Burbank Convention Also Concerned With Transportation, Postal Rates : Blind Push for Legislation to End Insurance Discrimination

Outlawing discrimination against the blind by the insurance industry will be the primary legislative goal this year for the National Federation of the Blind of California, a spokeswoman said Friday at the group’s annual convention in Burbank.

Insurance companies sometimes refuse to sell life, health and disability insurance to blind people because they view the sightless as too great a risk, according to Susan Spigle, president of the organization’s San Fernando Valley chapter.

“There’s no evidence that we’re a greater risk,” Spigle said. “It’s just a lack of understanding, a lack of education about blindness.”

Group Will Lobby for Bill

The federation plans to lobby state legislators to gain their support for an anti-discrimination insurance bill introduced in early March by Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-Long Beach). The measure is being co-sponsored by state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys).

Elder, who successfully sponsored a similar measure three years ago protecting the physically handicapped from insurance discrimination, said in a telephone interview he recently was urged by blind groups in the state to introduce the current legislation.

Elder said his research disputes the notion that the blind are a greater risk than sighted individuals.

“Actually, blind people have to be so much more careful in their living that they would be a better risk,” he said.

About 200 blind Californians are attending the annual convention, which runs through Sunday at the Burbank Airport Hilton. Other concerns that are expected to dominate the session are bus transportation and postal rates.

One of the most persistent problems of the blind is the failure of many bus drivers to call out stops when a blind person is aboard, Spigle said. Officials of the Southern California Rapid Transit District have been invited to attend a seminar this morning and will be asked to instruct their drivers to be more sensitive to the needs of blind riders, Spigle said.

“I hear the complaint 10 times a week,” said Spigle, a Sherman Oaks resident. “Many times we have been left off far afield from where we want to be. That can ruin a whole day.”

On the national scene, the group has launched a letter-writing campaign in an effort to prevent the elimination of a federal subsidy of postal rates for bulk mail for all nonprofit groups. The Senate Budget Committee recently voted to eliminate the $981-million appropriation to finance that subsidy, Spigle said.

Without it, postal rates for the blind federation’s fund-raising and membership drives would rise from the current 6 cents per item to 12.5 cents on Oct. 1. The rate increase also would affect the amount blind people would have to pay to order Braille reading materials and recorded tapes from libraries and schools, Spigle said.

“The budget you will need just to mail will take away available money to provide services,” Spigle said.

The convention also provides an opportunity for blind people to learn about educational and job placement services available through the state and some independent groups. Representatives from a number of Los Angeles-area universities and community colleges attended a seminar Friday to explain how blind students can obtain financial aid and become active in campus government, athletics, sororities, fraternities and other activities.

New Products for Blind

Several new service products for the blind have been unveiled in the convention’s exhibit room. They include Braille versions of the Los Angeles Yellow Pages, a joke book, a songbook, a watch and a computer printer.

“So much of the world relies on technology that we, too, need computer services,” Spigle said.

All of the seminars, Spigle said, seek to relay the same message. It is, in her words:

“Blindness is not a tragedy. It’s something that can be lived with. We can go on and function like everyone else in society. And, given the opportunities, we can compete with a sighted person in the workplace.”