[Missouri-l] Fw: [leadership] ACB and People Who Are Blind Need Our Help!

[Chip Hailey]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Campbell" <ray1530 at wowway.com>
To: <acb-l at acb.org>; "ACB Leadership" <leadership at acb.org>; 
<icb-l at icbonline.org>; <icb-board at icbonline.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 5:41 PM
Subject: [leadership] ACB and People Who Are Blind Need Our Help!


> Hello:
>
> If you are receiving this message, you are on either an American Council 
> of
> the Blind or Illinois Council of the Blind e-mail list.  You probably
> participate on one or more lists because you have an interest in issues of
> concern to people who are blind.
>
> My message to you today is it's time to move from interest to taking 
> action.
> There are two critically important pieces of legislation which all of us
> need to ask our representatives in Congress and in one case, Senators to
> support.
>
> The first is H.R.734, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.  This
> legislation has approximately 140 co-sponsors in the House of
> Representatives.  It's companion bill in the United States Senate is 
> S.841.
>
> This legislation would require the Secretary of Transportation to conduct
> research and come up with an appropriate sound standard for quiet or 
> hybrid
> cars.  More and more, with gas prices being where they are and concern for
> the environment, people are purchasing quiet cars.  The problem for
> pedestrians who are blind is that these cars make virtually no noise when
> stopped or traveling at low speeds.  As many of us depend on sounds from
> cars as audio cues to aid us in traveling, this is a serious issue.
>
> Imagine not being able to know when it is safe to cross a street because 
> you
> can't hear the traffic.  This is a very real possibility if we don't get
> H.R.734 and S.841 passed.  This could mean that more of us will have to 
> rely
> on paratransit service to get around.  This is more expensive both for us
> and for transit providers.
>
> More and more, public entities such as school districts, municipalities, 
> and
> others are purchasing quiet cars and hybrid busses.  If we don't act, we 
> who
> are blind will not be able to travel about safely.  That's not what I want
> and that's not what any of us should want.
>
> Call your member of Congress and ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor to
> H.R.734.  Call your Senator and ask them to co-sponsor S.841.  If your
> representative or senator have already co-sponsored, thank them for doing
> so.
>
> During the recent congressional recess, only one additional member of
> congress signed onto H.R.734.  That is abysmal.  We can and must do better
> than that.  If you are not sure if your member of congress or Senator has
> signed onto H.R.734 or S.841, contact Eric Bridges in the ACB National
> office, 202-467-5081 Ext. 2040 or send him an e-mail at ebridges at acb.org 
> and
> he will be glad to help you.  Also, if your member of Congress or Senator
> agrees to co-sponsor, let Eric know that as well.
>
> But there's more.  I don't know about you, but I'm sick of turning on the 
> TV
> and not knowing what is happening on a program simply because there is no
> audio description.  I'm sick and tired of on-screen menus which render set
> top boxes and other equipment inaccessible to me.  I'm sick and tired of
> people who are deaf-blind not being able to get basic telecommunications
> equipment because they can't afford it.  I mad as hell about lack of 
> access
> to communications and video services and I'm not going to take it anymore.
>
> What am I going to do about it?  The same thing all of us better do about
> it.  Call your member of Congress and urge them to sign onto H.R.3101, the
> 21st Century Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act.  This
> legislation would:
> 1.  Give the Federal Communications Commission authority to mandate audio
> description in television programming, just as they do closed captioning.
> 2.  Require that telecommunications and video equipment be accessible to
> people with disabilities.
> 3.  Allocate up to $10 million each year from the Universal Services Fund
> into which all of us who have telephone service pay to provide
> telecommunications equipment to people who are deaf-blind.
> 4.  Require that programming containing audio description which is
> propogated to the internet be done so with description included.
>
> And much, much more.  Please, call on your Member of Congress to sponsor
> H.R.3101.  This is our best chance to improve communications and video
> access for all of us.  If we don't act, then it will be our own darn fault
> wen we are left behind as technology advances.
>
> Again, please, please call on your member of Congress and ask them to
> co-sponsor H.R.734 and H.R.3101.  Call on your Senator and ask him or her 
> to
> co-sponsor S.841.  The time to act is now.  Please inform Eric Bridges,
> 202-467-5081 extg. 2040, ebridges at acb.org of your work.  Thank you for
> reading and more importantly, for acting!
>
>
> Ray Campbell, Member, American Council of the Blind Board of Directors
> ray1530 at wowway.com
>
>
>


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>
> -- 
> Join the Monthly Monetary Support program (MMS) and help improve
> tomorrow today in ACB.
> For details, contact Dr. Ron Milliman, MMS Program Committee Chair, by 
> e-mail:
> rmilliman at insightbb.com or by phone at 270-782-9325 and get started making 
> tomorrow look brighter today in ACB!
>


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