Dean Platform for Blindness/Vision Impairment Community
From the Howard Dean campaign:
Platform for Americans Living with Blindness and Vision archives Impairment
Howard Dean supports the civil rights progress of Americans archives living with blindness and vision impairment. As President, archives he will advocate for the community of persons with archives blindness and vision impairment to have the opportunity to archives achieve greater employment, independence and freedom. archives Howard Dean wants all Americans to enjoy, in the words of archives former Congressman and ADA Author Tony Coelho "the dignity archives of work," and the opportunities for independent living that archives economic progress provides.
Problem: Currently, the number of Americans living with archives blindness and vision impairment who cannot find jobs or who archives face barriers to full education and independent living is archives unacceptable.
The Size of Community: The number of persons with archives blindness in this country is 1.1 million (AFB Sept./Oct. archives JVIB & Chiang, et al., 1992, Milbank Quarterly), and the archives estimated number of blind & visually impaired people of all archives ages, including institutionalized and homeless people is 7 archives to 10 million (1994-5).
Children and Seniors: The number of school age children archives who are blind is 57,425 (APH, Federal Quota Census of archives January 1998), and the number of seniors 65 and over (3.5% archives of the population 65 and over) who are blind is 787,691 archives (Chiang, et al., 1992).
Employment: the number of people who are working age and archives who are blind but are unemployed is 74% (AFB Sept./Oct. archives JVIB Kirchner & Schneidler, 1997), and the total estimated archives number and percentage of persons who are working age (18 to archives 69 years old) and who blind & visually impaired and archives employed is 1 to 1.3 million people or 40-45% (1994-95).
Economic Cost of blindness: Estimated annual costs to the archives federal government related to blindness and vision archives impairment are $4 billion (Prevent Blindness America, archives 1994), and the cost of a lifetime of support and unpaid archives taxes for one person living with blindness is $916,000 archives (Figured using SSI & SSDI average payments and unpaid tax archives estimates).
Prevention and Treatment: The most common causes of archives blindness in the U.S. are macular degeneration, glaucoma, archives cataract and diabetic retinopathy. Most of those medical archives events present opportunities for prevention or treatment, archives before, during or after the onset of symptoms. Between 40 archives percent and 50 percent of all blindness can be either archives prevented or effectively treated, resulting in the archives restoration of sight.
Proposal: Howard Dean's Agenda for Progress for the archives Community of Persons who live with Blindness and Vision archives Impairment. Howard Dean will seek to achieve the best archives legislative agenda for the community of persons with archives blindness and vision impairment, in partnership with local archives businesses, community leaders, and the state and federal archives governments. As President, Howard Dean would pursue archives policies and legislation that would include the following archives initiatives.
Congress should pass the "Instructional Materials archives Accessibility Act" ensuring that no child who is blind is archives left behind in school. This bill would provide Braille archives textbooks simultaneously with print editions, giving archives students who are blind an equal chance to learn. (Current archives status according to Thomas: Sponsored by Petrie (WI), 109 archives co-sponsors, referred to committee in February, 2003).
Congress should amend Title XVIII of the Social Security archives Act to authorize Medicare coverage of independence training archives for older persons who are blind, and to include coverage archives for the cost of devices providing persons who are blind archives with access to product labels and instructions as a part of archives any federally established prescription drug benefit. This archives proposal would ensure that older Medicare beneficiaries who archives are blind have access to the critical training services and archives prescription drug information they need to remain archives independent and living at home, rather than being forced archives into costly long-term care facilities.
Congress should eliminate the Social Security earnings archives penalty placed on blind people who work. This proposal archives includes mandated adjustments in the earnings limit of the archives person living with blindness, to reach $30,000 over the archives next 5 years, reducing the disincentive to work.
Congress should enact legislation amending the Fair archives Labor Standards Act so blindness cannot be a factor to archives permit paying less than the minimum wage. This proposal archives recognizes that blindness does not reduce a person's archives productive capacity and it makes the law consistent with archives actual practice.
Congress should amend the Higher Education Act to archives improve opportunities for students who are blind by archives promoting self-reliance, giving them responsibility to archives control blindness related services, and assuring equal archives opportunity to participate in programs and courses. This archives proposal would result in students who are blind taking archives charge of blindness-related services as part of their archives academic experience in order to prepare for success in archives school and in life.
As a former Governor, Howard Dean understands the archives challenges of fighting for federal programs that support archives the progress and full economic and community living archives inclusion of persons living with blindness and vision archives impairment but as President, he is determined to join with archives the community in that fight. As a former practicing archives physician, Howard Dean understands that every one of these archives statistics regarding blindness represents an individual archives American, facing the challenges of vision impairment on a archives daily basis. All Americans must do our part to ensure that archives persons living with blindness and vision impairment are archives full participants in our society, our schools, our archives workplaces and our government. And as President, Howard archives Dean will do all in his power to advance that agenda of archives progress and freedom for Americans living with blindness archives and vision impairments.archives
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