Well maybe things will change when the suit is filed. Maybe we won't hear why
don't you have a sighted person they can read your cards anymore? I sure hope
so. Hopefully things will change. I had that experience once and I don't want
to have it again. Anyway Tuesday I'm going to go up to church and get a whole
bunch of stuff read. This lady that reads for me is going to do it. I just
don't know what time yet but we'll figure that one out. But that's how that
goes. And Sunday I'm definitely not going to church because it'll be too cold.
Like to do. Like only 2°. And there's no way I'm going out because the
windchill factor is going to be below zero. Well I finally found out some
information I didn't know what it was. They said they wanted to test my blood
for the see you CF. I didn't know what CF was. I asked a friend of mine and I
found out it's the clotting factor. And I keep kept asking this lady is a
doctors office what it was. This is why I wanted to have access to a medical
dictionary. Because the lady didn't answer the question. Maybe she didn't know.
But it would've been nice if you would've told me but oh well. Anyway I wasn't
really hungry earlier today so I had a canopies for dinner and I can or fruit
cocktail and three cookies. I didn't feel like going downstairs. Now I'm full
and I don't want anymore. But anyway only the cookies were a bit frightening.
But that's all I wanted. Because my neighbor down the hall for me gave me two
salmon meals and I had them around noon. So I really wasn't hungry for the 3
o'clock meal. But that's OK. But anyway tomorrow morning I have therapy with me
Megan. So we'll get to talk tomorrow. Tuesday as I said I want to go to church
and get my mail right and I will. So basically that's the way that goes. Monday
I won't get it read because it's a holiday. But that's just how that is.
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 11, 2016, at 6:29 PM, Linda Gehres <ljgehres@xxxxxxx> wrote:You are subscribed to Ourplace (
Subject: National Federation of the Blind and Disability Advocates Charge
Federal Health Agency with Civil Rights Violations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contacts:
Chris Danielsen
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
cdanielsen@xxxxxxx<mailto:cdanielsen@xxxxxxx>
Silvia Yee
Senior Staff Attorney
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
(510) 644-2555
syee@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:syee@xxxxxxxxx>
National Federation of the Blind and Disability Advocates Charge Federal
Health
Agency with Civil Rights Violations
After forty years of the federal Rehabilitation Act and a new world of
technology, blind people still forced to rely on others to read inaccessible
materials
Springfield, Massachusetts (February 10, 2016): The National Federation of the
Blind (NFB) and individual plaintiffs Juan Figueroa, Derek Manners, and Martti
Mallinen announced the filing of a major federal lawsuit today in US District
Court, District of Massachusetts, Western Division. The lawsuit charges the US
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through its sub-agency, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and its CMS sub-contractors,
with systemically violating the civil rights of blind Medicare recipients.
The action seeks to require HHS to provide blind individuals meaningful and
equally effective access to their Medicare information, as required by Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (Section 504). CMS, a
sub-agency of HHS, is the largest single payer for health care in the United
States, providing health care coverage to nearly ninety million Americans
through Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
CMS regularly communicates information to blind persons via inaccessible print
and electronic formats which they cannot read. Mr. Figueroa, Mr.
Manners, Mr. Mallinen, and many other NFB members have thus faced or been at
risk for loss of benefits and healthcare disruption. For example, Mr.
Mallinen has received information about denial of benefits and his right to
appeal said denial that he could not read, potentially adversely affecting his
appeal rights.
Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
"We are outraged that blind people do not have access to their personal
Medicare
and Medicaid information forty years after the passage of the Rehabilitation
act
and almost a year after CMS promised to implement a plan for equal access.
Today
blind people readily access information in more ways than ever before but even
large print access, the simplest possible solution for those with sufficient
residual vision, is not made available. This continued disregard for the
privacy
and civil rights of the blind is inexcusable, and blind Americans will not
tolerate it."
At a time when smart technology is presumed to be improving the lives of
people
with a variety of disabilities, blind Americans who rely on healthcare
services
provided through Medicare and Medicare contractors are forced to divulge
personal and financial data to a sighted third-party when responding to CMS.
Electronic and online materials may not be any more accessible than printed
ones. As a result, blind Medicare beneficiaries are often unnecessarily
prevented from independently reading, filling out, signing and submitting
online
forms.
Appropriate auxiliary aids and services for blind individuals may include
providing documents in alternative formats such as Braille, large print, audio
CD, and digital navigable formats supported by computers and digital
talking-book players, transmitted through data CD, e-mail, or other requested
media.
The filing follows an investigation launched by Disability Rights Education &
Defense Fund (DREDF) to establish that there were widespread incidences of
communication access barriers in CMS systems. In August 2014, in response to
complaints filed with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in 2011 and 2012
under Section 504, CMS entered into an agreement with OCR. The complaints were
filed on behalf of blind Medicare beneficiaries, and those similarly situated,
who were not provided with notice of their rights or with effective
communication under Section 504. The agreement signed by CMS and OCR,
entitled
the “Commitment to Action to Resolve DREDF Section 504 Complaints” (Commitment
to Action), established a timeframe within which CMS would take specified
actions to ensure the agency’s compliance with Section
504 in the areas raised in OCR’s investigation of the complaints, found at
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/activities/agreements/cms.html.
DREDF Senior Attorney, Silvia Yee, said, “CMS was required to complete a
‘Long-Term Action Plan’ by April 2015 that would ensure effective
cross-disability communication access, as well as the timely provision of
auxiliary aids and services to CMS beneficiaries and consumers. To date, we
have
not seen a Plan. People with disabilities have not been notified of any such
plan. As a public entity that deals every day with people with disabilities
and
older Americans, CMS should lead the way to ensure compliance with disability
civil rights laws, not lag behind by four decades."
Plaintiffs are represented by DREDF; Brown, Goldstein & Levy; and Sugarman,
Rogers, Barshak & Cohen (SRBC).
###
The National Federation of the Blind
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between
blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not
what holds you back. https://nfb.org
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund Founded in 1979 by people with
disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, the Disability Rights
Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) is a national law and policy center based in
Berkeley, CA and is dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of
people with disabilities.
www.dredf.org<http://www.dredf.org>.
You are subscribed to Ourplace (
ourplace@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
). To unsubscribe, send blank email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line;
do not include quotation marks:
ourplace-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
. To contact the owner or moderator, send email to
ourplace-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
. Please do not put your complaints on the list. Thanks for your cooperation!