On April 7, 2009, the NFB and the Reading Rights Coalition protested the Authors Guild for lobbying to disable text-to-speech on the Kindle 2. This video reports live from the protest in New York City.

Urges Accessibility of New E-book Reader for Students

Baltimore, Maryland (May 6, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind, the nation's oldest and largest organization of blind Americans, commented today on the release by Amazon, Inc. of a new version of its Kindle electronic reading device. The new Kindle has a larger screen than previous versions and is being marketed by Amazon as a potential platform for the display of textbooks for college and graduate students.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "We are appalled that Amazon is releasing a new Kindle device ostensibly for the use of students that does not contain features that make it accessible to the blind. While this new device has the ability to read text aloud, its controls and user interface are not accessible to blind people; therefore, blind students will not have access to electronic textbooks available for the device. If the controls on the Kindle are made accessible to the blind, however, blind students will have equal access to textbooks at the same time as their sighted peers for the first time in history. We therefore urge Amazon to introduce a user interface for the Kindle that is accessible to the blind as soon as possible. Until such an accessible interface is introduced by Amazon, no college or university should deploy this device for use by its students, since doing so will place blind students at an unfair disadvantage compared to their sighted peers and will violate state and federal laws requiring equal access to textbooks and course materials for students with disabilities."

Kareem Dale, President Obama's Special Assistant for Disability Policy,
to Address Gathering and Field Questions

Baltimore, Maryland (April 15, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) will present the second Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium on April 17, 2009, at the NFB Jernigan Institute in Baltimore. The symposium, entitled “New Perspectives on Disability Law: Advancing the Right to Live in the World” and named for NFB founder and pioneering legal scholar Dr. Jacobus tenBroek (1911-1968), will gather public officials, legal scholars, and disability rights advocates for a full-day seminar on the state of disability law in the United States and the world and will discuss how disability rights may be advanced in the future. Kareem Dale, special assistant for disability policy to United States President Barack Obama, will make a presentation to the gathering. Mr. Dale will speak on the Obama administration's policies on disability issues for approximately thirty minutes followed by a forty-five minute question and answer session.

“Our first Jacobus tenBroek symposium was a stunning success, and we are looking forward to once again hosting leading players and thinkers in the disability community,” said Dr. Marc Maurer, an attorney and President of the National Federation of the Blind. “Disability law is rapidly changing at the national and international level, and this forum will provide an opportunity for everyone to assess developments and plan strategies in this dynamic and critically important field.”

Other presenters at the 2009 symposium include Professor Gerard Quinn, National University of Ireland, Galway; Assistant Attorney General Maura Healey, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Professor Samuel Bagenstos, UCLA School of Law; and Professor Peter Blanck, Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University.

Dr. Jacobus tenBroek was a constitutional law scholar, a blind professor at Berkeley, and an author of treatises on the Fourteenth Amendment and social welfare. Dr. tenBroek created the concept that civil rights should apply to disabled Americans, and he published extensively on the application of the law to those with disabilities. His efforts to advance civil rights for the blind and others with disabilities included drafting the Model White Cane Law, which has had a profound influence on the development of civil rights laws for the disabled throughout the United States, and publishing authoritative articles like “The Right to Live in the World: The Disabled in the Law of Torts.”

As many of you know, we are engaged in a campaign to obtain access for the blind and others with print disabilities to e-books available for Amazon's new Kindle 2 e-book reader. The new reader, which Amazon is working to make fully accessible to the blind, has the ability to use text-to-speech to read these e-books aloud; but under pressure from the Authors Guild, Amazon has announced that authors and publishers will be allowed to disable the text-to-speech function.

The National Federation of the blind has joined with over twenty other organizations to create the reading Rights Coalition, which has set up an on-line petition to urge the Authors Guild and Amazon to reverse course. Please read and sign the petition here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/We-Want-To-Read

Please note: If you are using screen access technology, the first three fields on the form to sign the petition may not be announced.

They are, in order:
1. a drop-down menu from which to select your prefix (Mr., Mrs., etc.).
2. an edit field for your first name.
3. an edit field for your last name.

The rest of the fields should announce themselves as you tab to them. If you still have trouble filling out the form, please send the following information to readingrights@nfb.org and we will be happy to sign on your behalf. You will need to send us your name, address, e-mail address, and any personal comments you would like to make about this issue. Thank you so much for your participation in this critically important effort.

Learn more about the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar, which was released on March 26, 2009. Proceeds from the coin will go to the National Federation of the Blind's Braille Readers are Leaders campaign, which is devoted to reversing the downward trend in Braille literacy. You can order your coin today at www.usmint.gov.

The Braille Monitor offers a positive philosophy about blindness to both blind readers and the public at large; serves as a vehicle for advocacy and protection of civil rights; addresses social concerns affecting the blind; discusses issues relating to employment, education, legislation, and rehabilitation; and provides news of products and technology used by the blind.

April 2009 Braille Monitor

You can make change with a Dollar!

Mark Riccobono reports live from the 2009 Washington Seminar and speaks with Anil Lewis, chairman of the NFB Scholarship Commmittee, about the NFB's scholarship program.

The Reading Rights Coalition, which represents people who cannot read print, will protest the threatened removal of the text-to-speech function from e-books for the Amazon Kindle 2 outside the Authors Guild headquarters in New York City at 31 East 32nd Street on April 7, 2009, from noon to 2:00 p.m. The coalition includes the blind, people with dyslexia, people with learning or processing issues, seniors losing vision, people with spinal cord injuries, people recovering from strokes, and many others for whom the addition of text-to-speech on the Kindle 2 promised for the first time easy, mainstream access to over 255,000 books. For more information, please see the official press release on the protest.

National Federation of the Blind and NASA Confirm Historic Flight

Baltimore, Maryland (March 26, 2009): In a surprise announcement at the launch ceremony for the new Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar, NASA announced that the new commemorative coin celebrating the life and work of the inventor of the reading code for the blind will fly on a future space shuttle mission. The announcement, by NASA Deputy Administrator for Educational Programs Dr. Joyce Winterton, came at the end of the official event announcing the availability of this beautiful new coin, which will help the National Federation of the Blind to increase Braille literacy in the United States.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
said: "The Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar symbolizes the power of knowledge and future opportunities for blind children across America. It is therefore fitting that this historic coin will be part of a mission to uncover the secrets of the universe. Perhaps someday a Braille reader will also be part of such a mission."

Dr. Joyce Winterton said: "NASA believes strongly in the importance of educational opportunities for everyone, and that is why we have partnered with the National Federation of the Blind to help create programs that enhance scientific study for blind youth. Launching the first coin ever to contain tactile, readable Braille into space symbolizes NASA's commitment to the spread of knowledge by every means and to every individual."

The Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar goes on sale to the general public at noon today. Those interested in ordering a coin should visit www.usmint.gov or call 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). For more information about the National Federation of the Blind and the Braille Readers are Leaders campaign, visit www.braille.org.

Braille Reading Pals is an early literacy program that gently encourages and rewards parents for reading daily with their blind or low vision children ages infant-7 (or older if the children have developmental delays) who are not yet reading. Sponsored by the NFB Jernigan Institute, this free two-month spring program begins May 1 and concludes June 30. For more information about the program, visit the Braille Reading Pals home page. Registration ends on April 27, 2009, so sign up online today!

Baltimore, Maryland (February 18, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation's leading advocate for Braille literacy, announced today that Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, a motivational speaker and former collegiate football player best known as the inspiration for the motion picture Rudy, will serve as a National Ambassador for Braille literacy. As an ambassador, Ruettiger will help advance the NFB's Braille Readers are Leaders campaign, a national initiative to promote the importance of reading and writing Braille for blind children and adults. The Braille Readers are Leaders campaign kicked off in July of 2008 with the unveiling of the design of a commemorative coin to be released on March 26, 2009, in recognition of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille (1809-1852), the inventor of the reading and writing code for the blind that bears his name. Learn more...

Do you love Braille? Has Braille made a difference in your life? If so, please send us an audio or video clip answering the question, "What does Braille mean to me?" We welcome anyone who has discovered the love for Braille to submit an entry—Braille readers, teachers, transcribers, proofreaders, parents, or friends. To be considered for inclusion in the video portion of the historic Louis Braille coin launch ceremony, submissions must be received by March 1, 2009. To learn more about this exciting contest, including how to submit an entry, visit the contest home page. For more information about the Braille coin launch ceremony, visit the Louis Braille Bicentennial Coin Launch home page.

The National Federation of the Blind, as part of its Braille Readers are Leaders Literacy Campaign, has committed to an unprecedented effort to increase literacy among the blind. One of the campaign goals is to make Braille resources more available through online sharing of materials, enhanced production methods, and improved distribution. NFB ShareBraille is designed to help in meeting this goal by encouraging blind people to trade Braille books and build their personal library. Frequently, Braille materials in good condition are discarded because a new home for the materials cannot be found. NFB ShareBraille now offers a way for a community to close that gap and keep Braille reading materials circulating. Build your Braille library and help others do the same—share Braille and build literacy.

NFB ShareBraille is a free service provided by the National Federation of the Blind to promote the use and vitality of Braille. To trade your Braille books or to request books from other NFB ShareBraille users, simply create a free account and start exploring the available titles.

www.nfbsharebraille.org

Happy Reading!

You can now follow the latest news and information from the National Federation of the Blind, the Voice of the Nation’s Blind, on Twitter. To follow our Twitter updates, go to www.twitter.com/NFB_voice. You’ll need to join Twitter if you don’t have an account.

Twitter is a social networking site that allows you to keep track of your friends, family, and interests online. In addition to signing up for Web updates for the National Federation of the Blind, you can also opt to receive our Twitter updates via text message on your mobile phone. And while you’re at it, follow the 2009 Braille Readers are Leaders campaign as well, by going to www.twitter.com/brailleliteracy.

We hope lots of you will follow our new Twitter feed—and don’t hesitate to send us a direct message if you have questions or comments about what you read.