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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:2.0in;text-indent:.5in"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
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</v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_s1027" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;left:0;text-align:left;margin-left:-.05pt;margin-top:-48.3pt;width:194.65pt;height:82.5pt;z-index:251657216;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute;mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute;mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page'>
<v:imagedata src="cid:image001.jpg@01D39122.35A8D910" o:title="" />
</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><span style="mso-ignore:vglayout;position:relative;z-index:251657216"><span style="left:0px;position:absolute;left:0px;top:-64px;width:260px;height:110px"><img width="260" height="110" style="width:2.7083in;height:1.1458in" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D39123.923472B0" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2"></span></span><![endif]><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Tracy Soforenko, President
1511 North Jackson Street
Arlington, VA 22201
202-285-4595
tracy.soforenko@gmail.com
" style='position:absolute;left:0;text-align:left;margin-left:300.85pt;margin-top:-35.25pt;width:202pt;height:79.15pt;z-index:251658240;visibility:visible;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute;mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute;mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-width-relative:margin;mso-height-relative:margin'>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><span style="mso-ignore:vglayout;position:relative;z-index:251658240"><span style="left:0px;position:absolute;left:401px;top:-47px;width:269px;height:106px"><img width="269" height="106" style="width:2.802in;height:1.1041in" src="cid:image005.png@01D39123.923472B0" alt="Tracy Soforenko, President
1511 North Jackson Street
Arlington, VA 22201
202-285-4595
tracy.soforenko@gmail.com
" v:shapes="_x0000_s1026"></span></span><![endif]>Hi
All,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:2.0in;text-indent:.5in">Several of the Fairfax Chapter members at our January 18 meeting were interested in reading the ‘fact sheet’ covering the bills and initiatives the NFBV spoke about at this year’s Richmond Seminar.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:2.0in;text-indent:.5in"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:2.0in;text-indent:.5in">In short, we wanted the Senators and Delegates to say yes to the first two bills and no to the third. The topics and their full descriptions are below.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:2.0in;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:2.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Removing the Burdon of a vision impaired person having to prove that their blindness isn’t a cause for taking
away their children.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:2.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">That Braille be considered an option for learning for vision impaired students in school.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:2.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The bill would make it even harder to fight against public buildings with barriers.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol>
<div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;margin-left:2.5in;margin-right:0in">
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;border:none;padding:0in">
<o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">Below are the details.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b>2018 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FROM THE BLIND OF VIRGINIA<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Priority #1: Protect Civil Rights of Disabled Parents.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;border:none;padding:0in"><b>Action:</b>
<b>Co-patron HB 491 / SB 70 (Patron Delegate LaRock, 33<sup>rd</sup> District and Patron Senator Favola, 31<sup>st</sup> District)
</b>which adds protections to reduce discrimination persons with disabilities face in court decisions regarding custody, visitation, foster care, guardianship, and adoption. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b>Issue: </b>Blind and disabled parents in Virginia and across the U.S. are having their right to raise a family denied. In particular, blind parents have sometimes been denied adoption, or have lost child custody
on the basis of blindness. In such cases, a prospective parent's disability often becomes the overriding factor used by the courts and social service agencies when making decisions about the care of children.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">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. Similarly, the American Bar Association has come to the same conclusion with respect to other disabilities. Unfortunately, the capabilities of persons with disabilities to care for children
are often brought into question even when they had been successfully caring for their children for many years.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Despite improved technology, training, and support systems, myths about the capacity of parents with disabilities 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 skills of a parent with a disability to raise a child using alternative techniques.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b>Solution:</b> HB 491 / SB 70 will solve this problem by doing three things. First, it will establish that a parent’s disability will not serve as the sole basis for denial of rights without evidence of detriment
to the well-being of the child. Second, when a parent’s disability is alleged to have a detrimental impact on the child, it will require the party alleging the detrimental impact to offer proof that training in alternative 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.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before:always">
</span></b>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Priority #2: Virginia’s Blind Students Deserve Literacy Equal to their Sighted Peers<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;border:none;padding:0in"><b>Action:</b>
<b>Co-patron HB 336 / SB ## (Patron Delegate Cole, 88<sup>th</sup> District and Patron Senator Carrico, 40<sup>th</sup> District)
</b>which requires an assessment of the literacy needs of Virginia’s blind and low vision students as a component of a student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b>Issue: </b> Blind and visually impaired students in Virginia are not obtaining the literacy skills needed to achieve employment. While 70% of blind Americans are unemployed, 90% of those who are employed know
Braille. The future success and employment of Virginia’s blind and low vision students depends on literacy. Since most visually impaired students have some residual vision, students are taught to read using large print, even when Braille, or a combination
of large print and Braille, would best meet a student’s current and future needs. While Braille is the presumed reading media, Virginia schools are only providing learning materials such as textbooks in Braille to approximately 100 of Virginia’s 1,200 blind
and low vision students. Thus, Virginia’s blind and low vision students are falling behind their sighted peers because they are not provided the tools to develop literacy skills to keep pace.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b>Solution:</b> HB 336 / SB ## incorporates best practices and federal requirements to ensure that an assessment of reading media is conducted and that the results are incorporated into the IEP process. A similar
2016 bill received a Fiscal Impact Statement of $0. Since 2016, multiple stakeholders have collaborated to produce the 2018 bill. Through an extensive collaborative effort, relevant stakeholders now support the current version, HB 336 / SB ##, and the National
Federation of the Blind of Virginia urges your support as well. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Priority #3: Don’t Weaken the Virginians with Disabilities Act<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;border:none;padding:0in"><b>Action:</b>
<b>Oppose SB 199 (Patron Senator DeSteph, 8<sup>th</sup> District) </b>which requires individuals who face discrimination due to their disability to give offenders 60 days to correct the issue prior to bringing a lawsuit and requires the person with a disability
to identify, in writing, among other things, the specific law being violated by the offender.
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Any weakening of the protections for people with disabilities in places of public accommodation could lead to lower levels of employment and independent living for persons with disabilities. For example, inaccessible
security entrances have the potential to limit certain employment and residential options for blind and low vision Virginians.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">*****<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b>ABOUT THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">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 14 local chapters throughout the Commonwealth, and into various special interest divisions; including a parents’ division.
<u><o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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