SENATE DOCKET, NO. 854        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 65

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act surveying the needs of children and adults who are visually impaired and reside in the Commonwealth..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of public health, as established in section 2 of chapter 111 of the General Laws, shall collect data that will determine what services will benefit the visually impaired and improve their quality of life, and shall further survey the general needs of children and adults who are visually impaired and this survey shall be completed and a report filed to the Clerk of the Senate before the end of the 2009-2010 General Court session. 

For purposes of this study, an individual shall be considered visually impaired if they meet one or more of the following criteria and are not legally blind: (a) has an impairment of visual function which cannot be improved, by the use of corrective lenses, to a level that would normally be acceptable for reading without a special level of light; (b) is unable, through physical disability to hold or manipulate a book; or (3) is unable, through physical disability, to focus or move his eyes to the extent that would normally be acceptable for reading.

The members of the survey group shall include: 2 members from the department of public health and one of them from the division of vision and hearing, both appointed by the governor, the rehabilitation commissioner or designee, the commissioner for the blind or designee, the commissioner of the department of education or designee, a member from the office for children, a member of the Academy of Pediatrics, the chief executive officer of Massachusetts Association for the Blind (“MAB”), the president of the Massachusetts Association of Parents of Visually Impaired Children or designee, a member of the Board of Ophthalmology, and a member of the Federation of Children with Special Needs.

The specific content of the survey shall be determined by the survey group.