[Nfbv-announce] Legislative Alert - Washington Seminar Fact Sheets

[lpovinelli]

From: Jesse Hartle
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:  
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.  
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:
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. 
 
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:  
 
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 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.  
 
Endows the Department of Justice with 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 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