Public

RESOLUTION 2009-02
RE: Access to Electronic Textbooks

WHEREAS, advances in technology have brought us hand-held electronic book-reading devices such as the Kindle by Amazon and the Reader Digital Book by Sony; and

WHEREAS, ink on paper cannot be read independently by the blind, but, when properly created, electronic books offer total access to blind and other print-disabled individuals, vastly enlarging the amount of information available to the blind; and

RESOLUTION 2009-01
RE: Braille Literacy

WHEREAS, literacy, being able to read and write efficiently , is essential to effective communication, access to highly skilled and highly paid employment, and success in the community; and

WHEREAS, only 10 percent of today’s blind students under age twenty-two (22) are being taught to read Braille, resulting in a 45 percent high school graduation rate for blind students; and

RESOLUTION 2008-14
RE: 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

RESOLUTION 2008-13
RE: 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

RESOLUTION 2008-11
RE: 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

RESOLUTION 2008-10
RE: 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

RESOLUTION 2008-09
RE: 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

RESOLUTION 2008-08
RE: The Blind and American Paper Currency

RESOLUTION 2008 –07
RE: 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

RESOLUTION 2008-06
RE: 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 chairman 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