[Nfbv-announce] Fwd: 2017 Richmond Seminar Priorities

Fri Jan 13 21:58:45 UTC 2017

[image: Tracy Soforenko, President 1511 North Jackson Street Arlington, VA
22201 (202) 285 – 4595 Tracy.soforenko at gmail.com]

*2017 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FROM THE BLIND OF VIRGINIA*

*Priority #1: Protect Civil Rights of Blind Parents.*

*Action:* *Co-patron HB 2273 / SB 1199 (Patron Delegate LaRock, 33rd
District and Patron Senator Favola, 31st District) *which creates stronger
protection under the law to eliminate the bias and discrimination that
blind persons face in court decisions regarding custody, visitation, foster
care, guardianship, or adoption.

*Issue: * With increasing frequency, blind parents in Virginia and across
the U.S. are enduring instances where their Constitutional right to raise a
family is being infringed. Competent blind parents have sometimes been
denied adoption, or have lost child custody on the basis of blindness.
Social service agencies are often asked to investigate to ensure that
children receive proper care and protection. Unfortunately, a prospective
parent's lack of vision often becomes the overriding factor used by the
courts and social service agencies when making decisions about the care of
children.

The National Federation of the Blind has documented thousands of cases of
blind people who are successfully raising children, many right here in
Virginia.  This vast experience demonstrates that blindness is not a
relevant factor in deciding whether a person is fit to be a parent. We have
represented many blind persons in child custody cases across the country,
as well as in other situations involving the care of children.
Unfortunately, blatant discrimination still occurs in too many of these
cases.  Even when no other problems were uncovered, blind parents were
forced to demonstrate their child-rearing capabilities beyond that
reasonably expected of sighted persons. The capabilities of blind
individuals to care for children are often brought into question even when
they had been successfully caring for their children for many years.

Despite improved technology, training, and support systems, myths about the
capacity of blind parents persist.  Even judges, social workers, and other
state employees are not immune from these latent biases.  Many of them have
never met a blind person and cannot imagine raising a child while having
limited or no sight.  Because of this lack of understanding, some of these
individuals miscalculate what is in the best interest of the child because
they underestimate the ability of a blind parent to raise a child using
alternative non-visual techniques.

*Solution:*  HB 2273 / SB 1199 will solve this problem by doing three
things.  First, it will establish, as a substantive right, that a parent’s
blindness will not serve as a basis for denial of rights when enforcing
those rights is in the best interest of the child.  Importantly, these new
protections will add to the protections in the Americans with Disabilities
Act, which only ensures an accessible court proceeding, by protecting the
substantive rights of blind parents to raise a family. Second, when a
parent’s blindness is alleged to have a detrimental impact on the child, it
will require clear and convincing evidence that that is actually the case
and that training in the alternative non-visual techniques would not
ameliorate the problem.  Finally, it will require ultimate decision makers
to put their findings in writing to ensure that they consider training
before deciding whether to break up existing families or prevent the
establishment of a new one.

*Priority #2:*  *Ensure That Blind Riders Are Not Excluded from Use of
Highly Autonomous Vehicles.*

*Issue:* Autonomous vehicles have the potential to tremendously increase or
decrease access to transportation for blind and low vision Virginians,
especially in rural parts of the Commonwealth. Autonomous vehicles are
already being tested in Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere throughout the
United States.  Google’s autonomous vehicle was recently tested in Austin,
TX where a blind rider successfully rode alone in a vehicle without any
manual driving capabilities.  This technology could greatly increase a
blind person’s ability to travel independently, especially in areas without
public transportation.  Yet, many states are requiring passengers to have a
driver’s license to legally operate highly or fully autonomous vehicles.
This restriction will likely decrease access to transportation by
preventing blind passengers from even riding in a taxi or other vehicle for
hire such as an Uber or Lyft because these businesses are actively trying
to reduce costs by eliminating human drivers.  Therefore, requiring a
driver’s license to operate an autonomous vehicle could actually greatly
reduce or eliminate the only access blind passengers have to cars.

Importantly, ensuring that there will be no legal barrier to blind riders
operating highly or fully autonomous vehicles will also incentivize
manufacturers and developers to incorporate accessibility during the
initial design process. However, if blind riders are locked out of
autonomous cars, then manufacturers will have little incentive to develop
this new technology with our needs in mind, making it much more difficult
for us to ever gain access to this technology. Virginia must ensure that
any autonomous vehicle legislation ensures that there will be no legal
barrier preventing blind and low vision passengers from an equal
opportunity to operate autonomous vehicles.

*****

*ABOUT THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND*

The National Federation of the Blind is America’s largest and most active
organization of the blind. With more than 50,000 members, we are not an
“agency” claiming to speak for the blind; we are blind people speaking for
ourselves. In Virginia, we are organized into 11 local chapters throughout
the Commonwealth, and into various special interest divisions; including a
parents division. We are the only organization that believes in the full
capacity of blind people and because of that, we strive to transform dreams
into reality so that blind Virginians can live the lives we want.

Tracy Soforenko

President, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia

202 285-4595 <(202)%20285-4595>

Tracy.soforenko at gmail.com
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