BSCB advocacy efforts focus on access to jobs, education, public
transportation, health care, technology, and the arts. Our members work to provide critical input to state and local government, non-profit organizations and private companies.
In conjunction with ACB National, we have successfully reached settlements with Netflix to add audio description to their video streams, negotiated with a major Boston hospital to make healthcare services more accessible, and fought discrimination against guide dog users by local taxi companies and ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft. We actively lobby Beacon Hill to ensure that blindness services receive sufficient resources in the annual state budget.
Below is information on some of our advocacy activities in the past several years.years.
Voting Accessibility Surveys
For 2016, 2018, and 2020, BSCB conducted surveys of blind and visually impaired voters in Massachusetts about their experience using voting machines and other election-related accessibility concerns. The 2020 election survey included questions on requesting and filling out mail-in and online ballots in the context of the COVID pandemic. You can download a PDF version of the report here. After clicking on this link, press Control S to open the Save as dialog box, and then press Enter to download the file to your computer.
Accessibility at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute
In August 2016, the BSCB, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute (MEEI) and a private individual entered into a five-year agreement to improve accessibility of hospital services to blind and visually-impaired patients. The agreement focusses on improving accessibility through training personnel, adapting the MEEI website, and making patient records and intake forms more accessible. A set of benchmarks were identified and a joint BSCB/MEEI committee meets every six months to review progress.
Health Care Accessibility Survey
In 2015, at the request of the MCB Commissioner, the BSCB carried out a survey about accessibility of health services in the Commonwealth. This request was prompted by a query for information from State Senator Michael Barrett (D Lexington) who was concerned that Massachusetts residents with disabilities were not receiving the same quality of health care as people without disabilities. Survey results were helpful in making the case for the Senator’s introduction of a bill (S. 565) to create an Office of Health Equity that would establish goals, recommend policies, and work with other agencies to reduce the differences that are often experienced by patients due to disability, race, and ethnicity.