\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavid Steinmetz\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubmitted photo\/Mark Skalny\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
By David Steinmetz | Phoenix<\/p>\n
OPINION \u2014 As a blind professional and proud team member at Arizona Industries for the Blind, I know firsthand that blindness is not a barrier to success; outdated public policies and misconceptions are.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I appreciate Rep. Abe Hamadeh for cosponsoring H.R. 1175, the Blind Americans Return to Work Act<\/a>. This bipartisan legislation modernizes Social Security work incentives, removes barriers that discourage many blind Americans from pursuing employment and advancing their careers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s my mission to change the perception of blindness one conversation at a time. Each conversation is an opportunity to challenge assumptions, educate others and remind people that blindness is simply a characteristic, not a limitation. That\u2019s why advocacy is so important.<\/p>\n In Arizona, hundreds of people who are blind or have significant disabilities are employed through the AbilityOne Program<\/a>. We support our nation\u2019s warfighters by delivering mission-critical products and services that strengthen the military supply chain.<\/p>\n H.R. 1175 would enable more Americans who are blind to join that workforce, creating a stronger economy through higher employment, increased tax revenue, reduced reliance on government benefits while creating a resilient workforce supporting both our national security and America’s economic growth.<\/p>\n I also want to thank Reps. Juan Ciscomani and Adelita Grijalva for joining Rep. Hamadeh as co-sponsors. I encourage the remaining members of Arizona\u2019s congressional delegation to follow their lead by supporting H.R. 1175 and helping more Americans who are blind achieve their own version of the American Dream.<\/p>\n David Steinmetz is community and public relations unit manager with Arizona Industries for the Blind, a Phoenix-based nonprofit established in 1952. Please submit comments at\u00a0yourvalley.net\/letters<\/a> or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org.\u00a0We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our\u00a0Civility Guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n \n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tArizona,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Arizona Industries for the Blind,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Blind Americans Return to Work Act,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t H.R. 1175,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t blindness,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t success,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Abe Hamadeh,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Juan Ciscomani,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Adelita Grijalva,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t bipartisan,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t workforce,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t American Dream,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t economy,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t AbilityOne Program,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t AbilityOne\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Steinmetz Submitted photo\/Mark Skalny By David Steinmetz | Phoenix OPINION \u2014 As a blind professional and proud…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":976481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[7254,391968,391967,149410,5229,114789,5643,391964,1587,22982,391965,47171,79,391966,7253,1589,25852,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7987],"class_list":["post-976480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-abe-hamadeh","tag-abilityone","tag-abilityone-program","tag-adelita-grijalva","tag-america","tag-american-dream","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-industries-for-the-blind","tag-az","tag-bipartisan","tag-blind-americans-return-to-work-act","tag-blindness","tag-economy","tag-h-r-1175","tag-juan-ciscomani","tag-phoenix","tag-success","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-workforce"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117028019820833466","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/976481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}