There are 7 to 10 million blind and visually impaired persons in the United States, and with the aging of the baby-boomer generation, that number is expected to increase by another 4 million by 2015. The American Council of the Blind (ACB) is the leading national organization of and for people who are blind and visually impaired and is dedicated to improving the quality of life, equality of opportunity and independence of all people who have visual impairments.
Issue: Social Security is the single largest source of retirement income in the U.S. But Social Security is more than just retirement income, it is also a social insurance program, with over 8 million Americans who receive Social Security Disability Benefits. In any discussion regarding changes to Social Security, persons with disabilities have been virtually absent from the public discourse and the impact of changes to Social Security upon the lives of individuals with disabilities has not been addressed.
Proposed Action: ACB encourages the creation of a Beneficiary Impact Statement to study the impact of changes on Social Security Retirement to Social Security Disability Programs and opposes any changes that would have an adverse impact on workers who acquire disabilities.
Issue: Medicaid is the nation's largest health program working to meet the needs of low-income Americans, serving nearly 11 million people with disabilities, of whom 7 million are under age 65. Because persons with disabilities have unique health needs. As an increased focus is placed on limiting the growth in Medicaid spending it is critical to understand and protect the role that Medicaid plays in the health care system for people with disabilities. Cutting or capping the Medicaid program, rather than addressing underlying health care issues will have profound consequences not just for those who rely on Medicaid but for the overall health care system.
Proposed Action: ACB is strongly opposed to changes in the current structure of the Medicaid program that include converting the program into a block grant or otherwise imposing caps on federal funding. We believe that these measures run contrary to the partnership entered into between the states and the federal government, and put at risk the provision of quality healthcare to needy families and individuals with disabilities.
Issue: With increasing frequency, television programming relies on visual information to communicate with consumers. Significant events are portrayed visually: emergency weather advisories are scrolled across TV screens, and telephone numbers are displayed on the TV screen unaccompanied by verbalization. People who are blind, or have visual impairments, are thereby denied access to a significant portion of the programming carried on the nation’s airwaves today.
Proposed Action: ACB supports legislation to restore the Video Description mandate ensuring that video described programming will continue to be available to people who are blind. This programming will include both descriptive information during regular programming, and verbalization of critical emergency information which is commonly displayed visually for other viewers. We urge Congress to support the restoration of Video Description.
Issue: It is critical that transportation legislation ensures that people with disabilities have safe, affordable and accessible transportation to fully participate in community life. On average, 5,000 pedestrians are killed each year on our nation’s streets and another 70,000 more injured. Although only 8.6 percent of all trips are made on foot, 11.4 percent of all traffic deaths are pedestrians. These statistics make walking the most dangerous mode of travel per mile. Yet, only 0.9% of Federal transportation funding ($0.82 per individual) is spent on pedestrian facilities and safety. As a rule, individuals with visual impairments are more reliant on walking and public transportation than the general public. Federal funding for those programs most relied upon by the disabled is insufficient to adequately provide for the current population.
Proposed Action: ACB strongly supports the language in H.R. 3 (the Transportation Efficiency Act: A Legacy for Users or TEA-LU) that maintains the New Freedom Initiative (NFI) as a program separate and apart from Section 5310 and encourages the Senate to adopt language maintaining that separation. NFI encourages integrated rather than segregated services. ACB believes that the current funding proposed, $91 million, for Section 5310 is grossly insufficient to meet current demand for the critical transportation services for people with disabilities and senior citizens and asks Congress to consider increasing that amount.
In addition, we support the amendment of TEA-LU to include the Remote Infrared Audible Signage Model Accessibility Project (to be proposed as Section 3045 of Title III) establishing the nation's first inter-modal transportation system linked by accessible signage. Moreover, ACB believes it is imperative that individuals with disabilities are included in all aspects of transportation planning and project discourse.
Issue: The Vocational Rehabilitation Program (VR) is the primary federally funded employment and training program within the Workforce Investment Act, specifically designed to assist individuals with disabilities in overcoming barriers to employment serving over 1.4 million persons each year. This year significant programmatic changes have been proposed to the rehabilitation system that include an option for states to consolidate the funding for the rehab act programs into a larger funding streams for employment programs in general. People with disabilities, in particular people who are blind and visually impaired have specific vocational and prevocational training needs which are only addressed by the current state vocational rehabilitation system.
Proposed Action: ACB is committed to the preservation of a separate funding stream for VR. VR programs, projects and services create a complementary, coordinated, and comprehensive service delivery system for individuals with disabilities who want to increase their independence and self-sufficiency and as such ACB strongly opposes the language in HR 27 that offers the consolidation of funds that would direct capital away from programs that directly serve persons with disabilities.
We also urge Congress to retain the position of ‘commissioner’ for the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).
Issue: Created in 1936, the Randolph-Sheppard Act fosters and encourages entrepreneurship and business opportunities for Americans who are blind and visually impaired. At the very heart of the Randolph-Sheppard act is language that stipulates that blind and visually impaired businessmen/business women have priority in contractual bids at federal government buildings and military facilities; a priority that has been in place since 1974. The Randolph-Sheppard Act is at significant risk of being permanently damaged in the 109th congress due to potential amendments that have been proposed by interest groups to remove the Randolph-Sheppard priority.
Proposed Action: ACB urges Congress to protect the priority granted by the Randolph-Sheppard Act for blind vendors on federal property, including military dining facilities.
For further information contact:
Day Al-Mohamed, Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs
Email:
kmerritt@acb.org
Telephone: 202-467-5081
www.acb.org