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Dear Board Members,

As a teacher of the visually impaired for more than 30 years I have seen
many capable visually impaired students graduate to take their places as
contributing members of the community. If there is one universal complaint
I hear regarding their lives at work, as parents, as committee members and
board members for church and other nonprofit organizations, and as adults
simply wanting to go out to dinner and movie, it is transportation. These
folks have no choice but to ride public transportation and/or walk and are
frequently greatly inconvenienced in order to get where they need to go due
to intersections that are literally not safe to cross. Even with the best
travel skills a blind person cannot safely cross an intersection with a
round-about. There are so many simple modifications recommended by the new
Guidelines for Accessible Public Rights-of-Way that would make travel so
much simpler and safer for people who travel without the benefit of vision
that it seems unreasonable to consider not implementing them. We expect
visually handicapped people to take an active role in our community and
train them to do so but then once they are out there have no consideration
for their needs. Please consider implementing and funding the Guidelines
for Accessible Public Rights-of-Way.

Sincerely yours,

Linda J. Ray