You have reached the Washington Connection, the legislative and information service of the American Council of the Blind. The Washington Connection is brought to you by the ACB Department of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs. If you have any questions or comments on the information provided, don't hesitate to contact us and ask to speak with Eric Bridges or Melanie Brunson. Please note that the ACB national office will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 22 and 23, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Late last week the House Education and Labor Committee marked up H.R. 4137, The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007.
This piece of legislation included a provision that would seek to construct a federal commission on accessible instructional materials in post-secondary education for students with disabilities. As part of the negotiation process ACB worked successfully to have language inserted within this provision that would include a meaningful number of membership organizations of the blind on the commission. Along with the creation of a federal advisory commission there was also a provision to allow for model demonstration programs to support improved access to post-secondary instructional materials for students with print disabilities.
ACB was an active participant in the negotiations surrounding this language as well. While we applaud the Education and Labor Committee for taking up this very important issue, ACB, through negotiation, attempted to have language inserted that would have provided more immediate and tangible results for students who are blind. Nevertheless, this language begins a process where students who are blind could receive text books in alternate formats at the same time as their sighted peers at some point in the future.
U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) this week introduced the American Braille Flag Memorial Bill. The bipartisan legislation would authorize the placement of an American braille tactile flag in Arlington National Cemetery honoring blind members of the armed forces, veterans, and other Americans.
Tiahrt was joined by Kansas Reps. Jerry Moran (R-Hays) and Nancy Boyda (D- Topeka) along with 14 others in co-sponsoring the bill, along with an endorsement by the Blinded Veterans of America.
"Arlington National Cemetery is a national place of remembrance and honor for our nation's veterans, and visited by an estimated 4 million people annually," said Tiahrt. "Placing the braille American flag here would bring honor to our nation's blind community and allow our blind veterans to 'see' the American flag again."
Currently, the United States has over 1 million blind and low-vision veterans. The Department of Defense estimates that 16 percent of those injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom suffer from severe vision loss. An additional 10 to 12 million Americans are either blind or have low vision.
However, prior to the creation of the Braille American Flag, the American flag was not accessible to the blind. This flag, created by the Kansas Braille Transcription Institute in Wichita, has been specially designed in a way that informs the blind of the full color of the American flag, 13 stripes, and 50 stars on the blue field. Additionally, this tactile flag bears the Pledge of Allegiance in both raised print and uncontracted braille.
This morning a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, heard oral arguments in ACB's suit against the United States Treasury Department. Presentations were made by lawyers for both the Treasury Department and ACB in defense of the positions they had previously taken in their written briefs. The judges peppered the lawyers with questions throughout the proceeding. A brief statement was also made by an attorney representing the National Federation of the Blind, who asserted that blind people already have access to United States currency and that the government has begun to take steps to make it more distinguishable by people with low vision. Therefore, access is not a problem, and besides, this issue is not that important to their membership.
As usual, Jeff Lovitky, arguing ACB's case, did an admirable job in setting forth our position that people who are blind do not currently have meaningful access to U.S. currency, that the decision of the District Court was appropriate, and that we need a court order that will result in the Treasury Department having to come up with a plan for addressing the accessibility issues surrounding paper currency.
At this point, we are engaged in another waiting game. Lovitky estimated that it could take as long as six months to get the decision from the Circuit Court. We will advise you as soon as we hear anything further on the subject.