Happy 19th Annyversary, ADA

This day, July 26, 1990, 19 years ago was a very significant day for
Americans with Disabilities. With the stroke of a pen, then President
George H. W. Bush signed our civil rights law, the Americans with
Disabilities Act into law. This signaled the beginning of the end of
discrimination against people with disabilities.

The ADA says that if a person with a disability is the most qualified for a
job, he or she should be hired and reasonable accommodations provided so he
or she can perform the essential functions of the job. This means employers
simply can't say they don't want to hire someone with a disability because
of biases against such people. What ADA does not say is that if you have a
disability and are not qualified for a job, you get the job.

ADA requires state and local Governments to make their programs and services
accessible to people with disabilities. This means that if a citizen who is
deaf, for example, wants to attend their city's City Council meeting, the
city needs to provide an interpreter if the individual requests it. Thanks
to ADA, we who have disabilities can enjoy the same rights to participate in
Government programs just as non-disabled folks do.

ADA also requires that there be comparable transportation for people with
disabilities. Not only does it mean that transit systems need to make their
services accessible by doing such things as installing wheelchair lifts and
calling out stops for those like me who are visually impaired, but it also
means that paratransit service needs to be provided for those people with
disabilities who cannot for whatever reason use the regular fixed route
system.

ADA requires places of public accommodation to make their services
accessible to people with disabilities. Just last night, we went to a
restaurant which is one type of entity required to do this. This
restaurant, the Outback Steakhouse, had a Braille menu which is how they
chose to make the menu accessible to people with visual impairments. It was
nice to be able to browse the menu and take the time to make a decision
about what I wanted to eat just as people who can see do.

Finally, ADA requires the provision of such things as relay services so that
people who are deaf can access telecommunications services. Without this, a
person who is deaf wouldn't be able to enjoy what many of us like to do
occasionally, order a pizza. Worse yet, they would not have access to 9-1-1
emergency services which could be a matter of life and death.

Is all perfect now that we have ADA? Certainly not. Congress has had to
amend the ADA to account for several unfavorable court decisions. But, I
don't think anyone with a disability can say that things aren't better than
they were before ADA. All of us who live with disabilities need to remain
vigilant and make sure that our rights are protected under the ADA.

Again, happy 19th Birthday, ADA. Let's all pledge to work to continue to
make things better for people with disabilities.

What Do I want to see in Health Care Reform

Recently I told you what is wrong with the Democrats' health care
plan. I believe health care reform is needed, so let me tell you
what I'd do about health care if I were in charge. Aren't I
supposed to be one of those in charge? Don't we have Government
of the People, by the People, for the People in this country? I'm
not sure any more.

My health care reform plan would include:
1. No free health care for Illegal ailians. You broke the law
by coming here illegally. You have not earned the right to free
health insurance. Every insurance plan would be required to
request proof of US citizenship before coverage could be offered.
This would get some 12 million people off the health care roles
and maybe send some of these illegals back where they came from.
2. Set standards for accessible prescription information for all
citizens. No person should have to put their lives at risk
simply because they can't read the instructions for administering
their prescription medications. The Department of Health the
Human Services would be charged with coming up with standards to
make this happen under my plan.
3. Put vision related services and equipment on a par with those
for other disabilities by allowing them to be reimbursed by
Medicare. A person who loses some or all of their vision needs
the services of vision professionals, Orientation and Mobility
Specialists and adaptive equipment just as much as someone who
ends up using a wheelchair needs that to improve their quality of
life. Yet, to this day, our nation's health care system hasn't
recognized that. That needs to change. I would reimburse vision
related services and equipment at the same levels as other
services.
4. Allow Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for lower
prescription drug prices under Medicare Part D. It was a huge
mistake in 2003 that this provision didn't get included when Part
D was passed. We need to correct that.
5. End the 2-year waiting period for people with disabilities to
enroll in Medicare when they start receiving Social Security.
There is simply no reason why someone who begins receiving Social
Security Disability Insurance should have to wait two years to
enroll in Medicare. There are bills in both the House and
Senate, HR1708 and S700 respectively which would end this waiting
period. Either these need to be passed and signed into law, or,
we need to incorporate ending the waiting period into health care
reform.
6. I'd allow small businesses to pool their resources and take
advantage of group discounts so they can offer their employees
health coverage. Small business is the life blood of America.
Those employed in small businesses should be able to count on
health coverage from their employers as do employees in large
businesses.
7. Simplification of paperwork. You shouldn't have to be a
rocket scientist to understand what your health insurance will or
will not cover, how much you owe, etc. Also, all insurance
companies should be required to offer accessible, on-line access
to explanations of benefits and other vital information. This
would allow anyone, regardless of ability to read about their
insurance and what is and is not being covered.
8. a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damages in malpractice
cases. Clearly, there is negligence in the medical profession.
Preventable mistakes are made for which their should be
consequences. Anyone should be made whole in terms of medical or
economic damages. Pain and suffering damages are hard to
quantify, allowing juries and greedy trial lawyers to inflate
these claims. By limiting these damages to $250,000, we can
focus on making someone or their family whole. We can also
reduce the costs for malpractice coverage for doctors and insure
that people, regardless of where they live, will have access to
all medical services, including high risk operations.

These are the things I want to see in health care reform. Anyone
want to bet how likely it will be that we'll see some or any of
these? I think highly unlikely because it doesn't fit the liberal
template.

More Irresponsibility from Illinois Government

Once again, lawmakers and the Governor of Illinois have shown no
guts and shown they are afraid to make the tough decisions we
elected them to make. They have passed a state budget which
relies heavily on borrowing from pension funds so they don't have
to bite the bullet and raise taxes.

Isn't this rampant borrowing one of the many things that former
Governor Rod Blagojevich was kicked out of office for? What a
disservice this is to people who worked hard all their lives for
the state, and are counting on a pension for their retirement
years. How many of these people will either not be able to
retire, or, will have to take another job when they should be
able to enjoy life because of this irresponsibility?

Where are the unions on all of this? Aren't we always told that
unions are representing the workers? They sure aren't doing a
good job of it here. If I were a union leader, I'd be organizing
pickets at the Governor's office, suing the state, and doing
whatever else I had to do to protect the pensions of the hard
working state employees from Illinois. This just goes to show
once again that certain union leadership will throw their workers
and retirees under the bus for the sake of political gain. Nice
representation isn't it?

The worse thing, though, is that pension obligations aren't going
away. Our children will have to pay for the actions of today's
politicians. I have nieces and nephews who are either just
starting out in their working lives, or, going to school to learn
a trade which they will work in for a long time. Interesting how
Democrats always chastise Republicans for saddling our children
and grandchildren with debt, but yet' it's ok for them to do it
so long as they don't have to make tough, perhaps unpopular
decisions?

I've got a message for Illinois lawmakers. Stop stealing from
state workers and retirees. You were sent to Springfield to
lead, look at what needs to be done and do it regardless of how
popular what you have to do might be. Get serious and pass a
state budget next year which doesn't steal from state workers and
retirees and doesn't saddle future generations with debt that
will have to be paid. If you don't want to do that, find
something else to do with your lives!

Liberals, Take Your Health Care Plan and Shove It Where The Sun Don't Shine!

The piece of crap health care plan House liberals are promoting
is bad for America, will cost us jobs and lead to socialized
medicine. That's my conclusion and I'm stickin to it, based on
what I have heard about it.

First off, the plan punishes successful people. It proposes to
tax people earning over $350,000 to pay for the people who don't
have health insurance. So you run a business which does very
well, build up your earning power to the point where you can
provide a very comfortable standard of living for your family,
and then along come President Obama and like minded liberals
reaching into your pocket and taking more of your money. Why
should anyone want to work to become successful if they are just
going to be expected to feed more of the Government bureaucracy?
Government bureaucrats have never heard of cutting spending.

The health care plan requires Americans to have health insurance.
If someone truly can't get insurance, that could be a problem,
but I would ask, how hard have they tried? And, what about those
who simply don't make an effort to get insured? Why should we
require, and pay for them, to get it? What a bunch of bull shit.

The plan calls for a Government insurance program to compete with
private plans. Besides the fact the Government bureaucrats will
probably screw it up and make it too expensive, employers will
say, hey, why should I offer health insurance, let the Government
take care of my workers. This will lead to very high taxes and
put AMERICA at a competitive disadvantage in a global economy.

Just as bad as what's in this plan is what's not in this plan or
what doesn't appear to be in it from the news reports I've heard.
For one thing, there appears to be no malpractice liability
reform. This means greedy trial lawyers and juries can continue
to hand out huge pain and suffering awards in malpractice cases.
Clearly, if someone is a victim of medical malpractice, they or
their families should be compensated for economic damages. But
there need to be limits on pain and suffering because the value
of this is hard to quantify. Plus, doctors cannot continue to
pay high malpractice premiums and will stop practicing. In some
parts of Illinois, it's already hard to find doctors practicing
in high risk specialties. Are we prepared to have people die
waiting for specialized care simply because there is not a doctor
close by offering it so we can feed the trial lawyers' insatiable
appetite for money?

This plan doesn't say anything about telling illegal ailians,
tough shit, you get no more free health care. That would piss
off a lot of people whom the Democratic party pretends to care
about. If we eliminated health care for illegals, we would take
12 million people off the roles saving a heck of a lot of
taxpayer money.

I bet this plan doesn't contain any language about making
prescription information accessible to people who are blind, or
treating vision related services and equipment the same under
medicare as are other professional services and equipment like
physical therapists or wheelchairs. For someone who has recently
lost vision, receiving services from a certified vision
professional, Orientation and Mobility Specialist or Adaptive
Tech specialist is just as important as the person receiving
physical therapy for a knee replacement. Yet, Medicare doesn't
pay for the vision professional. Same goes for the vision
related equipment like video magnifiers someone may need to
remain independent. Those things aren't covered, yet if someone
needs a wheelchair, it is.

There is a lot wrong and very little right (the health care plan
being put forward by House liberal democrats. It continues to
show they see business and successful people as a money trough
they can reach into and dip more out. It punishes people who are
successful to cover up for the irresponsibility of others. It
gets the Government into the health care business, something
which should scare all of us. It doesn't address real
despairities in what is covered for of with vision disabilities
vs. what is covered for others. Everyone reading this must
contact their member of Congress and ask that he or she vote no
on this terrible plan. The sooner we can kill it, the better off
America will be.

Another Great ACB Convention is History

Again this year, we had another great American Council of the
Blind convention. The convention committee and everyone else
involved did their usual very good job.

What are some convention highlights? Well for me, I was proud
that we had four first time attendees from Illinois. All had a
very good experience as far as I can tell. Two of these people
were scholarship winners. Two of the four were not members
before convention, they are no!

The first ever ACB walk was a rousing success. I think it was
projected to raise somewhere around $10,000, it raised nearly
$23,000. I have learned never to doubt what a project can
achieve.

Hearing about people who are blind in South Africa. I always
look forward to hearing what our international guest speaker has
to tell us. It gives one a good perspective on how people who
are blind are treated in the rest of the world, and for me,
reminds me how good we have things here in the United States.
While we're not perfect by any stretch, we're a lot better off
than some parts of the world.

The presentation by Kareem Dale at The Thursday general session.
It's no secret I didn't vote for President Obama, and I
passionately dislike many of his programs and initiatives. I
have to say, though, it gives me hope having someone who is blind
raising the profile of people with disabilities in the White
House. I was really impressed with what seem; like Mr. Dale's
entrees to high ranking administration officials, and his
proactive work on such matters as the Reading Rights Coalition.

The panel on what needs to be done to keep residential schools
for the blind viable going forward. While I think we all agree
that these schools are an essential part of the continuum of
placement options as required under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, these schools must adapt to changing
times as has happened in places like Texas.

The honor bestowed upon me to accept the Robert S. Bray award
posthumously on behalf of the recipient's family. This was both
sad and exhilarating at the same time if that makes sense.

The presentation of ACB scholarships. What bright people we were
able to honor and help in their educational pursuits. The future
of the world and of ACB is bright.

The demonstration of the new, accessible iPhone. Apple
corporation was roundly criticized by ACB a couple years ago,
deservedly so. Yet, they have come forward and its nice to know
that we have one option for a phone which we can take right out
of the box and use. The interface has to be the more ingenious
way to make a touch screen accessible I've ever seen.

At the convention, we learned about important legislation like
HR734, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, and HR3101,
the 21st Century Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act.
We've talked about schools for the blind, many of which are in
trouble. It's time for all of us to return home with a renewed
sense of purpose, roll up our sleeves and work for ACB, our state
and special interest affiliates, and our local chapters. By
doing that, we will be improving the quality of life for all
people who are blind, across the United States and around the
world.

It's Sad When You Can't Award something Deserving to someone While They are Alive

Tonight, I was honored to accept an award from the American
Council of the Blind on behalf of someone from my home state of
Illinois who did a lot for access ! books and the written word
for people who are blind. While I was honored to do this, I was
saddened that this person could not have been honored while he
was still alive and that instead, this well-deserved honor is
being presented posthumously.

While I am saddened that this person could not have been honored
while alive, I am comforted by the realization that this person's
family realizes what a special award this is and is prepared to
accept it in his memory. I guess it's like a lot of things.
While you can never bring back someone or some thing, know one
can take away the memories or in this case, the good work this
person did.

The Future

Today, July 7, I got to take a look at part of the future for our
great nation, and it's in our young people. That was evident to
me today as I helped to honor the scholarship winners of the
American Council of the Blind.

Some 20 to 25 people were honored today. These are people that
are working on achieving great academic success in school. They
are people who are blind or visually impaired who are accepting
the challenge laid out to be the best they can be.

As I sat there today at the ACB convention and heard these fine
people accept their awards, I thought as I always do that the
future is a bright one. All of us who have been around for a
while need to help our young people. This can be done through
scholarship programs like we saw today, mentoring of these fine
people, and recruiting them into our state affiliates. We need
the strength and mostly, the enthusiasm of these people. They
will set the direction for our country and for our world. I am
so happy to be in ACB, an organization which takes the time
during its most important event of the year, the ACB convention
to recognize these people. Good luck to all of today's ACB
scholarship winners and may you do great things.

What Has ACB Done in the Last Year, Let Me Tell the Things

>every you an American Council of the Blind (ACB) member, hear
that tired old refrain, "ACB doesn't do anything," and mumble to
yourself I'm so sick of that? Well, the next time you hear that,
tell whomever says it to feast their eyes on this.

In the last year, ACB achieved settlements with several major
retail chains including Dollar General, Staples, Target and
others so that when you as a person who is blind walks in, makes
a purchase, and chooses to pay using a debit card, you will have
a tactile keypad on which to independently enter your own PIN.
This means you don't have to tell strangers your PIN number, just
like sighted people do not have to do.

Thanks to work right from the great state of Illinois, yet
another banking chain, TCF (www.tcf.com) will be installing
talking ATMS, providing statements and other information was
accessible formats, and making their website accessible. This,
again, thanks in part to ACB.

As you travel, do you find yourself saying, gosh, I wish someone
would do something about all of the Hybrid cars I encounter out
there? ACB is granting that wish. Thanks to our fierce advocacy,
along with that of other organizations, legislation has been
introduced in Congress, HR734, "The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement
Act of 2009." Because this legislation is out there and has 124
co-sponsors signed on, the National Highway Transportation Safety
Administration is already conducting research designed to improve
the safety of these vehicles for pedestrians who are blind.

Want to learn more? Then tune into the broadcast of the ACB
National Convention all this week on ACB Radio, www.acbradio.org.
Simply click or press enter on the Mainstream link, then select
the link for your favorite media player and you are on your way.
So what will you do when you next hear, "ACB isn't doing
anything?" Point people to this blog, to the ACB Radio link above
and then tell them to come back and say it again!

Walking in the Florida Humidity for ACB

They say if you want something bad enough, you need to sacrifice
a little to get it. Today was a prime example of that.

I got up very early this morning, around 5:15 a.m. Now normally,
I'd say there ought to be a law against being up that early on a
Saturday morning, but today, I was actually excited to do it. We
got ready and left our hotel room here at the American Council of
the Blind's annual convention, www.acb.org and boarded a bus with
about 40 other people for a short trip to Winter Park, Florida.

After getting to the place where we were dropped off, I was
introduced to a nice gentleman named Doug who would be my guide
for what we were about to do. We were about to walk the first
ever Watermelon 5K walk to benefit ACB.

This is where the second part of the sacrifice comes in. It was
a very humid morning in Florida, as I understand many summer
mornings to be. We started walking with about 4,000 other
people. We walked through the neighborhoods of Winter Park,
being entertained by a couple of bands along the way. By the end
of the first mile, I was soaking wet. But, I wanted to finish
and knew I could, so I pressed on.

Doug was a great guide, mainly because he's like me, an avid
football junky. This gave us something to talk about. As we
were nearing the end of the course, people kept saying, you're
almost there to encourage us to continue. By this time, I didn't
need that encouragement because I was going to finish. As we
approached the finish line, I was high stepping for ACB.

Why would I put myself through such an early rise and battling
the humidity? Because I want ACB to be the best it can be. In
part to make that happen, ACB needs money. We raised a
significant bit of that this morning. Remember what I said about
sacrificing for what you want? I sacrificed for ACB and I would
encourage you all to do the same, for ACB or any other
organization you care about.