WHEREAS, blind air travelers have been consistently victimized by discriminatory treatment by the airline industry; and
WHEREAS, we have repeatedly brought this to the attention of officials within the Department of Transportation and asked that the Department adopt policies which prohibit unfair treatment of blind passengers; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation had chosen to take an affirmative stand in the support of the civil rights of the blind, but has chosen to issue a notice of questions in the Federal Register; and
WHEREAS, the request for comments is worded in such a way that the burden of proof is placed upon the blind air traveler who must prove competence before being permitted to travel without discrimination, instead of placing the burden of proof on the airlines who have chosen to discriminate against the blind: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled this seventh day of September, 1986, in the City of Columbia, Maryland, that this organization is opposed to the segregation implied by the notice of questions issued by the United States Department of Transportation on August 22, 1986; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization demands that the discriminatory notice of questions be withdrawn and that the Department of Transportation adopt a policy which is consistent both with law and fact that blind people are assumed to be competent.