RESOLUTION A2020-01

Regarding Refining Nonvisual Absentee Voting

WHEREAS, universal suffrage, the hard-won right of every citizen to vote freely and secretly, is the bedrock upon which our democracy functions; and

WHEREAS, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that voters with disabilities be provided the opportunity to exercise the right to vote that is equivalent to the opportunity provided voters without disabilities; and

WHEREAS, because of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota's work with the state legislature, Secretary of State, and other partners, non-visually accessible voting machines have been available at each polling place in Minnesota for nearly fifteen years; and

WHEREAS, this year, for the first time, the option to vote privately, safely and accessibly from home became available to blind Minnesotans because the Secretary of State introduced an electronic tool to mark absentee ballots; and

WHEREAS, while a voter using this new system can keep the ballot itself completely private, a nonvisual method of filling in the required form fields on the envelopes has yet to be developed; now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in Convention assembled this 8th day of November, 2020, that this organization commend Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon for implementation of an accessible ballot-marking tool enabling private absentee voting by blind Minnesotans; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the Secretary of State to continue to work with the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota to make further improvements to the accessible absentee voting system, including modifications allowing the entire process to be completed independently in a nonvisual manner.

RESOLUTION A2020-02

Regarding Metro Transit’s Unmet Commitment to Digital Accessibility

WHEREAS, Metro Transit, an operating division of the Metropolitan Council, serves as the public transportation provider in the Twin Cities metropolitan area; and

WHEREAS, individuals who are blind, have low-vision, and are Deafblind are able to successfully use assistive technology, including screen readers and magnification on desktop and mobile devices, to navigate websites and apps when they are built to conform with well-established accessibility guidelines set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.1; and

WHEREAS, the Metro Transit website states that the transit provider "takes digital accessibility seriously" and "is updating its website…to be compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA standards;" and

WHEREAS, Metro Transit makes its route and schedule information available on its website in a complex array of tables that lack any association between the headers and content, such that a screen reader user cannot easily understand the times when a bus or train will arrive at various stops; and

WHEREAS, customers can sign up to receive text-message alerts about service disruptions and changes that previously provided direct links to more information but recently changed to direct customers to a single web page; and

WHEREAS, this Rider Alerts page contains more than 50 headings, making it a chore to navigate to a specific route, and—once found—expanding an alert routes a screen reader user's focus back to the top of the page, necessitating that the person navigate through the list of headings anew; and

WHEREAS, as part of its self-evaluation of its compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and redesign of the MetroTransit.org site, the transit provider procured and received an accessibility evaluation of its website in 2019, and any audit of this type should have identified these violations of the WCAG 2.1 standard; and

WHEREAS, nearly a year has passed since Metro Transit commissioned this audit and the site still does not meet Metro Transit's stated commitment to complying with an internationally-accepted accessibility standard; and

WHEREAS, when members of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota have contacted Metro Transit about these problems, those complaints have gone unanswered and the website has not been changed; and

WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota is the oldest and largest organization of the blind in the state and has considerable subject matter expertise in what makes a website most usable by people who are blind, have low-vision, and are Deafblind, and—when consulted in advance—can assist organizations in ensuring that planned changes do not adversely affect people with disabilities; Now, therefore:

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this eighth day of November, 2020, that this organization demand that Metro Transit produce a specific action plan with deadlines for when the site will be brought into full conformance with the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon Metro Transit to consult the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota about future changes to its digital properties, including the website and mobile apps, to ensure that blind people can independently access transit information.

Resolution A2020-04

Regarding transition students’ receipt of their Individualized Education Plan

WHEREAS, when a special education student in Minnesota reaches age 14, that student becomes a transition student and can receive services in the areas of career exploration, post-secondary training, employment, independent living, and recreation/leisure activities; and

WHEREAS, many transition-age students are receiving services based on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP); and

WHEREAS, because students have not yet reached the "age of majority" (which is 18 in Minnesota) when they enter the transition age, state and federal laws do not require school districts to provide these students with a copy of their IEP; and

WHEREAS, it is often the responsibility of parents to disclose information to students regarding their educational programming, especially if the student does not actively participate in the development of their IEP; and

WHEREAS, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that, at least one year prior to a student reaching the age of majority under state law, a school district must inform special education students, including those who are blind, of the rights that will transfer to them, unless a legal guardian or conservator has been appointed or unless the students are deemed incompetent to make decisions regarding their own education; and

WHEREAS, state and federal laws do not require that students receive a copy of their educational programming upon reaching the transition age of 14 under state law and 16 under federal law since all decisions are legally that of the parent/guardian until the student reaches the legal age of majority; and

WHEREAS, participation by students in the development of their educational programming is often encouraged, but not required, resulting in many students having little interest in their program, especially if parents and educators do not require their involvement; and

WHEREAS, some parents, school districts, and IEP team members have misconceptions regarding the ability of blind students whom they are representing to participate in the development of their educational programming, resulting in students not being empowered to make decisions for themselves; now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this eighth day of November, 2020, that this organization call upon the Minnesota Department of Education to work with the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota on development of a policy requiring school districts to provide special education students, beginning at age 14, with a copy of their Individualized Education Program (IEP), with Prior Written Notices, and with other relevant documentation, in the student's preferred reading medium; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the Minnesota Department of Education to designate students who have reached the transition age as required members of the IEP team, unless it is determined by the IEP team that meaningful involvement from the student in decisions about the student's own program is not possible.

Reference:

https://www.parentcenterhub.org/age-of-majority/

RESOLUTION A2021-01

Regarding Nonvisual Access to Educational Materials, Software, and Digital Learning Platforms

WHEREAS, access to the full curriculum is vital for participation in in-person and virtual education settings for all students; and

WHEREAS, accessibility barriers impede full access to the educational environment for blind and low vision students and for others with print disabilities; and

WHEREAS, both Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 require schools to provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) and the United States Department of Education (USDOE) issued a Joint Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on June 29, 2010, noting that “individuals with disabilities must be provided with the same aids, benefits, or services that provide an equal opportunity to achieve the same result or the same level of achievement as others”; and

WHEREAS, on November 12, 2014, the USDOJ and the USDOE issued a Joint DCL stating that: “Students with disabilities, like all students, must be provided the opportunity to fully participate in our public schools,” and that “a critical aspect of participation is communication with others”; and

WHEREAS, in September 2017 and on March 12, 2020, the USDOE unequivocally reminded school districts that students with disabilities retain full rights to educational opportunities, including access to a free appropriate public education whenever school districts provide any educational opportunities to nondisabled students; and

WHEREAS, for many years, in its required biennial report to the Minnesota Legislature, the Education Commissioner's "Blind/Visually-Impaired Advisory Committee" has acknowledged and made recommendations concerning accessibility barriers of digital curricula and digital learning systems in Minnesota; and

WHEREAS, many school districts in Minnesota have failed to meet their longstanding accessibility obligations to blind and low vision students, purchasing and implementing educational technologies that are only partially accessible to these students or are not accessible at all; and

WHEREAS, despite clear guidance from the USDOE, the shift to part-time or full-time remote instruction in many Minnesota school districts because of the COVID-19 pandemic heightened learning barriers for blind and low vision students; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this seventh day of November, 2021, that this organization call upon the Minnesota Department of Education to work with the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota to develop policies mandating that school districts and other decision makers make full accessibility a requirement when selecting educational technology, implementing websites and web-based applications, and creating digital content; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon every school district in the state of Minnesota to replace inaccessible remote learning and communication systems with systems that are fully accessible; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization offer its expertise to schools and families to help educators and administrators to make decisions that ensure accessibility of educational content, software, and learning platforms.

RESOLUTION A2021-02

Regarding Ending Subminimum Wages in Minnesota

WHEREAS, Section 14(c) of the 1938 federal Fair Labor Standards Act authorized entities that employ people with disabilities to pay less than the minimum wage to these employees through the use of special minimum wage certificates from the United States Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division; and

WHEREAS, more than eighty years later, despite an evolution in understanding about the capacity of people with disabilities to engage in competitive integrated employment, there are more than 1200 entities still allowed to pay less than the minimum wage to their disabled or blind employees—64 of them here in Minnesota; and

WHEREAS, on September 17, 2020, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report calling for the end of the the section 14(c) waiver program because of persistent failures in regulation and oversight and because the program is inconsistent with the civil rights protections to which people with disabilities are entitled; and

WHEREAS, in October 2020, the National Council on Disability recommended the phase-out of the related federal AbilityOne program because of structural problems and the incompatibility of the program with federal disability policy; and

WHEREAS, an increasing number of states have eliminated, or are working toward the elimination of, the payment of subminimum wages, designing their phase-outs to move toward a competitive integrated employment model without incurring in a loss of critical services to individuals with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, this year, the Minnesota Legislature established the Task Force on Eliminating Subminimum Wages, to develop a plan and make recommendations to end the practice of paying subminimum wages to people with disabilities in Minnesota, on or before Aug. 1, 2025; now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in Convention assembled this seventh day of November, 2021, that this organization commend the Minnesota Legislature for taking a first step toward ending the payment of subminimum wages to workers with Disabilities in Minnesota by establishing the Task Force on Eliminating Subminimum Wages; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the Task Force to bring recommendations that are based on high expectations, informed by the innovative strategies used in many employment sectors, and focused on ensuring that all workers in Minnesota will be paid at or above the minimum wage; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the Minnesota Legislature to enact laws making the prohibition of payment of subminimum wages a reality for every worker in Minnesota, and supporting the eventual phase-out of Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act.