(ALEXANDRIA, VA, February 26, 2020) – Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) National President Thomas A. Zampieri, Ph.D. will present the organization’s legislative priorities in its annual oral testimony before a joint session of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees today (February 26) at 2 p.m. in the Senate Dirksen Building, Room SD-G50.

The hearing will be streamed live at www.veterans.senate.gov and can also be viewed and heard later at a later time and date at www.veterans.senate.gov/hearings.

Among the important BVA issues to be addressed are the implementation of caregiver benefits for catastrophically disabled veterans of all war eras and to be inclusive of caregivers for blinded veterans; mandating the inclusion of legally blind veterans in the modernizing of VA’s Specially Adapted Housing grant program; VA’s compliance with website accessibility; the designation of four ocular trauma centers; support for $30 million in appropriations for the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program; adequate funding of Veterans Health Administration Blind Rehabilitation Service.

Accompanying Dr. Zampieri at the witness table in panel format will be a representative from each of the following Veterans Service Organizations: Wounded Warrior Project, National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs, Jewish War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and American Veterans (AMVETS). Each representative will be given five minutes to address the organization’s priorities followed by a question-and-answer period.

The Blinded Veterans Association is the only congressionally chartered Veteran Service Organization exclusively dedicated to serving America’s veterans with vision loss. Its members belong to more than 50 regional groups and reside in every state and U.S. territory. BVA traces its roots back to the final days of World War II when a group of approximately 100 recovering service members, blinded in combat, joined to form the organization at Avon Old Farms Army Convalescent Hospital near Avon, Connecticut.