Arizona Bill

Arizona Bill

The Braille Monitor

_July 1997

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PHOTO/CAPTION: Governor

Symington signs the Arizona Braille bill, and Lindsey McHugh smiles in appreciation

while other members of the NFB of Arizona look on.

Arizona--Another Strong

Braille Bill

by Bruce A. Gardner

From the Editor: Bruce Gardner

is the President of the National Federation of the Blind of Arizona.

I am both pleased and proud to announce

to the world that Arizona has joined the ranks of the now twenty-nine states

which can boast the existence of a strong, comprehensive Braille Bill. We have

even added a little twist which, as far as I know, has not been adopted in any

other state.

During the past few years the NFB of

Arizona has been able to gain increasing support in the state legislature through

legislative luncheons and other personal contacts. Our hard work has now clearly

paid off; but even so, the ease with which we moved through the legislature

is nothing short of astonishing.

The bill itself is based upon the national

model, which has enjoyed the support not only of the NFB but also of the other

major organizations both of and for the blind. Our work in drafting the Arizona

bill was also a joint effort. The NFB of Arizona worked with the Arizona Governor's

Council on Blindness and its member organizations. The task force which drafted

the bill was chaired by Dr. Jane Erin, head of the University of Arizona's master's

program for teachers of the blind.

Our bill (now state law) includes a presumption

that each blind student needs Braille; states that, even if only one member

of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team wants Braille instruction,

then it will be taught; provides that book publishers wishing to sell text books

in Arizona must supply a disk from which Braille books can be produced; and

requires that the special ed teachers of the blind must pass a national Braille

competency test or an Arizona competency test if a national test is not available.

The special Arizona twist is this: While

several state Braille laws now require that book publishers supply the state

with computer disks, these provisions generally apply only to elementary and

secondary schools. Thanks to Dr. Erin (she thought of it, we didn't), our law

also requires that publishers selling to community colleges or universities

must furnish the disks.

The remarkable legislative progress went

like this:

Bill introduced, February 4; heard by

House Education Committee on February 12 (passed fourteen to zero); heard by

House Rules Committee on February 18 (passed thirteen to zero); full House vote,

February 26 (passed fifty-four to zero); heard by Senate Education Committee,

March 13 (passed six to zero); heard by Senate Appropriations Committee, March

26 (passed nine to zero); heard by Senate Rules Committee, March 31 (passed

six to zero); and passed by the full Senate on April 14 by a vote of thirty

to nothing. The Governor signed the bill into law on April 22, 1997.

Special thanks must go to Miss Lindsey

McHugh of Tucson. Lindsey is a blind nine-year-old who read Braille for both

the Senate Education and Appropriations Committees. A couple of usually gruff

senators remarked that they did not think it politically wise to vote against

the bill in view of Lindsey's outstanding testimony.

At the signing ceremony Lindsey McHugh

read a brief statement to the Governor and the press. She said:

On behalf of the blind of Arizona,

we of the NFB thank you, Governor Symington, for having this ceremony and for

signing our Braille bill. We are also grateful to Representative Schottel for

all of his good work in guiding the bill through the legislature. This Braille

bill is the first step in improving education and training for the blind in

Arizona. Next, we have to fix rehabilitation training programs for blind adults.

We of the NFB of Arizona still have a

lot of educating to do to convince parents that partially blind kids will be

much more literate adults if they learn Braille when they are young. But this

new law will bring true literacy for our blind children one big step closer.