[Nfbv-announce] Schools out against the TEACH Act!

Sun Sep 7 22:26:27 UTC 2014

The note below is from Lauren McLarney of our national office. We have been
trying to pass legislation that will insure that college students have
access to instructional materials. Lauren reports that the American Council
on Education (ACE) is in opposition to our efforts and asks our help.

+++++

From: Nfb-legislative-directors
[mailto:nfb-legislative-directors-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of McLarney,
Lauren via Nfb-legislative-directors
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2014 1:55 PM
To: 'nfb-legislative-directors at nfbnet.org'
Subject: [Nfb-legislative-directors] Schools out against the TEACH Act!

Hi Team,

I am writing to urge you to take action on some frustrating news. The
American Council on Education (ACE) is an outspoken lobbying association
that represents colleges and universities; and last Friday, ACE wrote a
letter to Senator Harkin outlining their position on his proposed higher
education draft. In that letter, ACE opposes a provision modeled, almost
verbatim, after the TEACH Act. This is what ACE said: 

"Accessible Instructional Materials (Sec. 931): This provision creates an
impossible to meet standard for institutions and will result in a
significant chilling effect in the usage of new technology. Such a proposal,
if implemented, will seriously impede the development and adoption of
accessible materials, harming the very students it is intended to assist."

Most of you have hopefully seen President Riccobono's blog post
<https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/unachievable-or-unwanted-why-ace-opposed-acc
essibility-guidelines>  about this, so you probably already read this and
find it puzzling. The provision does not create any standards, let alone an
"impossible to meet" one, and ACE offers no explanation or data to back up
their claims that this will stifle innovation and result in the opposite
outcome of what the bill intends to do. Even more puzzling, it is in ACE's
best interest to get accessibility guidelines that will make it easier for
them to comply with the law and avoid litigation! The NFB has tried
repeatedly to engage ACE through Congressman Petri, but the best ACE can
offer is this two sentence statement that seemingly makes no sense. The
TEACH Act is almost a year old and is only four pages long - where is the
meaningful analysis and dialogue? We have no choice, but to assume they are
just against finding a solution for blind students.

Members of Congress are keen to listen to the higher education lobby at
times like this, but blind students are stakeholders too. We cannot allow
this empty statement to carry more weight than our sound, data-driven
position that guidelines are the best solution. The Members of Congress are
returning on Monday, so use this weekend to mobilize your membership and
make calls, send tweets, and email staffers about this! Below is a model
letter, but make it your own. We have to come back from this recess swinging
and ACE's statement is the perfect springboard for a new wave of advocacy.
Let me know how I can be a tool for you to coordinate this effort, and share
with me how it goes!

Cheers,

Lauren

Sample letter:

Dear [Staffer's name],

I hope you had a nice recess! I am writing on behalf of the National
Federation of the Blind of [Fill in NFB affiliate] about the Technology,
Education and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act (S.
2060/H.R. 3505), or TEACH Act. I last reached out on [fill in prior date],
but as a reminder, the TEACH Act offers a simple, non-controversial solution
to the very complicated problem of inaccessible educational technology and
the impact that kind of discrimination has had on blind college students. 

Most offices want to know what schools think about the bill. Last Friday,
the American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter to Senator Harkin
regarding a provision in his higher education reauthorization draft that is
modeled after the TEACH Act. Their statement can be found here,
http://www.aascu.org/policy/federal-policy/outreach/LettertoHarkinHEA0929201
4.pdf, and they totally missed the mark. It says the provision creates an
"impossible to meet standard," that will chill the usage of new technology.
It goes onto say the provision will do the opposite of what it intends to do
without any data or explanation for how that is so.

You have asked us challenging questions about this bill, so we hope you will
look at ACE's position with the same critical eye. The TEACH Act creates
voluntary accessibility guidelines that tells schools what accessibility
looks like so they'll know what to demand and how best to comply with the
law; how is this an "impossible to meet standard?" The bill also
incentivizes schools to use those guidelines with a safe harbor from
litigation; isn't this what ACE should want? Our goal is to stimulate the
market, but ACE says guidelines will have the opposite effect. I hope you
will reach out to ACE and demand an explanation for why this is true and ask
if they have a substitute proposal that might have a better outcome. 

We want to improve access for students with disabilities, so we developed a
solution that has widespread support. Fifteen different groups endorse the
initiative, and over fifty Members of Congress have cosponsored, including
your fellow delegates, [fill in delegate names]. You can see how
well-received our solution is by visiting www.nfb.org/teach. ACE has offered
no solution and no public comment other than this two sentence statement.
Who will you side with? I hope your boss will overlook their rhetoric and
come on board as a cosponsor. Can we count on his/her support?

Sincerely,

[Your name and contact info.] 

Lauren McLarney

Government Affairs Specialist

National Federation of the Blind

200 East Wells Street

Baltimore, MD 21230

410.659.9314 ext. 2207

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.  

-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: Untitled attachment 00239.txt
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbv-announce_nfbnet.org/attachments/20140907/41e6fc7e/attachment.txt>