by Peggy Chong
Includes photo: Caption: Peggy Chong
Developed by the National Federation of the Blind, NEWSLINE is a free service used by blind subscribers to read newspapers through any touch?tone telephone. Thanks to a one-year grant through the Institution of Museums and Libraries, subscribers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, will soon be able to access every newspaper that NEWSLINE currently supports. Although NEWSLINE has covered large population areas in over 30 states for the past few years, over half of our country has not been able to access it without calling long distance. As soon as this service is online, any blind person registered for NEWSLINE can dial a new toll-free number, 1-888-882-1629, to access all the newspapers carried on the service.
Readers already using NEWSLINE will find the new, expanded service easy to use. Pick up any touch-tone phone, dial the NEWSLINE number, listen to the menu, and choose options by tapping numbers on the phone keypad. Instead of the usual three national papers available each morning, subscribers can read over 50 newspapers, from across the country. Consider how interesting it will be to read the newspaper from a city in which a big story is breaking. In addition, NEWSLINE's no-newspaper features, which are currently available in each area, will now be available with all of the newspapers.
NEWSLINE is available, free of charge, to anyone at least legally blind. To register for this new nationwide service, or to check for updated information, contact the National Federation of the Blind, at the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore, see the NFB's monthly magazine, the Braille Monitor, call the local news option on your local NEWSLINE, or contact a local leader of the NFB in your community, or visit the NFB Web site: www.nfb.org
The NEWSLINE application is a one-page form. Get a copy of the form, fill it out completely, and return it to: NEWSLINE, National Center for the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. Because NEWSLINE service requires a signature, prospective subscribers must acquire or copy a print NEWSLINE application form. A copy may be downloaded from www.nfb.org Forms are often available from public libraries, or may be requested from local leaders of the NFB or from the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore.
NEWSLINE hereby requests all subscribers -- help us to spread the word about this wonderful opportunity. Please help us spread the word to special education departments, teachers, or schools serving blind students, and anywhere else Americans can be found who cannot read the newspapers because of their eyesight. National headlines or local stories, sports, Ann Landers, or letters to the editor and social commentary--there is much that our sighted neighbors and co-workers are enjoying, thinking about, and talking about. Now we can, too.