Blind and Visually Impaired Community
↑
18
↓
Super Time Sensitive! Make Access Technology More Affordable Before Next Monday! (self.Blind)
submitted by The_Blind_Initiative
Hi, everyone. Please act and share this message far and wide. Even if you’re not in the U.S., please still share. Thank you so much! Thank you so much! The National Federation of the Blind has a time-sensitive initiative to get as many cosponsors as possible before next Monday when our representatives return to Washington. Whether you’re blind or sighted, you can help make technology affordable for blind people to succeed in work and school!
Now more than ever, blind people rely on our own technology. Because of social distancing, we can’t go to the access technology in our schools and workplaces to turn print into Braille. Because we’re home, we must rely on the technology we already have. Unfortunately many blind people can’t afford the technology they need to perform schoolwork and jobs.
Fortunately, we have legislation, but we need your help to get cosponsors!
Access Technology Affordability Act
House - H.R. 2086 - Sponsored by Mike Thompson (D-CA-5) Senate - S.
815 - Sponsored by John Boozman (R-AR)
This legislation removes an employment barrier commonly experienced by
blind Americans who cannot afford the high cost of access technology
by creating a refundable tax credit in the amount of $2,000 to offset
the cost of these technologies.
S. 815 Cosponsors:
$1
H. R. 2086 Cosponsors:
$1
Please call and/or e-mail your 1 representative from the House, which at this time is very important. Please also call and/or e-mail your 2 senators. You can contact your member of Congress by calling the Capitol
Switchboard and asking for the office in question. The number is
202-224-3121. Check the cosponsor links above. If your representative is on the list, please thank them. If they’re not, please ask them to cosponsor the bill.
In your phone call and/or e-mail, you might say something like this:
"Hello, my name is \[your name\] and I am a constituent of \[your
senator/representative\]. I live in \[city, state\]. I am calling to urge \[your senator/representative\] to cosponsor \[S. 815 for Senate calls/H.R. 2086 for House calls\], the Access
Technology Affordability Act. This legislation removes an employment
barrier commonly experienced by blind Americans who cannot afford the
high cost of access technology by creating a refundable tax credit in
the amount of $2,000 to offset the cost of these technologies. I urge
\[your senator/representative\] to cosponsor the bill.”
This is very important, and every little bit of work you do puts us closer to making technology affordable so blind people can succeed at school and work.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and share!
Ant5477 1 points 3y ago
My advice is always just go for it anything in life you want to try, go for it
bradley22 1 points 3y ago
I’m confused, you can buy a laptop and use NVDA or JAWS for quite cheep.
Why should americans sign this?
Why should americans sign this?
Superfreq2 2 points 3y ago
Because of things like embossers, braille writers, braille displays, CCTV's, magnifiers ETC.
These are things that people come to rely on at their workplace or school but can't afford to have at home. Now they don't have access but many are still expected to do things remotely.
Smaller devices can probably be sent to the worker's home, but that isn't the case for everything as some devices are shared between several people.
Between device loanouts, state funding resources (many of which are still running) and third party services that can bridge the gap to a degree, I admit that the usage case seems slim and it looks as though the NFB is attempting to take advantage of the situation somewhat. However it can't be denied that all these solutions take time that an employee or student may not have, and that state funding is extra slow right now and will probably be reduced in the coming years do to the contracting economy as well.
These are things that people come to rely on at their workplace or school but can't afford to have at home. Now they don't have access but many are still expected to do things remotely.
Smaller devices can probably be sent to the worker's home, but that isn't the case for everything as some devices are shared between several people.
Between device loanouts, state funding resources (many of which are still running) and third party services that can bridge the gap to a degree, I admit that the usage case seems slim and it looks as though the NFB is attempting to take advantage of the situation somewhat. However it can't be denied that all these solutions take time that an employee or student may not have, and that state funding is extra slow right now and will probably be reduced in the coming years do to the contracting economy as well.
bradley22 1 points 3y ago
Ah ok.
I don’t live in the US and don’t have social media apart from reddit but I hope people get the grants they need.
I don’t live in the US and don’t have social media apart from reddit but I hope people get the grants they need.
The_Blind_Initiative [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Because 75% of blind people are unemployed and can't afford technology. They need the technology to do their job. It's a vicious circle. Mainstream tehnology does not cost as much. BrailleNote costs $6000.
bradley22 2 points 3y ago
Yeah, it’s terrible that people have to pay that much.
Superfreq2 1 points 3y ago
I'll be contacting them tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up!
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.