David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews) (06/21/91)
Index Number: 16293
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
TC> It seems you're being inconsistent. You object to blind people
TC> getting reduced or free subway fares. Why don't you object to
TC> the "free mailing" privilege which blind people can use for
TC> normal mail as well as Braille or tapes? Neither do you object
TC> to the National Library service program which gives blind
TC> people free reading material and recrd or tape players. What
TC> about Supplemental security income? The Nfb has not fought
TC> against that? They have fought to keep it and increase it. If
TC> you want to talk about sighted people getting a bad image of
TC> blind people who ride subways for free then what kind of image
TC> do they get from blind people who are on Supplemental security
TC> income with no incentive to get off the system?
I think that you are comparing apples and oranges, so to speak. The NLS program
exists because at least at the time, reading materials for the blind did not
exist at all. We could not use our public libraries as the sighted, and a
national system was the best way to address this. SSI is an income dependent
program that is available to many, not just the blind. I think that reduced
transit fares should also be based on income, as they probably are in many
areas, not strictly blindness. Free matter mailing is necessary to facilitate
the NLS program. Without it, it simply wouldn't be possible.
Yes, the NFB has fought, and will continue to fight for SSI and SSDI. This is
because so many blind people need the income. You are right however, that there
is no incentive to get off the system, which is bad. You can't prosper, but you
can survive, and some are happy with that.
In the past, the NFB has suggested a supplement be paid to each blind person,
each month, not based on income, which would allow him/her to purchase those
things, items such as computers, and services such as training, that he/she
needs to live as a blind person. The government in the past would rather have
programs that made us and others dependent on them.
I believe that the day will come when SSI and other such things are not
necessary for us, but this is still some time away.
.... David Andrews
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