[tabi] Fw: Social Security Told To Modernize For The Blind

From: "Yvonne Britton" <ladyvwithlove@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 09:19:19 -0500
GOD LOVES YOU AND SO DO I!!!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: egallman 
To: Yvonne Britton ; Kina Houser 
Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 8:38 PM
Subject: : Social Security Told To Modernize For The Blind




Social Security Told To Modernize For The Blind

 







Social Security Told To Modernize For The Blind
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
(10-20) 17:17 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The Social Security Administration must give 
the nation's 3 million blind or visually impaired recipients the option of 
receiving benefit notices in braille or by audio computer disc, a federal judge 
in San Francisco said Tuesday.

Ruling in a nationwide class-action suit, U.S. District Judge William Alsup 
said that by sending notices only by mail and phone calls, the agency is 
violating a law that guarantees the disabled equal access to its programs. He 
ordered the government to make the additional choices available by April 15.

The case involves some of the 100 million notices the Social Security 
Administration sends each year to its 61 million beneficiaries, advising them 
of scheduled appointments, program changes, tax filings and possible benefit 
cuts. About 250,000 Americans receive benefits because of blindness, and 
another 2.7 million blind or sight-impaired people get Social Security for 
other reasons.

Under rules authorized by Congress in 1988 and 1990, they can choose to be 
notified of agency actions by mail, with a follow-up phone call, or by 
certified mail with a return receipt. Those who make no choice are contacted by 
mail without a phone call.

Alsup said the current system may have been effective 20 years ago, but no 
longer provides the "meaningful access" the law requires, in light of advanced 
technology.

Little evidence was presented that blind people had lost benefits because of 
inadequate notice, Alsup said, but the current system is ineffective for at 
least some recipients.

For example, he said, a blind person who needs to respond to a written notice 
must wait until someone is available to read it aloud, and may have problems 
meeting government deadlines. Alsup said the Social Security Administration 
refused to acknowledge that it was even covered by the anti-discrimination law 
until after the suit was filed in 2005, and "has been quick to find lame 
excuses for noncompliance."

The agency must inform all blind and visually impaired recipients by Dec. 31 
that they will have the choice of getting notices in braille or by Microsoft 
Word CD in mid-April, Alsup said. He said those who want another option, such 
as notification by e-mail, must be allowed to request it and show why they need 
it.

"This is a huge benefit," said attorney Silvia Yee of the Disability Rights 
Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. She said 
the ruling will allow many recipients "to have an independence in working with 
the (Social Security Administration) that they've never had before." Many 
sight-impaired recipients, particularly the young and those who become blind 
later in life, can't read braille, Yee said, "but for people who do read 
braille, it's their first choice." She said the CD option would particularly 
help younger recipients.

Lowell Kepke, spokesman for the Social Security Administration's regional 
office in Richmond, said the agency "will review the order and take whatever 
actions are appropriate."
E-mail Bob Egelko at
begelko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Return To The Miscellaneous Blindness Related Files Page 


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[tabi] Fw: Social Security Told To Modernize For The Blind

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