[Tall-Corn] Documents For Legislative Day

[bray at nfbi.org]

Greetings, attached are two of 3 documents we will be handing out. In
addition, for your convenience the text from these will be posted below.

 

Legislative Committee

 

 

Date:  January 16, 2024.

Subject:  Support for legislation mandating accessible prescription
information.  

From:  R.J. Ray, Mary L. McGee, National Federation of the Blind of Iowa.

To:  Iowa General Assembly.

I.  Background 

            Every year, millions of people in the United States rely on
prescription medications to sustain their health and doctors write as many
as three billion prescriptions annually.  Nearly fourteen million Americans,
many of whom have low vision or are blind or are 65 years old or older, are
not able to clearly read a prescription label.  This can result in
unnecessary injury or even death.  

            The Food and Drug Administration Safety Innovation Act makes it
possible for consumers to receive information about their prescriptions in
accessible formats, making instructions easier to follow for people who have
a vision disability.  Accessible prescription information equals
independence, at least.  At most, it can eliminate the risk of taking the
wrong medicine or incorrect doses leading to preventable overdose, the
mistreatment of health problems, emergency hospitalization, or death.  

II.  A great need exists for an Iowa law.  

            The above-referenced Federal law and the Americans With
Disabilities Act, which also requires that pharmacies provide alternative
format communication to customers, are not sufficient.  

            For example, a few months ago, a blind couple went to their
pharmacy as they had done for years to have prescriptions refilled and
accessible information provided.  This particular day, the accessible
information was lacking and, in response to an inquiry, a manager told them
that the pharmacy was no longer providing alternative format information
because the cost of doing so is prohibitive.  They endured several months of
anxiety and inconveniences before they found a new pharmacy that would meet
their need for alternative formatted information relative to their multiple
prescription medications.  

            The scenario described above should never happen in Iowa because
blind and print disabled individuals have a right to the information given
in the prescriptions. The information can be easily provided to consumers
because the accessible formats are known and available.  Producing them will
not be an undue hardship on the pharmacy business.  Indeed, providing such
information will add value to the community and society as a whole.  

State laws give more specific directions to pharmacies than federal ones
because states license the pharmacies; thus, states can more closely define
and regulate their activities.  State laws also offer coverage to far more
patients than do federal laws.  Iowa needs a statute attaching accessibility
to licensure to guarantee that blind and print disabled consumers have the
same choices regarding prescription information as their sighted peers.  

III.  Formal Request

            Receiving fully accessible prescription information for blind
and print disabled Iowans is not a Democratic or Republican matter; it is a
fundament right.  Indeed, it's a social justice and moral matter.
Therefore, we respectfully ask all of you to support this bill. Thank you
for your help!

 

 

Date:  January 16, 2024.

Subject:  Support for legislation mandating accessible absentee and
in-person voting.  

From:  R.J. Ray, Mary L. McGee, National Federation of the Blind of Iowa.

To:  Iowa General Assembly.

                The Americans With Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. S. 12101, et
seq, provides important safeguards protecting disabled people's rights.
Currently, Iowa is violating this statute because, even in the 21st Century
it many times requires blind voters to seek the aid of a sighted person to
vote absentee or in person, thereby depriving them of an independent right
to vote.  The Help American Vote Act became law in October of 2022 to
address the problems that occurred during the 2020 presidential election and
one of the goals of the statute is to provide all American voters, including
those who are blind or low vision, the opportunity to vote both privately
and independently.  Because of poor or nonexistent poll worker training and
no electronic absentee ballot marking system, Iowa is in violation of this
law as well.  Therefore, the State of Iowa is in effect ignoring clear
Federal mandates.  Moreover it continues to deprive a protected class of its
citizens a substantive Constitutional right at both the state and federal
levels.  

                In recent court cases involving the right of voters with
print disabilities to mark a paper absentee or by mail ballot privately and
independently, the Federal Courts of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and
Sixth Circuit found that Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act
(ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act require that voters with
disabilities be provided an opportunity to exercise their right to vote that
is equal to that provided voters without disabilities.  See Nat'l. Fed'n. of
the Blind v. Lamone, 813 F.3d 494, 506 (4th Cir. 2016) and Hindel v. Husted,
875 F.2d 344, 349 (6th Cir. 2017).  These holdings mean that blind, low
vision, and other voters with print disabilities must be able to make their
absentee ballot privately and independently at home as voters without
disabilities are able to do.  Courts in Massachusetts and North Caroline
have found that when a state permits military and overseas voters to return
their marked ballot electronically, voters with print disabilities must be
afforded the same opportunity.  Also, a number of states have passed
legislation to permit voters with disabilities to receive and return their
by mail ballots electronically.  Tragically, Iowa is not one of these states
and that is why we request your support for this bill.  

                This state's voting mechanisms present problems such as the
following for blind citizens.  These people have given their permission to
share their stories.  

                Jonathon Ice of Cedar Rapids voted absentee.  He is legally
blind but has a small amount of residual vision.  He was only able to
complete his absentee ballot independently by reading it from one inch away
from his eye; this caused eyestrain and the risk of missing critical
information printed on the ballot.  

                Kim Brown went to vote in person at her polling place and no
one there knew how to connect the headphones.  She had let her husband fill
out the ballot.  

                Roger Erpelding has encountered precinct workers who don't
know how to operate the voting machines to make them accessible.  At one
precinct, an hour lapsed before precinct workers were able to make the
machine work properly and the ballot printed was a different size from the
others so it was not a secret ballot.  

                The above stories are but a smattering of those recalled by
blind and low vision Iowans, despite the ADA and HAVA. They demonstrate that
Iowa is way behind the times!

                "Our American heritage is threatened as much by our own
indifference as it is by the most unscrupulous office or by the most
powerful foreign threat.  The future of this republic is in the hands of the
American voter."  President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  

                As previously stated, the right of blind Americans to vote
is guaranteed.  It is a right that many American citizens have demonstrated
for, fought for, and died for so that present and future generations can
continue to exercise their right to vote.  Therefore, we blind Iowans of
voting age have a responsibility to exercise the right to vote, despite the
state's discriminatory election system, and we demand it.  

                We pay taxes; therefore we deserve representation in
government; "No taxation without representation," John Adams said with the
Sons of Liberty.  Are blind Iowans not entitled to vote?  Apparently.
Please change this inequity by supporting the designated bill.  Thank you
very much!  

 

 

 

 

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