Voice of the Nation's Blind

The National Federation of the Blind has partnered with Whitman Coin and Collectibles to promote the Louis Braille commemorative silver dollar and the Braille Readers are Leaders campaign.  Previews of the coin and information about the campaign will be prominently featured at Whitman’s Baltimore coin show, which takes place November 20-22.  To learn more, read the official press release.

Just two short weeks after its heavily promoted nationwide opening and the record-setting nationwide protest by the National Federation of the Blind that coincided with it, the Miramax/Disney film Blindness, based on Jose Saramago’s appalling novel of the same name, has spectacularly self-destructed.  While Miramax has not heeded our call to pull the film from theaters, it is now screening in only 35 cinemas across the country–down from its initial opening on 1,690 screens on October 3.  Panned by film critics–some of whom actually asked rhetorically whether it was possible to get their two wasted hours back–and greeted with a complete lack of interest from audiences, the movie has recovered only $3.7 million of the $25 million it cost to make it so far.  Miramax probably won’t even recover the $5 million it paid to distribute the movie in the United States.  Miramax and the makers of this abhorrent movie have learned the hard way that it literally doesn’t pay to disparage blind people.  While the catastrophic failure of this film is due in part to its manifest lack of merit as a work of art, the National Federation of the Blind can be justifiably proud of bringing the film’s false portrayal of blindness and blind people to the attention of the public.  Many people who were on the fence about spending their movie money on this disaster were convinced by the negative publicity we gave the film to find a better way to spend a couple of hours at the cinema.  Chalk up another victory for the truth about blindness and the National Federation of the Blind.

A bill to study how hybrid cars may be made safer for the blind and other pedestrians recently passed the California legislature and awaits the signature of that state’s governor.  Here’s an editorial supporting the legislation.

VNB readers know that the National Federation of the Blind has been involved in litigation with Target over the accessibility of its Web site, Target.com.  Today the National Federation of the Blind and Target have announced that the class action lawsuit has been settled.  As part of the settlement, Target will establish a $6 million fund from which members of the California settlement class can make claims.  In addition, the NFB will certify the Target Web site through its Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification program once agreed upon improvements are completed in early 2009.  For more information about the terms of the settlement, please read the official press release or visit www.nfbtargetlawsuit.com.

Today the National Federation of the Blind announced an initiative to ensure that any blind person in the United States and Puerto Rico who needs a long white cane will have one, regardless of ability to pay.  The NFB will provide a free cane to anyone in the fifty states, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico who is blind or has low vision and who uses or desires to use a white cane in order to travel independently.  A blind individual may order one free white cane in any six-month period.  For more information, please read the official press release about this landmark program.  To order a free cane, visit the Free Cane Program page.

Yesterday, VNB received word that President George W. Bush had signed the Higher Education Opportunity Act into law.  This legislation is important to blind Americans because it establishes a commission to study ways that higher education textbooks in accessible formats such as Braille, audio, or electronic text, depending on the preference of the student, can be provided at the same time that sighted students receive their course materials.  Read the NFB’s official press release about the legislation here.

Earlier this week, the state of Arkansas, the National Federation of the Blind of Arkansas, and German software manufacturer SAP A.G. announced the settlement of a lawsuit dating back to 2001.  Two blind state employees, Larry Wayland and Donna Walker, had sued the state because its new software system was inaccessible, making it impossible for these employees to do things like access their pay and leave records.  You can read the official press release about the settlement here.  Computer World also published an article about the settlement.

Last week, students participating in the Teen Empowerment Academy of the National Federation of the Blind went to a Baltimore ice skating rink but were not permitted to skate.  The rink management said that allowing the students to skate without restrictions would endanger other skaters.  The NFB took action and ultimately the students were allowed into the rink the next afternoon.  The incident generated a great deal of local news coverage, and an opinion piece by Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, was published yesterday in the Baltimore Sun.  You can read the editorial here.

On Wednesday, July 30, Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, testified at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy of the House Financial Services Committee about the issue of whether paper money needs to be modified for the blind.  You can watch a video of the testimony here.

VNB readers know that the National Federation of the Blind is working to secure full funding for the conversion of Talking Books provided by the Library of Congress from obsolete cassette technology to digital technology.  The following item appeared in the Sunday “On the Hill” column in the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

The head of the National Federation of the Blind in Louisiana is asking Congress to increase financing proposed by the Bush administration to speed the conversion of the federal recorded book program for the blind from analog cassettes to digital-talking books. In a letter to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who oversees the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the program, Federation President Pamela Allen said the president's request for $12.5 million would mean a six-year delay in implementation. That kind of delay, she said, means thousands of Americans would lose access to the books. A House subcommittee voted to appropriate $34.5 million for the program, which would allow the transition to occur in three years, she said. Stephanie Allen, a Landrieu spokesman and no relationship to the federation president, said Landrieu is committed to financing that will allow the transition to occur in four years. The program now serves about 800,000 Americans, including nearly 7,000 in Louisiana.

You can read the entire column here.  While Senator Landrieu’s commitment to a four-year funding plan is admirable, the National Federation of the Blind will continue to encourage her subcommittee to match the funding appropriated by the House subcommittee so that blind Americans will have increased access to literacy as soon as possible.