[Ohio-Talk] S.B. 202 Hearing

[Richard Payne]

Todd and all,

I would like to thank you also on behalf of the state and I think this will
be the year that we see this bill go in to law.

Richard Payne,  President
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
937/829/3368
Rchpay7 at gmail.com
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.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Todd Elzey via
Ohio-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2021 7:42 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Todd Elzey <toddelzey at gmail.com>
Subject: [Ohio-Talk] S.B. 202 Hearing

Good evening!

Earlier today I had the pleasure of traveling to Columbus to testify before
the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee on our parental rights Senate companion
bill S.B. 202. This hearing was for the Committee to hear "Proponent"
testimony. I am pleased to report that the hearing went well.

I testified on behalf of the NFB and on my own personal behalf. I told the
Committee about how the NFB of Ohio gets several calls per year from parents
who are either being threatened with having their children taken away, or in
some instances have already lost custody of their children simply because a
social worker believed that a blind parent can't take care of children. I
explained to the committee that blind people can and have indeed taken care
of their own children. I pointed to the nearly 20 examples we submitted via
written testimony from NFB members from across the State. I also told the
committee that there were many more examples of capable blind parents
throughout society.

I also spoke of how blind parents are often held to a different standard by
hospital social workers and CPS workers than are non-disabled parents. I
spoke of how often blind parents currently have to prove they are capable of
caring for their children. I told them how this is different because
non-disabled parents are not asked to prove that they are good parents -
rather when a complaint is received, social workers simply look to whether
or not the non-disabled parent is endangering the child. I also pointed out
that often social workers bend over backward to give non-disabled parents an
opportunity to resolve any care issues before taking children away, but how
often blind parents either lose their children right away or are threatened
with that loss immediately without ever being given an opportunity to cure
the problem through supportive services, etc.

I then spoke about how some parents, including myself, have faced the loss
of their children during divorce proceedings because of their vision or
other disability. I spoke of how this happens despite the fact that these
parents often co-parented with a non-disabled parent for years without
anyone raising the issue of blindness or disability. But that then during a
divorce it is often alleged that it is not safe for the children to be with
the blind or disabled parent because of their disability. I once again
talked about how when this happens, it becomes the burden of the person with
a disability to prove that they are a capable parent rather. I spoke of how
it should be the other way around, that a person alleging an issue should
have to prove by "clear and convincing" evidence that a person's disability
endangers the child.

I concluded by asking the committee to approve S.B. 202.

I believe the Committee understood our concerns. There were no questions
asked about the substance of the legislation.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the hearing.

Todd Elzey
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