Judge orders Social Security notices for blind to be in Braille or on CDs Comments on Stories, posted by Editor, Pleasanton Weekly Online, on Oct 21, 2009 at 2:44 pm
A federal judge in San Francisco yesterday ordered the U.S. Social Security Administration to send benefit notices to blind and partially sighted people in Braille or on CDs that can be converted to speech.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 7:54 AM
Posted by Parent of disabled adult, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Oct 21, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Social Security notices are often so complicated that being able to physically read them is not necessarily a plus. Often the reason for an action is totally obscure. For example, my autistic son got a notice out of the blue that he was being sent an extra $151. Then two months later he got a notice that the overpayment of $151 was being deducted from his next check. My son does not have the ability to understand these notices.
This incident was entirely a matter of their internal accounting and he should have never been bothered with it. He had spent the $151 of course.
Posted by Grace, a resident of the Highland Oaks neighborhood, on Oct 21, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I have to agree with the previous comment -- my mother is legally blind and has received some services for that disability in the past. However, now she has advanced Alzheimer's and dementia and could not possibly understand or benefit from receiving the information regarding Social Security in a new, alternate form. I take care of all of her medical issues and finances, but because she has been registered as having a visual disability, the Social Security Administration will now, if I'm reading this ruling correctly, be required by law to go to the additional effort and expense of providing the information to her (ME) in this alternate format... without our even requesting it! Seems a more rational ruling would be to make this an available alternative, *upon request*, and not assume that this additional expense and effort is desired/necessary.
Posted by Grace, a resident of the Highland Oaks neighborhood, on Oct 21, 2009 at 8:53 pm
My apologies -- I was responding to the earlier comment and reading the headline, then the article too quickly and missed the key sentence regarding the option, not the mandate:
"Alsup ordered the agency to offer recipients the option to be given notices and other communications in either Braille or CDs that can be used with text-to-speech technology by April 15."
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