Resolutions 2023-05 and 2023-08 were withdrawn.
Resolution 2023-01 directs ACB to support the passage of H.R. 1328, the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act, and urges the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Food and Drug Administration to require that all exercise equipment and medical devices provide output of health data and other information in an accessible format. Also instructs ACB to urge exercise equipment manufacturers to enable such devices to provide information in an accessible manner.
Resolution 2023-02 directs ACB to support legislation that would require all health care insurers to cover the cost of needles and other means of injecting insulin.
Resolution 2023-03 instructs ACB to support the passage of any legislation that caps or reduces the cost of insulin for people with diabetes. Also strongly encourages affiliates and members to contact their legislators to urge support of these bills.
Resolution 2023-04 instructs ACB’s Board of Directors to establish a policy for referring members at large to state and special-interest affiliates by the opening date of the 2024 convention in Jacksonville, Florida.
Resolution 2023-06 directs ACB to urge each affiliate to adopt a Prohibited Conduct Policy and accompanying implementing procedures in order to enable affiliates to act upon complaints of prohibited conduct, and send each affiliate a copy of this resolution with a link to the Prohibited Conduct Policy.
Resolution 2023-07 instructs ACB and the Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss to work with the Aging and Vision Loss National Coalition and other entities for the introduction and passage of Teddie-Joy’s Law and legislation that would amend the Older Americans Act to explicitly recognize seniors with vision loss as a group whose needs must be specifically addressed by allocations of OAA funds.
Resolution 2023-09 directs ACB, in conjunction with the Council of Citizens with Low Vision International, to request that the National Library Service undertake a study to explore the feasibility of making large print books available. ACB and CCLVI stand ready to work with NLS in this effort; NLS is encouraged to report on its progress at the 2024 ACB national convention.
Resolution 2023-10 directs ACB and the Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss (AAVL) to commend the Biden Administration for including the $5 million increase in OIB funding in its proposed fiscal year 2024 budget, and asks that these organizations aggressively advocate with the appropriate Congressional leaders and committees to secure inclusion of this proposed increase in the final fiscal year 2024 spending legislation.
Resolution 2023-11 instructs ACB to urge the Rehabilitation Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget to eliminate the prohibition against a state using federal and matching funds for the purchase of equipment valued at less than $1,000.
Resolution 2023-12 encourages ACB affiliates to advocate for funding of professional visual interpretation services at the state level for people who are blind or who have low vision.
Resolution 2023-13 directs ACB to initiate discussion with ride-share service providers to seek changes in the service platform that would allow passengers who are blind or have low vision to communicate their preferred language and to ensure that drivers who may take their ride requests are limited to those who speak the preferred language of the passenger who is blind or has low vision.
Resolution 2023-14 directs ACB and Guide Dog Users, Inc. to request that the U.S. Department of Justice judiciously determine whether the ongoing lack of effective action by ride-share companies to prevent drivers from denying service to guide dog users equals a discriminatory pattern of practice, as defined under the ADA. Also urges the U.S. Department of Justice to take immediate action to address this ongoing pattern of illegal discrimination.
Resolution 2023-15 instructs GDUI, ACB, and its officers, directors and staff to advise the Department of Transportation that inconsistencies across the airline industry with regard to the content and implementation of the current attestation forms have meant that passengers with disabilities bear a burden that is unreasonable, and in some cases, insurmountable; and recommends that the current attestation form requirements be rescinded.
Resolution 2023-16 directs ACB’s executive director to write a letter to the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals (ACVREP), with the Board’s approval, expressing our profound objection and disappointment that ACVREP is moving forward with the certification and training of occupational therapists without having offered a formal invitation for ACB and all stakeholders to participate in their stakeholder listening process, and calls upon the staff and Board of ACVREP to formally act in meaningfully and engaging dialogue with ACB and all stakeholders in any further development of the new OT training and certification.