Last week, the Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR), hosted a public meeting and requested written comments with respect to the federal disability and rehabilitation research agenda. ACB reserved time on the agenda to present our comments. ACB raised concerns with regard to the policy implications of moving from the larger Rehabilitation and Research Training Centers (RRTCs) to the smaller Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRPs). In addition, ACB encouraged more research and funding into the issue of pedestrian safety, and raised the question of the impact of quiet cars on the independent and safe travel of individuals with visual impairments. We hope to have those comments available on the website soon.
ACB provided comments to the Department of Transportation on the Air Carrier Access Act proposed guidelines. ACB had concerns with regard to the language requiring both air carrier personnel and individuals with severe hearing and severe vision loss to share the responsibility to make reasonable efforts to establish adequate communication with one another. It is specifically pertinent in relation to - "anecdotal reports that indicated that qualified passengers who were deaf-blind had been treated with a lack of sensitivity by airline employees, and had been denied air travel due to communication difficulties caused by employee unfamiliarity with communication techniques." We hope to have the full comments available on the website soon.
In the last Legislative Update ACB encouraged members to contact their legislators to support SCR 71, a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that States should require candidates for driver's licenses to demonstrate an ability to exercise greatly increased caution when driving in the proximity of a potentially visually impaired individual. To date, there are only 6 co-sponsors - Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI), Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO), Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) , and as of last week, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Emergency Preparedness HR 3858 aims to ensure that State and local emergency preparedness operational plans address the needs of individuals with household pets and service animals following a major disaster or emergency. Last week, this bill passed by 2/3 majority vote. ACB also participated in an all-day summit hosted by the Red Cross. The meeting involved the role of the Red Cross and disability organizations; and how to operate more collaboratively and cooperatively. In order to encourage greater understand between our organizations, Red Cross will be providing a presenter for the Convention to address some of the issues of emergency preparedness and people with disabilities, but also to discuss what is the role of the Red Cross and the services provided. Another result of the summit is the Red Cross' efforts to involve ACB in activities that impact our members and the blindness community as a whole. One of those activities is the development of pre-event terrorism preparedness educational messages and materials on a variety of topics. The Red Cross has developed Web- and video-based content and it needs to be tested.
Online focus groups are being created and the office has been contacted to assist and recruit individuals to help test the content. Already, ACB has commented on the fact that the Red Cross is basing their future efforts on the results of only an online group and that as such it will likely skew their results. Not all individuals with visual impairments have access to the internet. The Red Cross has informed us that more information on the focus groups will soon be forthcoming.
Day Al-Mohamed
Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs
American Council of the Blind
1155 15th St. NW
Washington DC 20005
Tel. 202-467-5081
dalmohamed@acb.org