ACB Tuesday Topics Paul Edwards, American Council of the Blind

More than half of the people who are blind in this country are over the age of 55. For many seniors with vision loss, the only funding that is available
for service delivery comes from a source which has not seen an increase in funding for two decades and is estimated to meet only 3 percent of the resource
needs. Services to seniors without vision loss are provided under the Older Americans Act. That law is scheduled to be reauthorized by the end of September
of this year. Right now it does not do a lot for people who are blind.
How can we change this? What do we want to see in the reauthorized law?
It is expected that the population of people who are seniors and legally blind will double by 2040 or so! What will that mean and what can we do about
it?
Tuesday Topics is excited to welcome folks from ACB'S special interest affiliate the Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss (AAVL) to bring us up to speed on
where we are and on what ACB and other organizations of and for the blind are trying to do. It's urgent that you tune in so you can help to make a difference
in a variety of ways. The Florida affiliate of ACB just passed a resolution and every state can do what Florida promised they would do!

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We spend lots of time talking about people who are blind and include everyone who has a vision problem. We don't usually distinguish between people who
have no vision and people who have some. This week we want to invite folks with low vision or better than low vision to join us and tell us what it’s like
when you can’t completely see but you aren’t completely blind either.

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This week we are going to explore a word we hear a lot but what does it actually mean. That word is advocacy! How does it apply to people who are
blind? What are issues we should be advocating for these days? Are there issues we should not be advocating for these days? How should we approach advocacy
for an issue? We will identify one in the first hour and spend part of the second hour deciding how best to advocate for that particular issue. Hopefully
that will give folks an idea of how to put together a campaign to advocate for a particular thing which you and your affiliate or chapter could consider
identifying.

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This time we are going
to spend some time exploring relationships. There is a good deal of controversy as to whether relationships work best if both parties are blind or if one
of the two folks involved can see! What do you think! Where do people who have partial vision fit in? Is a relationship between a blind person and a person
with partial vision the best of all? It's not good enough for you to tell us which is best! Tell us why! What makes for problems with each of the different
kinds of relationship? If you were free and could choose your next partner, would you choose somebody who is blind or partially sighted or fully sight-enabled?

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In many respects, we are the most fortunate generation ever. We have access to more information than we can possibly use and we are at the beginning of
a revolution that will make the data we can acquire now seem infinitely tiny and paltry. Before you turn away in disgust, this is not another exploration
of AI though we are more than a year since we last spent time on it and lots has changed. It is an exploration of the impact of another phenomenon on the
lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Be My Eyes, Envision and AIRA are all programs that fill an important niche in our lives. They allow
us to get information either from other humans or from artificial intelligence entities or, from a combination of the two. What has their impact been on
the world of people who are blind? Have these devices mad people who use them more independent or more dependent? Have they encouraged experimentation
or created reliance on people for help that has limited technological exploration? In the case of AIRA, how does their business model appear to be structured?
Can they afford to pay their employees over time? Does their model depend on selling AIRA to governments, retailers and others? Is there another model
that would work better? What would we lose if Aira were to go away?

Obviously these questions constitute no more than the tip of the iceberg. Join us as we put personal assistance software and people under the microscope
of Tuesday Topics!

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It is common for Tuesday Topics to start something we don't finish and our last program was no exception. We were able to define many issues, provide some
hypotheses for why they happen and confirm that some things need to be done. However, we did not get to the place where we could finalize actions that
can be taken or decide for, sure if actions should be taken. So our program next week will explore actions that can be contemplated to deal with the fact
that many things we have asked for are not being used as much as we might like. Perhaps that's okay! If it's not, what should we do about it? Who is responsible
for doing anything? Individuals, local chapters, state affiliates, the national organization, local communities, states, the Federal government? We will
look at voting, theaters, movies, transit, braille and other components of full inclusion. Join us! Your opinions are crucial!

Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co