Baltimore, Maryland (October 1, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation’s leading advocate for Internet access by blind Americans, has granted Gold Level NFB-NVA Certification to GE. The NFB applauds GE’s continued commitment to ensuring equal access to its Web site for blind consumers and commends GE’s sustained leadership in Web accessibility.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “The National Federation of the Blind commends GE for its continued commitment to making its Web site accessible to all consumers. GE has been a consistent promoter of access for all Americans and its socially responsible conduct is an example we hope all companies that have an Internet presence will follow.”

The NFB Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification Program connects Web site and application developers with leading experts on blindness and accessibility to ensure that their Internet sites or applications are fully accessible to and usable by blind people employing screen access software. Applicants go through a rigorous evaluation and testing procedure and work with a web accessibility consultant (WAC) to address any accessibility issues discovered during the evaluation. In the case of GE, web accessibility consulting was provided by Deque Systems, Inc. [http://www.deque.com]. Once the site or application has addressed all accessibility issues, it is granted the right to display an NFB-NVA seal of approval on its site. Sites are continuously monitored to ensure that they remain compliant with certification criteria. GE has maintained a high standard of accessibility and has been recertified by NFB-NVA at the Gold Level.

“We are honored to be recognized by the National Federation of the Blind for our work on accessibility,” said Jen Walsh, GE’s digital media director. “Our content, design, and technology team works hard every day to ensure that GE.com is accessible to people with disabilities. We remain committed to this important cause.”

For more information on the NFB-NVA Certification, please visit https://archive.nfb.org/nfb/certification-intro. To learn more about the National Federation of the Blind, please visit www.nfb.org.