Past BVA Executive Director, Director of Government Relations, and National President Tom Miller personally visited the offices of two Congressional leaders this past week on two different days for the presentation of the Association’s newly named Thomas H. Miller Guiding Legislator of the Year Award in honor of his own advocacy work on behalf of blinded veterans and their families for more than three decades. 

The first two recipients of the award are Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aging, and Representative Mike Bost (R-IL-12) Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.     

Joined by current National President Joe McNeil, National Service Director, Benefits and Policy, Jim Vale, and other Board members, Tom thanked the two Committee Chairmen for their leadership in passing the bipartisan VA Website Accessibility Act two years ago and more recently for their support of a December 2022 report detailing the findings of an 11-month investigation revealing widespread failure across the federal government to ensure that federal technology is accessible for people with disabilities, older adults, and veterans.

While working professionally as the Chief of VA Blind Rehabilitation in Waco, Texas, Tom Miller served as BVA’s National Secretary from 1979-80, National Vice President from 1981-82, and National President from 1983-84. He left Waco in 1986 to serve BVA for the next 26 years as the organization’s Director of Government Relations and later as Executive Director. For more than eight of those years, he served in both roles simultaneously.