Disabled American Veterans
Blind Veterans National Chapter
OFFICERS
OF THE BLIND CHAPTER
Commander
Eddie Humphrey
Senior
Vice Commander Floyd Britting
1st
Junior Vice Commander Dan Holden
2nd
Junior Vice Commander Dennis O’Connell
3rd
Junior Vice Commander Paul Kaminsky
4th
Junior Vice Commander Dave May
Judge
Advocate Gerard Boucher
Chaplain
Tony Martino
THANKS
TO DAVE MAY FOR THE FOLLOWING MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
BVNC
has 1 member in the 30-39 age group.
5
members in the 40-49 age group.
25
members in the 50-59 age group.
29
members in the 60-69 age group.
23
members in the 70-79 age group.
34
members in the 80-89 age group.
5
members in the 90-99 age group.
1
member who is 100 years old.
I've
found 10 DAV BVNC members who are deceased which are listed below as of July 1,
2008 to June 11, 2009. Some might have been mentioned earlier in a newsletter.
Deceased Members:
Percy
L. Barfield Lindsborg KS
Westle
Jackson Oroville CA
Ernest
Melinger Shawnee OK
Paul
J. Meray Warren MI
Sterling
P. Molloy Branson MO
Theodore
Romig Binghamton NY
Wilson
D. Rouke North Eastham MA
Lonnie
F. Thompson Columbia SC
George
W. Tye Lady Lake FL
Clyde
C. Wyant Destin FL
THE
FOLLOWING BVNC1 MEMBERS WERE ELECTED AS DELEGATES OR ALTERNATES FOR THE 2009
DAV NATIONAL CONVENTION BEING HELD IN DENVER, CO
Delegates:
Richard
Holden, Paul Kaminsky, Floyd Britting and Tony Martino
Alternates
:
Gerry
Boucher, Dennis O’Connell and Joe Wallace
MORE
SUPPORT FOR CAREGIVERS OF VETERANS NEEDED
Washington,
D.C. – On Thursday, June 4, the House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee,
led by Chairman Michael Michaud (D-ME), held a hearing to assess how the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) meets the needs of family caregivers of
veterans and to identify any gaps in supportive services for family
caregivers.
Chairman
Michaud provided the following statement to begin the hearing: “Clearly, the
family caregivers of our veterans have made great sacrifices. I have
heard
from family members who gave up their jobs, delayed their schooling, or made
other significant life-changing sacrifices in order to be by their loved
one’s
side. This raises questions about the VA’s current efforts to help these family
caregivers and whether there are sufficient supportive services
in
place. Additionally, there are concerns about the lack of coordination of
caregiver benefits when the service member transitions to veteran status.
In
other words, supportive services that family caregivers may have depended on
during military service are suddenly discontinued when the wounded warrior
transitions
to the VA system.”
VA
does not collect data on caregivers of veterans. As such, the number of family
members who provide care for veterans is unknown. However, a July 2007
report
released by the Dole-Shalala Commission found that of the 1,730 injured OEF/OIF
veterans surveyed, about 21 percent of active duty, 15 percent of
the
reserve, and 24 percent of retired/ separated service members had friends or
family who gave up a job to be the caregiver.
Witnesses
identified unmet needs for families of the severely injured and offered
recommendations to address these shortfalls. Currently VA does not replace
family
caregiver loss of income or medical insurance coverage, does not assist in
preparing home and family for veteran’s arrival, or offer suitable long-term
care
options for younger veterans. Caregivers recommended providing in-person
support or a reference book to provide guidance at time of injury. Also
cited
was a need for emotional and mental health support for the caregiver, education
regarding treatment options, and a standardized, certified training
program
so they have the skills to perform their job well.
Legislation
to address the needs of caregivers has been introduced in the House of
Representatives. Congressman John Salazar (D-CO) introduced H.R. 667,
a
bill to direct the VA to establish a training and certification program for
family caregivers of veterans and service members suffering from traumatic
brain
injury. Chairman Michaud introduced H.R. 2342, “Wounded Warrior Project Family
Caregiver Act of 2009.” This bill would establish a family caregiver
program
for veterans seriously injured while on active duty, or on training for
Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom. Specifically, the
family
caregiver program provides instruction, counseling, and training to the
caregiver or another individual designated by the veteran, as well as reimburse
the
caregiver for travel, lodging and per diem expenses for accompanying the
veteran for medical appointments.
“As
with many programs in the VA, caregiver support is not consistently available
to all veterans across the United States,” commented Bob Filner, Chairman of
the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “The Committee is currently looking
at ways to expand these programs and to provide more services to family members
of veterans, particularly to caregivers of the seriously wounded.”
HOUSE
AFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO NATIONS VETERANS, MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM
Washington,
D.C. – On June 8, 2009, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner
(D-CA) announced that H.R. 466 passed the House of Representatives.
H.R.
466 – The Wounded Veteran Job Security Act (Doggett)
H.R.
466 seeks to expand the protections of the Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act to include veterans with service-connected disabilities
who seek an excused leave of absence from work to obtain medical attention.
Chairman
Filner provided the following statement in support of H.R. 466: “Recognizing
the special needs of injured veterans and openness to work with these men and
women is a crucial step that allows our veterans the ability to heal and remain
gainfully employed. Today we have thousands of business owners
who
have taken the initiative of providing our injured men and women with workforce
protections of seniority, status, retention, and pay as well as other
rights
and benefits determined by employment. Unfortunately, there is still room for
improvement and this bill seeks to bridge that gap. I thank my House
colleagues
for reaffirming our nation’s commitment to care for our service members,
veterans and their dependents by supporting H.R. 466.”
http://veterans.house.gov
More
information about these bills can be found by member by not only going to the
house VA Committee web site, but also go to www.thomas.gov and
enter
the bills listed and you can also search on the individual members who sponsor
legislation.
Blind Community Leaders Applaud Staples' Initiative
to Enhance Staples.com and Store Point of Sale Equipment
April
23, 2009 -- Major advocacy groups for the visually impaired applaud Staples'
new initiatives designed to improve service to its customers with visual
impairments.
Staples will be improving its payment service terminals at the in-store
point-of-sale with tactile keypads to protect the privacy and security
of
shoppers with visual impairments. The company will also make improvements to
Staples.com that will benefit customers with visual impairments and other
disabilities.
Web
Site Access
Today's
initiative includes Staples' commitment to design www.staples.com in accordance
with guidelines issued by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
of
the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (www.w3.org/wai). The guidelines, which do
not affect the content or look and feel of a Web site, ensure that Web
sites
are accessible to persons with a wide range of disabilities. The guidelines are of particular benefit to
blind computer users who use screen reader
or
magnification technology on their computers and who rely on a keyboard instead
of a mouse.
Point-of-Sale
Improvements
Staples
will be adding tactile keypads to payment services devices throughout the
chain. The new units will allow Staples shoppers who have difficulty
reading
information on a touch screen to privately and independently enter their PIN
and other confidential information. Staples stores in Massachusetts
will
have the new devices by September of this year.
All
stores in the country are scheduled to have the devices by the middle of next
year.
The
new devices are designed to protect the financial privacy of shoppers who are
blind or visually impaired. The devices have tactile keys arranged like
a
standard telephone keypad and work in conjunction with Staples'
existing
point-of-sale terminals.
SOCIAL
SECURITY INFORMATION
Existing
Law: Title II of the Social Security
Act provides that disability benefits paid to blind beneficiaries are eliminated
if the beneficiary exceeds a monthly earnings limit. This earnings limit is in
effect a
penalty
imposed on blind Americans when they work. This penalty imposed by the SSDI
program means that, if a blind person earns just $1 over
$1,640
(the monthly limit in 2009 following a trial Work Period), all benefits are
lost.
Section
216(i)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act defines blindness as a disability
based
on objective measurement of acuity and visual field, as opposed to the
subjective criterion of inability to perform Substantial
gainful
Activity (SGA). For blind people, doing
work
valued at the SGA earnings limit terminates
Benefits
but does not terminate disability. Only blind people not working or those with
work earnings below an annually adjusted statutory
earnings
limit receive benefits.
Need
for Legislation: When a blind person
enters
the
workforce, there is no guarantee that wages earned will replace SSDI benefits
after taxes are paid and work expenses are deducted. For
example,
Jane worked as a customer service representative with an annual income of
$35,000 until she became blind from Diabetic
Retinopathy.
Jane meets the criteria for SSDI benefits, which provide income of $1,060 a
month (or $12,720 a year) tax-free while she is not
working.
Jane wants additional income to meet her financial needs. After an adjustment
period and blindness skills training, she finds
employment
as a part-time representative making $10 an hour for 35 hours a week. Jane
grosses $350 a week for an average of $1,517 a
month.
Using a conservative 25 percent
withholding
tax, Jane nets $1,137.50 from her work, combined with her $1,060 disability
benefit,
for a net total of $2,197.50 a month. If Jane should have the opportunity to
work
full time (40 hours), her weekly salary would go up to $400 a week for a
monthly average of $1,733. This amount is over the 2009 earnings
limit,
so Jane loses all of her disability benefits. Using the same 25 percent tax
level,
Jane
nets only $1,300 a month¬working an extra five hours a week has cost Jane
$897.50 net income (over $10,500 a year). This example
illustrates
the work disincentive contained in current law.
A
gradual reduction of $1 in benefits for every $3 earned over the earnings limit
would remove the earnings penalty and provide a financial incentive to work.
The benefit amount taid to an individual will gradually decrease,
while
the individual's contribution to the Social Security trust fund increases over
time. Under this approach, as Jane earns more, she pays more
into
the trust fund, and her dependence on benefits decreases.
Monthly
earnings evaluations are unnecessarily complicated for both the
beneficiaries
and the Social Security administration. Since the medical prognosis for blind
people rarely changes, and because blindness is objectively measurable, blind
people should be subject to an annual earnings test with the limit equal to the
twelve times applicable monthly SGA amount.
Under
current law blind workers frequently pay for items and services related to
their
disabilities that are necessary for them to work, and they are permitted to
subtract these impairment Related Work Expenses (IRWE) from
monthly
earnings when determining monthly income. Properly crediting IRWE poses a
serious challenge to the SSDI program and creates a lack
of
predictability for the blind person trying to determine whether benefits will
be available. To address both issues, Congress should permit SSDI
recipients
to claim the same amount used when determining an income subsidy under the
Medicare prescription drug program, currently 16.3 percent.
Congress
should enact legislation to:
• Provide that earnings of blind SSDI
beneficiaries in excess of the annual earnings limit result in a gradual
benefit reduction of $1
for
each $3 earned over the limit;
• Establish an annual earnings test for
blind SSDI beneficiaries; and
• Establish one standard IRWE deduction for blind SSDI
beneficiaries equal to the amount presently applicable for this deduction when
determining
an appropriate income subsidy under the Medicare prescription drug program or
16.3% of earnings, whichever is greater.
Requested
Action: Please support blind Americans
by cosponsoring legislation that provides a common sense work incentive for
blind Social Security beneficiaries.
Contact
Information:
James
mccarthy
Government
Programs Specialist
NATIONAL
FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Phone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2240
Email:
Jmccarthy@nfb.org