2010 Advocacy Resolutions for this Advocate Who Is Blind

As we approach 2010, many of us are making New Year's Resolutions. Oh I
know, there are the usual ones like losing weight, quitting smoking,
resolving to spend more time with family, ETC., and I may or may not make
some of those.

Right now, here are my New Year's Resolutions as an advocate who is blind.

Resolution 1: resolve to fight wit every ounce of my being to see H.R.3101
increase in co-sponsors, get passed by Congress and signed into law by
President Obama. This simply has to happen so that as technology advances,
people who are blind and people who are deaf-blind aren't left behind.

Resolution 2: resolve to work to see that H.R.734 and S.841 are passed and
signed into law. This will force action to be taken to resolve the very
real safety concerns posed by quiet cars for pedestrians who are blind.
More and qieter cars are coming on the market. The time for action to help
make them safer is now!

Resolution 3; resolve to work tirelessly so that no state which has a
residential school for the blind has to live in fear that legislators, more
concerned about cutting budgets than the education of all children will
pounce on that school and either target it for closure or suggest that it be
merged with other institutions within the state. Like all children,
children who are blind have varying educational needs. While many can
thrive in mainstream environments, there are those who need the education
that can be offered at a residential school for at least part of their
educational career and that option needs to be available.

Resolution 4: resolve in my home state of Illinois to get the process
moving so that new people with new ideas have a fighting chance to get
appointed to our Bureau of Blind Services' Blind Services Planning Council.
It's kind of like bread. If you keep the same people on the council for
years and years, their ideas get stale. We all need to think out of the box
and that goes for blindness services too. Bringing in new people and ideas
wil help us do that.

Resolution 5: resolve to participate in whatever ways I can to see that the
Department of the Treasury continues moving ahead at a rapid pace to make
United States paper currency independently identifiable by people who are
blind. The courts have spoken, it's time for Treasury to move ahead.

Resolution 6: resolve to work in whatever ways I can for increased access
to the growing libraries of electronic books off the shelf for people who
are blind. Mainstream devices like the Kindle promise an unprecedented
level of access to the written word for people who are blind. We must work
to see that forces which would delay or deny this access are stopped.

Resolution 7: resolve to work for increased access to prescription drug
information and medicare and insurance reimbursement for vision-related
services and equipment. We stand on the brink of passing sweeping changes
in our nation's ealth care system. Regardless how you personally feel about
that, we can't let this opportunity pass us by to make meaningful changes in
health care which benefit people who are blind.

Whew, it's going to be a busy year. I certainly can't and won't be doing
these things alone. I hope many of you will share the resolve out there and
help this advocate and others to keep at least a few of these resolutions.
As the theme of President Obama's election campaign went, "Yes we can."

Happy New Year,