Voice of the Nation's Blind

The NFB today applauded the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for publicly announcing its commitment to purchasing e-book technology that can be used by the blind and others with print disabilities.  The announcement comes on the heels of news that the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University will not broadly deploy Amazon’s Kindle DX e-book reading device, which Amazon is marketing as a replacement for traditional print textbooks, until the device is fully accessible to blind students.  The Kindle DX features text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud.  The menus of the device are not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon’s Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX.  For more on this, please read the official press release.

The National Federation of the Blind today commended Google, the Association of American Publishers, and the Authors Guild for retaining important provisions in the amended settlement relating to the Google Books project that will allow people who are blind or have other print disabilities to access the books that Google makes available to the public.  The amended settlement between Google and authors and publishers regarding the Google Books project, if approved by the courts, will have a profound and positive impact on the ability of blind people to access the printed word.  For further information on this important topic, please read the official press release.

Once again, Santa has enlisted the help of the elves at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Jernigan Institute to get Braille letters out to hundreds of blind boys and girls this Christmas season. Between November 16 and December 20, parents can go online at www.nfb.org and fill out a Santa Braille Letter request form. The form can also be printed and faxed to (410) 659-6893. Beginning December 1, the Braille letters from Santa will start going out to boys and girls around the country. The Braille letter will also be accompanied by a print copy (for mom and dad to read), and parents can choose the contracted or uncontracted form of Braille for the letter. Requests for letters must include the writer’s name, the child’s name, birthday, gender, mailing address, and a telephone number or e-mail address in case Santa’s helpers at the National Federation of the Blind have questions.

The NFB today applauded the decision of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University to not deploy Amazon’s Kindle DX as a means of distributing electronic textbooks (e-books) to their students.  The Kindle DX features text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud.  The menus of the device are not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon’s Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX.  Both universities have experimented with the Kindle DX to learn whether e-book technology is useful to their students.  But the schools will not adopt the device for general use unless and until it is made accessible to blind students.  For more on this, read the official press release or the Associated Press article that came out this morning.

The University of Notre Dame will use a 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar in the coin toss at its football game on Saturday, November 7. The renowned Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who have been awarded more national championships than any other Football Bowl Subdivision school, will play Navy. For more information, please read the official press release.

NFB-NEWSLINE^® is now available to all print-disabled Arkansas residents. NFB-NEWSLINE^® is a free service that allows those who cannot read conventional newsprint due to a physical disability to listen to the newspaper over the telephone, on the web, or by download to a digital talking-book player. Through the service, blind Arkansans can now independently access over three hundred newspapers and magazines and decide how, when, and where they wish to read their favorite publications.  For more information on the free service, please visit the NFB-NEWSLINE^® home page.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2010 National Federation of the Blind Scholarship Program. Thirty scholarships totaling $100,000 will be awarded to blind students from the United States and Puerto Rico. The scholarships are available to blind students who will be enrolled in college or a graduate program beginning in the fall of 2010, including incoming freshmen. Scholarships range in value from $3,000 to $12,000.  For application and eligibility information, please visit www.nfb.org/scholarships.

NFB president, Dr. Marc Maurer, will be presented the Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, C.S.C., Award from the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association in a ceremony on November 5.  Maurer, a 1974 graduate from the University of Notre Dame, will be honored for outstanding contributions in the field of public service.  For more information on this prestigious honor, please read the official press release.

The National Federation of the Blind and Carlos Mora, a blind resident of Baltimore, Maryland, filed an administrative complaint today with the United States Department of Education.  The complaint asserts that one of the United States Department of Education’s Web sites, U.S.A Learns, violates Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act because it is inaccessible to blind people who use text-to-speech screen access technology or Braille displays to access information on the Internet.  Because of the inaccessibility of the U.S.A Learns Web site, blind people cannot access or navigate through the content of the English vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation lessons that are offered through the site. 

 

Louisiana Tech University will use a 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar in the coin toss at its football game on November 6.  The popular Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, a NCAA division I football team, will play the Boise State Broncos. For more information, please read the official press release.