From San Francisco Chronicle, Bay City News wire/CBS5 San Francisco:

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Social Security Administration’s benefit notice methods violate federal law because they do not provide equal access for approximately 3 million recipients who are blind or have limited vision.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the agency to give people the option of receiving notices in Braille or audio computer discs. Presently, notices are sent by mail with the option of a follow-up phone call.

… 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.”

… “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.”

From the New York Times:

Automakers are working to add sound to electric cars, hoping to avoid a federally imposed safety standard that would protect pedestrians from the ultra-quiet vehicles.

The notion that the silent vehicles could pose a hazard has gained backing in Congress, among regulators and on the internet. The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 was introduced this year, following complaints by advocates who said silent gas-electric hybrid vehicles could endanger people who are not able to see them.

Said Karen Aldana, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: “We’re looking at data on noise and E.V. safety, but manufacturers are starting to address it voluntarily.”

Among possible solution: Special effects noises pumped out of speakers in car bumpers, and driver-selected car ring tones.

From the [UK] Guardian, [UK] Telegraph, Daily Mail:

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today dismissed concerns about his eyesight, insisting that it was not getting worse and that he was not stepping down from his position. The comments by Brown, who is blind in his left eye, came amid controversy over his disclosure this weekend that he has two minor tears in the retina of his right eye.

Cabinet colleagues rallied to his support, dismissing the medical disclosure as unimportant. Yvette Cooper, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said she had “never noticed any manifestation” of Brown’s eyesight problems. “The idea that we should be a country that writes people off from employment or senior positions just because of difficulties with their eyesight, I just think that is not the kind of country we want to be,” she said.

While there is no suggestion that Brown’s eyesight has hurt his ability to do his job, insiders are quoted as saying the eye problems may be affecting his psychological outlook.

See also:

• How Gordon Brown’s loss of an eye informs his view of the world — [UK] Guardian
• Op-ed: You don’t need sight to have vision, by Sandi Wassmer in the [UK] Guardian. An excerpt:

I now know plenty of blind and partially sighted people just like me, working hard and going about their busy lives, with canes, guide dogs, support workers and assistive technologies in tow. I realize that none of these aids will bring back my eyesight, but they do provide me with an alternative route to wherever it is that I want to go and enable me to work and live alongside everyone else and enjoy the same freedoms and equal opportunities. After all, isn’t this a basic human right?

Whatever the outcome of this next election, I can only hope that votes are not cast based on archaic views about disability. I know that my eyesight may be deteriorating but my “vision” remains perfectly intact.

(Photo from [UK] Daily Mail)

From  CNN, USA Today On Politics blog:

A bronze statue of Helen Keller was unveiled today in the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers praised her as an inspiration and a reminder of the value of people with disabilities.

The statue depicts Keller, who lost her sight and hearing to illness as an infant, standing at a water pump as a 7-year-old. It is meant to signify the moment when Keller deciphered meaning in language, when teacher Anne Sullivan spelled “W-A-T-E-R” into one of the child’s hands as she held the other under the pump.

Keller went on to earn a degree from Radcliffe College and the women’s branch of Harvard University, and became a celebrated author and champion of causes including women’s suffrage.

The statue, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will “always remind us that people must be respected for what they can do rather than judged for what they cannot.”

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said the statue carries the message that “all of us, regardless of any disability, have a mind that can be educated, a hand that can be trained, a life that will have meaning.”

(Photo from USA Today)

From the Washington Post (with video) and ABC News:

Technology developed by engineers at Virginia Tech put 20 blind drivers behind the wheel at the summer science academy organized by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB).

Virginia Tech developed the technology in response to a 2004 challenge from NFB for a vehicle to give more independence to people who are blind.

Pioneering driver Wesley Majerus from the National Federation of the Blind said, “At first, I was kind of nervous … But once I got the hang of how it all worked, it was liberating.”

The all-terrain vehicle is equipped with laser sensors, voice-command software, and multi-sensory signals, but engineers say the technology is still crude and needs further development.

[Dennis Hong, an associate professor at Virginia Tech who directs the robotics lab] predicts a safe, stable technology for blind motorists will arrive “within the next three years. The problem is not the technology. The problem is public perception and legal issues.”

See also:

‘Blind Man Driving!’ (photos) – Washington Post

(Washington Post photo)

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Incomplete student evaluations, untrained teachers and poor Braille translations of textbooks and test booklets are among failings cited in a state probe of Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind.

But these problems don’t constitute a violation of state and federal laws guaranteeing visually impaired children a “free, appropriate education,” say the report’s authors.

Advocates who called for the investigation are appealing the decision. Ron Gardner, president of the Utah chapter of the National Federation for the Blind, said the report amounted to “people within the state office asking themselves if they’ve done a good job.”

From the Baltimore Sun and WJZ Baltimore:

The National Federation of the Blind has filed a formal complaint with the Maryland Department of Education, charging that Baltimore public schools are allowing blind students to graduate as functional illiterates.

The complaint alleges that the school system has failed to teach Braille, provide effective evaluations, and train students to use technology or mobility services to help them become more independent.

A school district spokeswoman said the district has received the complaint and it is being reviewed by counsel.