REPORT OF BVA 64TH NATIONAL CONVENTION BYLAWS AND RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE

Resolutions 1-09 through 4-09
Resolutions 5-09 through 8-09
Resolutions 9-09 through 11-09
Resolutions 12-09 through 17-09
Resolutions 18-09 through 23-09
Resolutions 24-09 through 27-09

RESOLUTION 12-09

WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act guarantees the right of access to information to persons with disabilities; AND

WHEREAS, many signalized intersections provide information to pedestrians with sight that is not provided to pedestrians with visual impairments, AND

WHEREAS, it has been demonstrated (Crandall, W. Bentzen, B.L., and Myers, L., 1998) that competent, independent, blind pedestrians at unfamiliar signalized intersections may initiate as many or more than 34 percent of crossings during the clearance of DON’T WALK intervals if those intersections are not equipped with accessible pedestrian signals, AND

WHEREAS, accessible pedestrian signals have been widely used for more than ten years in countries including Australia, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom and are considered by traffic engineers to be widely effective not only in providing information to blind pedestrians but also in decreasing general pedestrian delay and facilitating vehicular flow at signalized intersections, AND

WHEREAS, increasing numbers of quiet vehicles, including electric vehicles and those with quiet internal combustion engines, make acoustic information from vehicles inconsistent, resulting in the inability of pedestrians who are blind to reliably detect the onset of the WALK interval by listening for a surge of vehicles, AND

WHEREAS, inexpensive technologies exist to make Accessible Pedestrian Signals which are automatically responsive to ambient sound, being very quiet at night and in low traffic situations, while still loud enough to be heard above vehicular sound in high traffic situations; AND

WHEREAS, accessible vibrotactile and speech transmission signal systems exist that add no noise to the environment, AND

WHEREAS, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century provides that “Transportation plans and projects … shall include the installation, where appropriate, and maintenance of audible traffic signals and audible signs at street crossings”; NOW THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, that the Blinded Veterans Association, in convention assembled in Portland, OR on this 22nd day of August 2009, urges the U.S. Federal Highway Administration to develop recommended practices for installation of pedestrian signals that will produce information that is regularly provided to other pedestrians and accessible to them. These include but are not limited to: information specifying WALK and DON’T WALK intervals; information indicating the presence and location of push‑buttons; and information unambiguously indicating the street to which the signal applies.

RESOLUTION 13-09

WHEREAS, Nonservice-Connected (NSC) veterans whose income exceeds the means test threshold are required to pay the Social Security Co-pay for inpatient episodes of care as well as a daily per diem rate during that episode, AND

WHEREAS, the means test assumes veterans have sufficient discretionary income to offset the cost of services within VA, AND

WHEREAS, catastrophically disabled veterans are not likely to be employed or have the potential for meaningful employment, AND

WHEREAS, the charges assessed for care by VA may serve as a significant deterrent to receiving essential care, THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, that the Blinded Veterans Association, in convention assembled in Portland, OR on this 22nd day of August 2009, seeks legislation that would waive the means test requirements for NSC catastrophically disabled veterans, assuring that they have access to the Special Disabilities Programs so crucial to their rehabilitation and well being.

  RESOLUTION 14-09

WHEREAS, VA has agreed to provide access to VA electronic medical records at VA Medical Centers to BVA Field Service Representatives, AND

WHEREAS, currently this access is only available if the Field Service Representative goes to the medical center, AND

WHEREAS, this is an inefficient system wasting the time of the Field Service Representative by requiring unnecessary trips to the medical center, AND

WHEREAS, this is especially difficult since the Field Service Representatives are not always located close to a medical center, NOW THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, that the Blinded Veterans Association, in convention assembled in Portland, OR on this 22nd day of August 2009, work with VA to allow BVA Field Service Representatives to be able to access needed medical information via remote access technology.

RESOLUTION 15-09

WHEREAS, U.S. Military Operations in Afghanistan (OEF) and Iraq (OIF) have resulted in numerous casualties, AND

WHEREAS, DoD does not have a centralized system in place to track eye casualties, AND

WHEREAS, an unknown number of service members have been blinded in these operations, AND

WHEREAS, DoD and VA are committed to assuring a Seamless Transition from the one agency to the other, AND

WHEREAS, service members blinded in OEF and OIF are not being identified to VA by DoD in a timely manner, AND

WHEREAS, these severely injured and blinded service members are not receiving the information and support from VA designed to facilitate acceptance of and adjustment to loss of vision, AND

WHEREAS, the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), the only federally chartered Veterans Service Organization (VSO) exclusively dedicated to assisting blinded veterans and their families, is not being effectively utilized by DoD and VA to facilitate the Seamless Transition, THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, that the Blinded Veterans Association in convention assembled in Portland, OR on this 22nd day of August 2009, urge DoD and VA to develop a more effective method of identifying severely visually impaired and blinded service members returning from OEF and OIF, ensuring that these severely disabled service members receive the most appropriate information and support available, AND

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that the Blinded Veterans Association be notified and directly involved in the “Seamless Transition” process.

RESOLUTION 16-09

WHEREAS, fundamental to the comprehensive rehabilitation of veterans who are severely visually impaired or blind is the development of wholesome and healthy attitudes about blindness, the acquisition of adaptive skills to overcome the handicap of blindness and reintegration into the family and community, AND

WHEREAS, VA pioneered the comprehensive residential Blind Rehabilitation Center approach to the delivery of such comprehensive services to facilitate adjustment to and acceptance of sudden and traumatic loss of vision, AND

WHEREAS, the VA BRC model has evolved to include the comprehensive rehabilitation of veterans whose visual impairment and blindness may be associated with aging, AND

WHEREAS, VA is internationally recognized as the premier provider of comprehensive blind rehabilitation services, AND

WHEREAS, non VA blind rehabilitation programs have recently begun to seek referral of visually impaired and blinded veterans away from VA Blind Rehabilitation Services (BRS) in an effort to obtain VA contract funding, AND

WHEREAS, America’s visually impaired and blinded veterans have earned the right to have access to the highest quality blind rehabilitation services available, AND

WHEREAS, only in rare instances would referral to a non-VA BRC be appropriate, THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, that the Blinded Veterans Association, in convention assembled in Portland, OR on this 22nd day of August, 2009, urges that visually impaired and blinded veterans be referred only to VA BRCs for comprehensive residential blind rehabilitation services, AND

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that should it ever be necessary to refer a visually impaired or blinded veteran to a non VA-BRC, the aforementioned non-VA BRC should be accredited by either the National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped (NAC) or the Commission For Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), and by agencies that employ Blind Rehabilitation Specialists certified by the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals (ACVREP).

RESOLUTION 17-09

WHEREAS, VA is currently experiencing difficulty in recruiting and retaining blind rehabilitation specialists, AND

WHEREAS, there is a national shortage of qualified blind rehabilitation specialists, AND

WHEREAS, VA has developed effective recruitment and retention programs for other scarce disciplines, AND

WHEREAS, VA has designated blind rehabilitation specialists as “HARD TO RECRUIT”, AND

WHEREAS, BRS succession planning has been established as a high priority in its Strategic Plan, AND

WHEREAS, two effective tools to enhance Workforce recruitment and Succession Planning have been established by VA: The Employee Incentive Scholarship (EIS) Program and the Education Debt Reduction (EDR) Program, THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, that the Blinded Veterans Association, in convention assembled in Portland, OR on this 22nd day of August, 2009, urges VA to encourage Networks and local facilities to provide funding for the BRS programs essential to BRS Workforce Recruitment and Succession Planning, BE IT FURTHER

RESOLVED, that the Blinded Veterans Association strongly urge VA to approve BRS prospective and current employees for the EIS program as well as the EDR program, AND

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that VA encourages networks and local facilities to provide funding for the EIS and EDR Programs critical for BRS Workforce Recruitment and Succession Planning.     

Resolutions 18-09 through 23-09 >