[Colorado-talk] FW: NFB of Colorado Day at the Capitol

[Scott C. LaBarre]

Greetings folks, attached and below you will find this year's legislative
agenda.  We hope to see you Tuesday morning at the Capitol.

 

Thanks,

Scott

 

From: Lisa Bonderson [mailto:lbonderson at cocenter.org] 
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2015 2:14 PM
To: Lisa Bonderson (lkb at labarrelaw.com)
Subject: NFB of Colorado Day at the Capitol

 

Greetings;

 

Attached and following you will find the Legislative Memorandum for NFB of
Colorado Day at the Capitol 2015.

We will begin on Tuesday January 20, 2015 in the Old Supreme Court Chambers
at 8:30am.

 

Hope to see you there.

 

Lisa Bonderson

NFB of Colorado

 

 

 

MEMORANDUM

 

To:      The Members of the Colorado General Assembly

From:  The Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

Date:   January 20, 2015

Re:      Legislative Concerns of Blind Citizens 

 

GENERAL BACKGROUND

 

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest and largest
organization of the blind in the United States and in Colorado.  The primary
mission of the Federation is to allow the blind to live the lives they want
in all areas of life from insuring basic civil rights to securing employment
and education for the blind.  Founded officially in 1955, the NFB of
Colorado engages in a number of programs specifically designed to create
greater opportunities for the blind.  For example, the Federation is the
chief sponsor of the Colorado Center for the Blind.  The Colorado Center
provides training in the alternative skills blind people need to become
fully participating members of society.  Additionally, NFB offers national
and statewide scholarships.  We provide a free talking newspaper called
NFB-NEWSLINER which allows the blind of our state to read the daily
newspaper just as easily as their sighted peers.  We advocate for the rights
of the blind in all areas ranging from education to employment.  Where
positive changes are happening in the blindness field, there is a good
chance that the Federation is involved.

 

2015 LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

 

First, the NFB of Colorado thanks the Colorado General Assembly for past
support of and requests continued funding for NFB-NEWSLINER, one of the
NFB's critical programs serving the blind of our state and allowing them to
get access to nearly 400 publications at the same time as their sighted
colleagues.  Second, we believe that blind Coloradans are not adequately or
effectively served by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and thus the
Assembly should first form an interim study committee and then develop
needed reforms.  Third, we call upon the Assembly to adopt a Joint
Resolution urging Congress to eliminate the practice of paying subminimum
wages for workers with disabilities.  Fourth and finally, we bring to the
Assembly's attention two key programs we run, the Colorado Center for the
Blind and NFB scholarships, programs that may assist your constituents.

 

For further information contact:

Scott C. LaBarre, President

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

Phone: 303 504-5979

Fax: 303 757-3640

Email: slabarre at labarrelaw.com

 

CONTINUE FUNDING FOR NFB-NEWSLINER SERVICE 

 

For more than a decade, the Colorado General Assembly has funded Colorado's
NFB-NEWSLINER, providing blind Coloradans the same daily access to
newspapers and magazines as their sighted neighbors and family members
enjoy.  This year, we request that the General Assembly maintain its support
of $60,000.00 to this project.  Continuing funding to NFB-NEWSLINER will not
impact general funds because NFB-NEWSLINER is funded through the Disabled
Telephone Users Fund (DTUF), which comes from a very small fee on phone
lines in Colorado and which has always registered a surplus.  

 

Access to information from the newspapers and magazines of our nation and
state play a critical role for each of us as informed and participating
citizens.  Recognizing this, the National Federation of the Blind created
NFB-NEWSLINER for the blind in the mid-1990s.  With this revolutionary
system, the blind are able to pick up their touch tone phone, call a toll
free number, and select from nearly 400 different newspapers and magazines
including the Denver Post, Colorado Springs Gazette, Wall Street Journal and
many other national newspapers.  Today the phone-in option is still in
place, but additional options include online on-demand reading, e-mail
delivery and, most impressively, mobile phone and tablet apps that deliver
the two Colorado newspapers offered on the system, national papers as well
as nearly 40 magazines - everything from AARP publications to Time and
Wired.  There are even accessible and locally-relevant television listings -
something impossible to find in an accessible form for the blind otherwise.
Additionally, the system provides current weather conditions as well as
watches and warnings.  Currently, over 1300 blind Coloradans have access to
the 400 newspapers, magazines, and other publications on the system.  About
every three minutes, a blind Coloradan is tapping into the vast wealth of
information provided by NFB-NEWSLINER.

 

With the funding, the NFB of Colorado will maintain the system and expand
its reach.  We will create even greater opportunities to share NFB-NEWSLINER
on additional web based and other technological platforms; expand the number
of publications available; train more blind individuals to use the system;
and work with the Audio Information Network of Colorado (AIN) to provide
more information to the blind of Colorado. AIN is another service funded by
the DTUF providing other timely publications and information to our state's
blind and the NFB of Colorado supports continuing funding for AIN as well.

 

For further information contact:

Scott C. LaBarre, President

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

Phone: 303 504-5979

Fax: 303 757-3640

Email: slabarre at labarrelaw.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONVENE AN INTERIM STUDY ON EFFECTIVE VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES FOR
BLIND COLORADANS

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Colorado urges the Colorado General
Assembly to convene an Interim Study of the effectiveness of the Colorado
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation's (DVR's) delivery of its services to
blind Coloradans and to give strong consideration to the establishment of a
separate, dedicated unit within state government to provide the targeted
expertise necessary to enhance quality of life and improve employment
outcomes for Colorado's blind citizens.

 

Through the recent legislative audit conducted, members of the General
Assembly are all too aware of the trials that Coloradans with disabilities
have endured over the past two years as Colorado's DVR program, under the
Department of Human Services,  seemed to collapse upon itself, leaving no
doubt in anyone's mind that Colorado's federal-state program to assist
people with disabilities to gain skills, training and education that could
lead to integrated, competitive employment was possibly the worst in the
nation as evidenced by the fact that several thousand disabled Coloradans
were forced on a waiting list for months, even years for basic services.
Obscured by this catastrophe is a steady dilution of services for blind
Coloradans that predates DVR's current predicament.  Even as DVR has done
much heavy lifting in terms of responding to the Legislative Audit
Committee's findings and to whittle the waiting list down, the National
Federation of the Blind remains very concerned that Colorado DVR is not
uniformly and adequately addressing the rehabilitation needs of blind
applicants and clients.

 

People who are blind must have effective training in a discreet and
specialized skill set in order to be successfully employed and integrated
into the economic fabric of the state and nation, including training in
independent travel, use of assistive technology and a host of other
alternate strategies.  States which have separate identifiable services for
the blind have measurably better outcomes for their blind applicants.
However, Colorado's DVR is currently incapable of delivering these
specialized services effectively, thus the need to study the issue
intensively.

 

For further information contact:

Scott C. LaBarre, President

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

Phone: 303 504-5979

Email: slabarre at labarrelaw.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PASS A JOINT RESOLUTION CALLING ON CONGRESS TO END SUBMINIMUM WAGES FOR
WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Urges the Colorado General
Assembly to pass a joint Resolution Urging Congress to Support Legislation
to phase out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

 

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) established a federal minimum
wage to be paid to all American workers. However, only workers with
disabilities, as a class, are excluded from this federal wage protection.

 

Over the years, workers without disabilities have received periodic
increases to the federal minimum wage, which currently stands at $7.25 per
hour, while workers with disabilities have seen the statutory floor for
their subminimum wages fall and then disappear completely, with the result
that some are now paid pennies per hour. This means that many of Colorado
citizens with disabilities can legally be paid far less than the Colorado
minimum wage of $8.23 per hour.

 

The practice of paying workers with disabilities subminimum wages stems from
the public misconception that people with disabilities cannot be productive
employees. The National Federation of the Blind has been joined by more than
sixty (60) organizations of, or for, people with disabilities to condemn and
deplore the archaic, misguided, unjust, unfair, and immoral practice of
subjugating people with disabilities in non-integrated sheltered work
settings with no hope of reaching their full vocational potential.

 

There are currently twenty-nine (29) entities across the state of Colorado
which are certified by the United States Department of Labor to take
advantage of the 14(c) Minimum Wage Payment Exemption allowing them to pay
thousands of Colorado citizens, who happen to have disabilities, wages well
below the federal minimum wage.

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Colorado calls upon the Colorado
General Assembly to pass a joint resolution urging the United States
Congress to pass H.R. 188, the Transition to Integrated and Meaningful
Employment Act, which will responsibly phase out the use of special wage
certificates under Section 14(c) of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.  

 

For further information contact:

Scott C. LaBarre, President

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

Phone: 303 504-5979

Email: slabarre at labarrelaw.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUPPORT THE COLORADO CENTER FOR THE BLIND AND OTHER NFB PROGRAMS

 

In your packets, you will find brochures on the Colorado Center for the
Blind and fliers for National Federation of the Blind national and local
scholarships.  These and other programs are of great importance and
therefore deserve a specific mention.  

 

Founded in 1988 by the NFB of Colorado, the Colorado Center for the Blind
(CCB) offers world class rehabilitation and adjustment to blindness training
to blind/visually impaired individuals in our state and from all over the
world.  The CCB believes that with the right kind of training and a positive
attitude, blindness need not be a tragedy and should not artificially limit
a person's hopes and dreams.  The program serves all ages from kids as young
as elementary age to seniors.  CCB teaches cane travel/orientation and
mobility, Braille, technology, independent daily living, employment skills,
and much, much more.  The vast majority of the teaching staff is made up of
blind instructors who serve as excellent role models.  Please read the CCB
brochure in your packet for more information or go to www.cocenter.org.  Our
Center is located in Littleton and you are always welcome and encouraged to
visit.

  

SCHOLARSHIPS

 

The National Federation of the Blind, on a national basis, offers thirty
scholarships to talented blind men and women attending a post-secondary
institution.  Over a hundred thousand dollars are awarded each year and
provide real opportunity for deserving students.  On a state level, the NFB
of Colorado offers up to five scholarships to blind men and women attending
a post-secondary institution and scholarships range from $1,500.00 to
$5,000.00.  More information on how to apply is contained in your
legislative packet.  Please inform your local high schools, colleges and
universities as well as any blind/visually impaired post-secondary student
you know about these valuable scholarship opportunities.

 

For further information on any of these issues contact:

Scott C. LaBarre, President

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

Phone: 303 504-5979

Fax: 303 757-3640

Email: slabarre at labarrelaw.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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