WHEREAS, for generations blind employees have worked effectively in jobs that required travel by using mass transit and other forms of public and private transportation; and
WHEREAS, some Maryland State job postings include language that states that applicants may need to possess a valid Maryland driver’s license to be eligible for the position though the position’s essential functions do not involve operating an automobile or other mode of transportation or vehicle, for example positions like clerks, administrative assistants, and other program personnel; and
WHEREAS, Federal law prohibits requiring driver’s licenses in job postings unless the essential functions of the position includes duties that require driving and for which a reasonable accommodation would not be possible; and
WHEREAS, requiring driver’s licenses for jobs where driving is not an essential function of the job discriminates against blind people as a class because blindness renders a person ineligible to receive a valid Maryland driver's license and excludes them from jobs from which a driver’s license is not actually related to the essential functions of the job; and
WHEREAS, blind applicants have been deterred from applying for administrative and programmatic positions due to the inclusion of driver’s license language in Maryland job postings; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in convention assembled this tenth day of November 2019 in the city of Baltimore, Maryland that this organization demand that the Maryland Department of Budget and Management strike the language concerning possessing a drivers’ license from all job postings unless the position’s essential functions involve operating an automobile or other mode of transportation or vehicle.