniques to achieve the motor vehicle
safety standard.

Automobiles that operate in complete silence 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, and therefore this
safety issue must be addressed.





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
motor vehicle safety 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 be
added as cosponsors by contacting Doug Frost in Senator Kerry's
office.





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 mandate that consumer electronics, home appliances,
kiosks, and electronic office technology 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 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, and other user interfaces that are inaccessible to
individuals 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 readily identified and whose
settings can be easily discerned.  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
such as copiers and fax machines, this is a potential threat to that
person's opportunity to join the workforce or to maintain an existing
job.



Many popular nonvisual mechanisms are available for manufacturers to
create interfaces accessible to everyone.  For example, text-to-speech
technology is inexpensive and more 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 screen, but many manufacturers have
continued to design interfaces that do not include any nonvisual means
of use, rendering the devices inaccessible to blind people.





Need for Legislation:  Currently no enforceable mandates exist for
manufacturers of consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks, and
electronic office technology to make their products accessible to all
consumers.  There are also 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:

  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.


This legislation does not mandate a single, one-size-fits-all solution
for all consumer technology, home appliances, kiosks, or electronic
office technology.  Rather it mandates 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.


  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,
kiosks, and electronic office technology, or associations representing
such manufacturers; and

-          experts on universal design, electronic engineering, and
related fields.



  a.. Endows the Department of Justice with the authority to enforce
the regulations promulgated by the commission established by this
legislation.


  a.. Authorizes the commission to reexamine and rewrite standards
periodically as consumer electronic technology continues to evolve.




Requested Action:  Please support blind Americans and cosponsor a
Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind to ensure that blind people
can fully participate in all aspects of American 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







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.  Low societal expectations result
in low representation of the blind in the workforce.

In addition, governmental programs intended to provide economic
security to blind workers during periods of unemployment, 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.

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 2010 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 thirty-five 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 (forty hours), her weekly salary would go up to $400 a
week for a monthly average of $1,733.  This amount is over the 2010
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 twelve times the
applicable monthly SGA amount.

Under current law blind workers frequently pay for items and services
related to their blindness 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 of earnings.



Proposed Legislation:  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:  For the House, please cosponsor the Blind Persons
Return to Work Act (H.R. 886) by contacting Michaeleen Crowell in Rep.
John Lewis's office, and provide a common sense work incentive for
blind Social Security beneficiaries.  For the Senate please consider
introducing companion legislation.





Contact Information:

Lauren McLarney

Government Programs Specialist

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

Phone:  (410) 659-9314, extension 2207

Email:  lmclarney at nfb.org
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