Braille Monitor August/September 2008
RESOLUTION 2008-01
Regarding Full Funding of NLS Conversion Project
WHEREAS, access to library services is just as important for blind Americans as it is for our sighted peers, and the only public library service available to the blind is that provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress (NLS); and
WHEREAS, NLS is engaged in a plan to convert its collection of Talking Books, currently recorded on cassette tapes, to a new digital format, and it is critical that this conversion take place as quickly as possible since cassette tapes are now obsolete and the last Talking Book cassette player has already been manufactured; and
WHEREAS, the original budget request of $12.5 million per year from the Library of Congress would extend the plan conducted by the NLS to convert cassette Talking Books and players to digital Talking Books and players from the initially proposed four years to six years; and
WHEREAS, the NLS will cease the production of recorded books using analog cassette technology on October 1, 2010; and
WHEREAS, under the six-year plan only half of library patrons would have new digital players to play Talking Books by October 1, 2010, meaning that under such a plan hundreds of thousands of blind patrons could be without access to new materials for as much as three years; and
WHEREAS, the budget request is only a suggested funding blueprint for the Congress; and
WHEREAS, eighty-seven members of the House of Representatives signed a Dear Colleague letter circulated by Congressman Towns of New York in support of funding that would return the digital conversion to the original four-year schedule; and
WHEREAS, the Congress has ultimate authority to appropriate funds and, under Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and ranking member Tom Latham (R-IA), the House Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch has chosen to exercise this authority and increase this year’s appropriation for the Talking Book conversion program to $34.5 million, an amount that would permit the conversion to be completed in three rather than the proposed six years, which will be extremely beneficial to blind library patrons; and
WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind fervently hopes this appropriation will remain in final appropriations legislation enacted by Congress: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization express its heartfelt appreciation to Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and the ranking member Tom Latham of Iowa for offering support above and beyond our expectations, which if enacted allows completion of the NLS conversion project in three rather than four or six years; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge Congress to maintain the funding adopted by the House Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch in final appropriations legislation.
RESOLUTION 2008-02
Regarding Momentum Toward Solving the Quiet Cars Crisis
WHEREAS, the blind rely on the sound made by motor vehicles to determine when it is safe to cross streets and driveways, traverse parking lots, and otherwise be aware of when moving vehicles are present; and
WHEREAS, since 2003 the National Federation of the Blind has expressed deep concerns about the safety of the blind and other pedestrians due to the silencing of motor vehicles, particularly those hybrid and other electric vehicles that use batteries instead of combustion engines; and
WHEREAS, since 2003 silent vehicles have proliferated and the collective experience of the blind with them has heightened our concerns about their threat to the blind and other pedestrians; and
WHEREAS, for much of the time since 2003, the Federation has sought to collaborate with organizations that can ensure that motor vehicles make a sound while in operation, but our requests have gone unheeded; and
WHEREAS, recently, individuals and organizations who have the ability to ensure that motor vehicles emit a sound that will allow the blind and other pedestrians to travel safely have begun to work with us to address our concerns, giving us hope that a solution is on the horizon; and
WHEREAS, a car manufacturer, General Motors, visited the National Center for the Blind to discuss blind people’s concerns about quiet cars; and
WHEREAS, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has both held and participated in meetings about our concerns regarding the silent nature of certain motor vehicles and has expressed interest in working for a solution to the problem of what sound should be emitted by motor vehicles; and
WHEREAS, the Society of Automotive Engineers International has created a committee to explore recommendations for establishing a minimum sound standard for vehicles; and
WHEREAS, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration held a hearing at which the Federation testified on June 23, 2008, to gather information about the effect of silent motor vehicles on blind and other pedestrians; and
WHEREAS, in 2008 Congressmen Ed Towns (D-NY) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL) introduced HR 5734, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, which would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to convene a study of the silent motor vehicle problem and, within ninety days of the study's end, establish a vehicle safety standard that implements the results of the study, and, two years after the safety standard is implemented, all new cars sold in the United States would be required to comply with the standard: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization express appreciation for the interest shown by General Motors, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Society of Automotive Engineers International, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for their dialog with us to find a solution to the real crisis posed by silent and quiet cars, but emphatically urge these entities to take significant, demonstrable steps toward solving the challenges posed to blind and other pedestrians by silent cars; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge Congress to pass legislation as the surest way to establish standards that allow the blind and other pedestrians to identify the presence, direction, and velocity of vehicles.
RESOLUTION 2008-03
Regarding Books Formatted for Braille from Bookshare.org
WHEREAS, Bookshare.org is a project dedicated to the legal distribution of books and periodicals in accessible formats, including electronic Braille; and
WHEREAS, with creativity and ingenuity Bookshare.org offers unprecedented access to general books and periodicals to blind readers through a mechanism enabling the sharing of books scanned by thousands of individuals, which eliminates significant duplication of effort; and
WHEREAS, in the fall of 2007 the project received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education in the amount of $32 million over five years to expand significantly the availability of accessible electronic books and to make them available without charge to all students with qualifying disabilities in the United States; and
WHEREAS, according to its Website, Bookshare.org intends “to make extensive use of textbook files provided by publishers in the recently mandated National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS), to create high-quality, student-ready materials in digital audio, large print, or Braille”; and
WHEREAS, it is widely known that, despite the many advances in the capability of Braille-translation software, intervention by a Braille transcriber knowledgeable in the rules set forth by the Braille Authority of North America is still required to ensure that the often complicated layout and the increasingly graphics-intensive content of textbooks is rendered properly and can be readily understood and navigated by the Braille reader; and
WHEREAS, Bookshare.org’s process for converting books and periodicals from print to accessible formats involves some checking by volunteers and staff to ensure basic readability and navigability, but the process of converting to Braille is handled automatically by translation software and involves no final proofreading to ensure that the format of the Braille versions is correct, so in reality Bookshare.org Braille files are not student-ready; and
WHEREAS, Bookshare.org has an obligation to indicate clearly to all concerned that the Braille textbooks made available on its Website have not been proofread and are therefore not student-ready; and
WHEREAS, the economics of special education, combined with the unfortunately pervasive lack of knowledge about Braille production even in the special education field, leads some people who work with blind children simply to download the Bookshare.org files and provide them directly to the students rather than paying for professionally transcribed books; and
WHEREAS, such a trend will have far-reaching implications, not only undermining ongoing efforts to ensure that children who read Braille receive high-quality instructional materials, but also eroding the already fragile infrastructure now in place for the production of Braille textbooks; Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization urge Bookshare.org to have its Braille versions of K-12 textbooks professionally proofread and corrected; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization strongly urge Bookshare.org to use its unique position to support efforts at improving the quality of Braille educational materials for K-12 students.
RESOLUTION 2008-04
Regarding the Department of Defense Report on the Military Dining Facility Conflict
WHEREAS, beginning in 2003, and occurring in every annual piece of legislation to reauthorize Department of Defense (DOD) Programs through 2006, Congress has addressed the conflict between blind vendors under the Randolph-Sheppard Act and the severely disabled under the Javits-Wagner-O’Day (JWOD) Act in the operation of military dining facilities; and
WHEREAS, these attempts to address the conflict have satisfied no one—neither blind vendors, JWOD officials, military contracting officers, nor Congress itself; and
WHEREAS, in 2006, in Section 856 of Public Law 109-364, the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, Congress mandated a report by the Inspectors General of the federal Departments of Defense and Education, a report that DOD finally released on April 15 of this year; and
WHEREAS, the final report is replete with errors which, if accepted as fact, would diminish or completely eliminate the opportunities blind men and women currently have to serve the fighting men and women of this nation; and
WHEREAS, among the assertions in this report not supported by facts are that blind vendor-managers provide no value to the military dining contracts; that Randolph-Sheppard contracts may cost more than other dining contracts and are monopolistic, driving potential competitors away; and that the Randolph-Sheppard Act takes control away from the DOD because the blind vendor is selected by the state licensing agency; and
WHEREAS, the inclusion of these errant assertions was apparently intended to, and will in fact, prejudice the Congress as it seeks to make critical decisions about the relationship among Randolph-Sheppard, JWOD, and other government contractors feeding our nation’s troops; and
WHEREAS, the release of the IG DOD report was timed to allow inclusion of its prejudicial recommendations in annual legislation to reauthorize DOD programs without opportunity for opponents to provide public comment--though so far it does not appear that Congress intends to do so: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization condemn and deplore the errant and prejudicial report submitted to Congress by the DOD for the purpose of depriving blind vendors of military dining opportunities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon Congress to refrain from including any of the recommendations of this report in legislation either to reauthorize defense programs or to appropriate funds for defense programs; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization strongly urge Congress to ignore the IG DOD report completely and instead to conduct a public process with all stakeholders in order to reach a lasting solution to the conflict between Randolph-Sheppard and JWOD.
RESOLUTION 2008-05
Regarding Reading Restrictions on the NLS Digital Download Project
WHEREAS, in October 2006 the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress (NLS) began to provide an alternative way for borrowers to access its collection by allowing some patrons to download books and magazines over the Internet; and
WHEREAS, the NLS Website already contains over 10,000 books and more than a dozen periodicals for patrons to download, and NLS plans to add additional materials each month to the Website for downloading; and
WHEREAS, for the first time in history blind people have almost instantaneous access to a collection of books without having to wait for delivery from our regional libraries, and we can collect books and periodicals for our individual libraries; and
WHEREAS, this digital download project not only will enhance the reading experience for blind people, but will also promote literacy and provide greater equality with our sighted peers today and for many years to come; and
WHEREAS, the NLS policy of permitting patrons to download only thirty books or periodicals in a thirty-day period is contrary to the purpose of the program, which is to offer greater access to the collection by patrons; and
WHEREAS, Bookshare.org, a private nonprofit organization that runs a digital download book project, offers over 38,000 books and 150 periodicals, allows its subscribers to download as many as 100 books per month, and also makes provision for subscribers to exceed this limit, thereby demonstrating that greater access to books can be provided; and
WHEREAS, NLS plans to open the digital download project to all of its patrons who have the necessary equipment by the end of 2008: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind, in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization commend NLS for its creativity and forward thinking as demonstrated by the development of the digital download project; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon NLS to eliminate the restriction on the number of books and periodicals that patrons can download each month when the pilot project becomes available to all patrons, in order to fulfill the real promise of access that is made possible by today’s advanced digital technology.
RESOLUTION 2008-06
Regarding Improving Access to Instructional Materials in Higher Education
WHEREAS, for many years the National Federation of the Blind has worked tirelessly to improve the accessibility of instructional materials for blind college students; and
WHEREAS, the chairperson of the House Committee on Education and Labor, George Miller (D-CA) has included language on the accessibility of instructional materials for college students in HR 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008, House legislation to reauthorize higher education programs; and
WHEREAS, this language is acceptable to this organization only as a first step toward achieving meaningful accessibility of instructional materials; and
WHEREAS, S 1642, the Higher Education Amendments of 2007, did not include provisions for accessibility of instructional materials; and
WHEREAS, since HR 4137 and S 1642 were passed by their respective houses of Congress, a conference committee will be required to resolve differences in the bills; and
WHEREAS, the provisions in HR 4137 would create a commission to study how to make instructional materials available to blind and print-disabled college students in a timely manner and would make recommendations to Congress for future legislation; and
WHEREAS, on this commission users of instructional materials in higher education and those who support greater access to such materials would be well represented, thus enhancing the likelihood that its conclusions would foster greater access for the blind to these instructional materials; and
WHEREAS, this commission would also collect data from a pilot program by an existing entity that is already providing accessible materials to college students; and
WHEREAS, a serious flaw in this legislation is that the commission would have only one year to make recommendations for legislation or regulations assuring that blind and print-disabled college students receive instructional materials on time, while the pilot program would serve an extremely small number of students who are already being served and would last for three years with a possible three-year extension: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization urge Congress to include, as a part of any enacted legislation to reauthorize higher education programs, provisions to create a commission with significant representation of users of higher education instructional materials and other stakeholders to advance opportunities for blind students to receive their materials on time, and to offer one or more pilot programs to provide accessible instructional materials to higher education students; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge Congress to eliminate any extensions of the pilot programs beyond the initial period because they will have only a token impact on access to instructional materials for blind college students.
RESOLUTION 2008–07
Regarding Insulin Pen Disclaimer
WHEREAS, most people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes can achieve effective self-management of the disease by regularly testing blood sugar, eating well, and taking medication if necessary; and
WHEREAS, for some, effective self-management also includes accurately measuring and injecting insulin several times a day; and
WHEREAS, many diabetics measure insulin with ordinary insulin pens manufactured by pharmaceutical giants like Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sanofi-aventis; and
WHEREAS, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults of working age; and
WHEREAS, for years blind diabetics have achieved independent self management of diabetes by successfully using an insulin pen; and
WHEREAS, despite the resounding evidence that blind people can use insulin pens safely and effectively, two manufacturers, Eli Lilly and Company and Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., use language on their insulin pen packages warning the blind not to use these products without sighted assistance; and
WHEREAS, for example, the instructions from Eli Lilly and Company read, “The HumaPen MEMOIR is not recommended for the blind or visually impaired without the assistance of a sighted individual trained to use it,” and the instructions from Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., read, “The Levemir FlexPen is not recommended for the blind or severely visually impaired patients without the assistance of a sighted individual trained in the proper use of the product”; and
WHEREAS, these warnings may actually discourage health care providers from providing the best medical care to their blind and low-vision diabetic patients; and
WHEREAS, these unnecessary warnings are detrimental to the public’s understanding of blindness as well as the independence of blind and low-vision diabetics; and
WHEREAS, insulin pens are one of the easiest ways for blind people to draw up insulin, especially since the Count-a-Dose syringe holder and measuring device, which was easy for blind people to use, is no longer manufactured; and
WHEREAS, these disclaimers are not required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as some in the industry maintain; and
WHEREAS, Sanofi-aventis has chosen not to carry such demeaning warnings on its insulin pens and thus respects the capabilities of blind people: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization commend Sanofi-aventis for accurately recognizing that blind persons are capable of independently managing their diabetes without sighted assistance, thus fostering proper understanding of the way independent blind and low-vision diabetics can manage their disease by themselves; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization demand that Eli Lilly and Company and Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., remove the demeaning language about blindness from all of their insulin pen instructions and products.
RESOLUTION 2008-08
Regarding the Blind and American Paper Currency
WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind strongly opposed federal court involvement in issues regarding changing paper currency because the argument presented to the court stated that the blind of America were being unlawfully made victims of discrimination because they lacked “meaningful access” to paper money on the basis that it was impossible for the blind to use paper currency independently, a patently untrue argument we feared judges would believe--fears confirmed by the opinions of the judges who considered the matter; and
WHEREAS, despite the courts' contrary holdings, which are largely the result of factual errors, we remain convinced that blind people have meaningful access to currency, in other words that there is no discrimination against the blind given that we regularly conduct daily business using American paper currency as it now exists; and
WHEREAS, many of the factual suppositions and much of the language included in legal briefs and in opinions issued by both the federal District Court and federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. (language such as the blind are the “most vulnerable individuals in our society”) indicate that the judiciary has low expectations of blind people and treats our routine, daily alternative techniques as badges of inferiority which can only serve to make us objects of pity—a perception that could have extreme, grievous, detrimental impact on the ability of blind people to achieve the equality that we so richly deserve; and
WHEREAS, this attack upon the blind was conducted by judges who had sworn to tell the truth and to uphold the laws of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the judicial decisions depict the blind in a false light, asserting that we who are blind have little capacity and less understanding of our own financial resources and of the other accidents of society that surround us; and
WHEREAS, the irony of these judicial determinations is that the blind are told we are incompetent in decisions that base their justification on nondiscrimination principles; and
WHEREAS, as we stated in a 1994 resolution (and as we reaffirm today), “Bills which can be identified by other than conventional print [that is, in nonvisual ways] could be more convenient for everyone, may be a necessity to safeguard against counterfeiting, and may be desirable to take the best advantage of evolving technology”: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization urge the United States Department of the Treasury to consider means to make currency more identifiable by the blind and thereby more convenient for a greater portion of the population of the country; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization insist upon being well represented in any process intended to redesign American currency or to promulgate or create means to identify it in nonvisual ways.
RESOLUTION 2008-09
Regarding State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies’ Purchase
of Assistive Technology for Blind Clients’ Use on the Job
WHEREAS, at the outset of employment and on an as-needed basis, blind people may require certain assistive technology to allow them to compete equally with their sighted peers in the workforce; and
WHEREAS, the blind across the nation have experienced attempts by state vocational rehabilitation agencies to palm their responsibilities off on others by demanding that employers who hire their clients purchase the assistive technology those clients require before the state vocational rehabilitation agencies will consider purchasing the needed accommodations themselves; and
WHEREAS, state vocational rehabilitation agencies often justify this practice by stating that they do not want to supplant employers’ distinct responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); and
WHEREAS, this practice of state vocational rehabilitation agencies places blind vocational rehabilitation clients’ employment in jeopardy since it results in delay in acquiring needed assistive technology and causes tension in, and even an adversarial beginning to, the employment relationship; and
WHEREAS, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, not state vocational rehabilitation agencies, is responsible for enforcing employers’ obligations under the ADA; and
WHEREAS, rehabilitation technologies are not “comparable benefits” exempted from state vocational rehabilitation agencies’ responsibilities under the Rehabilitation Act, nor are employers “comparable services”; and
WHEREAS, a decade ago, through technical assistance circular 98-04, the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration expressly advised state vocational rehabilitation agencies that they are not to shift responsibility for providing rehabilitation technology to employers, stating that there is no basis in Title I of the Rehabilitation Act or its implementing regulations for state vocational rehabilitation agencies to provide necessary rehabilitation technology contingent on employers meeting an undue-hardship test under the ADA; and
WHEREAS, state vocational rehabilitation agencies’ primary obligation is to their clients, and they should do whatever is needed to help their clients get and keep jobs: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization call on all state vocational rehabilitation agencies to accept their responsibility for purchasing assistive technology needed by their blind vocational rehabilitation clients to ensure that job opportunities are not lost in the morass of bureaucracy and debate over who ought to be responsible for such purchases.
RESOLUTION 2008-10
Regarding Upcoming Section 508 and Section 255 Access Technology Standards
WHEREAS, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act of 1996 are two laws regarding accessible information and communication technology for which technical standards and guidelines have been promulgated under the auspices of the U.S. Access Board; and
WHEREAS, Section 508 requires federal agencies to procure accessible electronic and information technology and to be guided in these procurements by technical standards promulgated by the Access Board; and
WHEREAS, Section 255 of the Communications Act of 1996 requires certain telecommunications-related equipment and services to be designed, developed, and fabricated to be accessible to and usable by people with disabilities if readily achievable under guidelines promulgated by the Access Board; and
WHEREAS, in 2006, to update the standards and guidelines for Section 508 and Section 255, the Access Board established the Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC), consisting of representatives from industry, the disability community, the federal government, and international standards organizations; and
WHEREAS, the TEITAC, which included representation from the National Federation of the Blind, began its work in September 2006 and produced a substantial report that was submitted to the Access Board in April 2008; and
WHEREAS, this report, which took almost two years to produce, is but the first step of many that must be taken before the Access Board publishes updated standards and guidelines, and the very real possibility exists that new standards and guidelines may not be issued for several years to come; and
WHEREAS, these cumbersome processes are being outpaced by rapid and significant changes--both in mainstream information technology and in assistive technology; and
WHEREAS, while the standards and guidelines have assumed that computers and telecommunications equipment are discrete technologies, cell phones, computers and personal digital assistants are quickly and inevitably evolving into devices that can perform the functions of what used to be three separate pieces of technology; and
WHEREAS, many devices that exist today already have assistive technology built into them, making it difficult if not impossible to separate so-called assistive technology from mainstream technology; and
WHEREAS, under the original standards for Section 508 and the guidelines for Section 255, particular information and communication technologies were too often deemed accessibility-compliant even though they were not usable by the blind; and
WHEREAS, information and communication technologies may be usable by blind people as they are designed, or they may require the addition of access technology such as screen reading software, but in either case the critical issue should be whether blind people can access all functions of any particular information and communication technology: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization call upon the U.S. Access Board to move quickly to promulgate updated technical standards and guidelines for Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act that are responsive to the rapid changes typical in today's technological world; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge the U.S. Access Board to incorporate the following principles into the updated standards:
1. Rather than specifying how accessibility should be achieved, standards and guidelines should specify the functions that accessible information and communication technology should enable a person with a disability to perform and the efficiency with which the function should be able to be performed;
2. Accessibility should be measured according to whether a particular piece of technology affords as timely, accurate, complete, and efficient access as that provided for users who do not have a disability and not according to how well it complies with a set of technical standards or guidelines.
RESOLUTION 2008-11
Regarding Audio Description of Films
WHEREAS, the movie-going experience for blind and visually impaired people is enhanced by the provision of audio description of the characters, their actions, and the scenery and the reading of subtitles during screening of the film; and
WHEREAS, only a few movie theatres show audio-described films regularly; and
WHEREAS, blindness and vision loss are increasing in the United States, and we are becoming a more important segment of the entertainment market; and
WHEREAS, any financial burden to the motion picture industry that results from providing audio description will be more than compensated for by the expanded audience who will come to audio-described movies; and
WHEREAS, it is more cost-effective to add audio description to a film at the time of production: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind, in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization encourage the motion picture industry to provide audio description of all new films as they are being produced; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization encourage movie theaters to show audio-described films as a matter of general practice.
RESOLUTION 2008-13
Regarding Use of MathML to Improve Access to Technical
Information for the Blind
WHEREAS, while screen access programs and Braille translation software have given the blind unprecedented access to information that is fundamentally coded as literary text, it has been more difficult for these technologies to provide efficient and effective access to information that, at its core, contains scientific and mathematical expressions; and
WHEREAS, publishers of printed textbooks have demonstrated that they have the capacity to provide literary text content as marked up electronic text that can be converted into an accessible format in a relatively straightforward manner, but thus far it would seem that they have supplied mathematical equations and other technical material as images--images that today cannot be converted into accessible formats using automated tools; and
WHEREAS, Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) offers a method for storing and transmitting mathematical expressions and information that does not rely upon the visual appearance of the information but rather its intended meaning; and
WHEREAS, the World Wide Web Consortium, the body that determines the specifications underlying the World Wide Web, is actively engaged in the promulgation of MathML as the key means for the dissemination of mathematical information through the World Wide Web; and
WHEREAS, MathML offers a much greater potential for rendering mathematical expressions in a format that is accessible to the blind as compared to images of the same information: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization call upon publishers to use Mathematical Markup Language as the means for electronically encoding mathematical information instead of images of mathematical equations, which cannot, in and of themselves, be converted automatically into formats that are accessible to the blind; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the companies who produce and maintain screen access technology and Braille translation software to move without delay to incorporate the ability into their various products to render information coded in MathML in formats such as Nemeth Braille and synthesized speech that are accessible to the blind.
RESOLUTION 2008-14
Opposition to Proposed Randolph-Sheppard Legislation
WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has been an active champion of opportunities available under the Randolph-Sheppard Act because they offer competitive wages, which far too often are unavailable to blind people; entrepreneurial opportunities to manage vending facilities available in no other disability employment program; and chances for blind people to be seen by society performing meaningful work, which helps change the negative perceptions that many have about the capacity of the blind; and
WHEREAS, in October 2005 Senator Enzi of Wyoming, who then chaired the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (the HELP committee) and now serves as the ranking Republican member of the HELP committee, held an oversight hearing to consider programs under the Randolph-Sheppard Act and the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act--a hearing in which baseless, attention-grabbing assertions were made regarding the Vending Facility Program under the Randolph-Sheppard Act; and
WHEREAS, the HELP committee continued to investigate the two programs, gathering information from experts and supporters of each program with a view toward introducing legislation to modernize these two programs; and
WHEREAS, once the actual drafting of legislation began, the committee never showed its work to supporters of the Randolph-Sheppard program for our opinions regarding possible changes in the act and finally introduced a bill--S 3112 the Javits-Wagner-O’Day and Randolph-Sheppard Modernization Act of 2008--which does little to modernize, but much to over-regulate and complicate the Randolph-Sheppard Act; and
WHEREAS, with regard to military dining contracts, S 3112 eliminates the priority for the blind, putting the blind on a par with 8(a) companies, Alaska Native Corporations, and other entities that have the legal right to compete for a far greater array of federal contracts, and also renders the fair hearing and arbitration provisions inapplicable for military dining--provisions that if enacted would inevitably result in a loss of the priority and arbitration rights throughout the federal government; and
WHEREAS, this legislation would ultimately reserve 50 percent of new facilities for individuals with disabilities other than blindness, but do nothing either to enhance the ability of state licensing agencies to create new facilities or to assure that those federal agencies that shirk their responsibilities under the act can no longer do so, dividing the same limited-opportunity pie among more individuals, resulting in a substantial loss of opportunities for vendors; and
WHEREAS, in our proposal to modernize Randolph-Sheppard, the National Federation of the Blind urged that its administration be moved from the Department of Education, because of its complete lack of support for the law, to a federal agency with a business or entrepreneurial focus, but this legislation would move administration to the same committee that oversees the JWOD Act--a committee entirely void of any institutional knowledge of Randolph-Sheppard, and one that is in fact likely to be hostile toward Randolph-Sheppard given the many years of conflict between it and JWOD; and
WHEREAS, this legislation would give more power to the state licensing agencies in their relationship with licensed vendors, dramatically increase vendors’ paperwork and reporting burdens, and require their immediate payment of rent and utilities, which would drive many out of business and render many existing vending facilities unsuitable unless they are given a reasonable time for transition to this burdensome obligation: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that this organization express our fervent opposition to S 3112, the Randolph-Sheppard and Javits-Wagner-O’Day Modernization Act of 2008; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization strongly urge Congress to enact legislation to modernize the Randolph-Sheppard Act that aggressively increases the type and number of opportunities for blind business people, leverages partnerships between Randolph-Sheppard vendors and other business interests, and increases self-sufficiency of those participating in the Vending Facility Program.