American Council of the Blind
____________________________________________________
Americans
with Disabilities Act Concerns
Regarding
Blindness and Visual Impairment
AMERICAN
COUNCIL OF THE BLIND
RESOLUTION
2008-02
Submitted
by:
SUMMARY:
1. This resolution instructs the officers,
directors and staff to convey to the disability community, the Department of
Justice and Congress our deep-seated dissatisfaction with the current state of
the
2. This resolution
further instructs ACB leaders to, at a minimum,
withhold support from, or if appropriate, oppose future
3. This resolution
urges that examples of such appropriate extensions of the coverage of the
4. Finally, this
resolution directs the officers, directors, and staff to broadly disseminate
the sense of this resolution to the disability community and to selected
members of Congress.
WHEREAS, the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 is a civil rights law designed to provide equal access
for people with a broad range of disabilities; and
WHEREAS, considerable
detail of what such access requires is written into both the law itself and its
implementing regulations as they relate to people with mobility impairments and
to people who are deaf and hard of hearing; and
WHEREAS, by contrast, there
are very few provisions of the
WHEREAS, neither the
disability community, the Department of Justice, nor the Congress have taken
seriously repeated demands by individuals who are blind or visually impaired,
and organizations who represent them, that the ADA be appropriately amended or
applied so that the right of protection under the act for people who are blind
and visually impaired is recognized through the development of specific
statutory provisions or regulations comparable to those which protect people
with mobility impairments and people who are deaf and hard of hearing;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED by the American Council of the Blind in convention assembled at the
Galt House Hotel in Louisville, Ky., on this the 11th day of July, 2008, that
this organization instruct the officers, directors and staff to convey to the
disability community, the Department of Justice and Congress our deep-seated
dissatisfaction with the current state of the ADA; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that
this organization hereby instruct its leaders to, at a minimum, withhold
support from, or, if appropriate, oppose future ADA legislation or proposed
regulations unless such revision contains a clear and unequivocal recognition
of the rights of people who are blind and visually impaired by specifically
addressing issues of concern to our community; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that
examples of such appropriate extensions of the coverage of the ADA or its
implementing regulations include, among others, the recognition of web-only
Internet sites as places of public accommodation; access to home appliances and
other electronic information; equipment and devices provided by state or local
governments or places of public accommodation; parity in paratransit
eligibility criteria; the inclusion of specific elements concerning the needs
of blind and visually impaired people when regulating access to places of
public entertainment including stadia; and clearly
requiring the provision of information in alternate formats by all places of
public accommodation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that
officers, directors, and staff of this organization are directed to broadly
disseminate the sense of this resolution throughout the disability community
and to selected members of Congress.
Adopted.