<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">hi all I was asked to circulate the following information. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Hello,</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">As many of you know, the Annual NFB Washington Seminar draws near. Changing laws is how we change the reality for blind people in America. I am writing to ask you to help me make a difference on this critical issue. Please help us collect 250 letters to Members of Congress!</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">Facts:</div><div class="">1. Equal access to an education, including technology used on campus, is a legal right today for blind students, yet failure to provide accessible materials and utilize accessible technology is not rare, it is the norm.</div><div class="">2. Members of the House of Representatives and Senate do care what their constituents think.</div><div class="">3. Your personal story can be a powerful tool to highlight the urgent need to pass legislation to help ensure that blind students are not left behind due to inaccessible technology.</div><div class="">4. If you right a brief letter to your Senators and Representative, we will ensure that it is delivered to your Members of Congress in meetings in late January.</div><div class="">5. You have a bit of free time on your hands now that the semester is over (Ok, that might be a little bit of speculation!)</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">Please, take 15 minutes to half an hour to write a quick letter for us before January 10. Our goal is 250. We already have many. Thanks to those of you who have already written! Please, Just share any stories you have related to access buriers such as: inaccessible pdf books, inaccessible file formats, reader hardware, web platforms, required software for coursework or to register for classes, print transcripts, etc. Just tell a bit about how inaccessibility negatively impacted your education in community college, university, grad school, etc. Even if you are a relatively recent graduate, stories about access buriers in post-secondary education would be very, very helpful. Just write the story in a letter to your elected officials. In the letter say dear Senator so and so, introduce yourself, say where you go to school, tell your story about inaccessibility on campus, then ask Congress to pass a law creating voluntary guidelines for accessibility in higher education.</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">Please send letters, or any questions, to me at:</div><div class=""><a href="mailto:Nabs.president@gmail.com" class="">Nabs.president@gmail.com</a></div><div class="">Or Kathryn Webster at:</div><div class=""><a href="mailto:Kathrynwebsternfb@gmail.com" class="">Kathrynwebsternfb@gmail.com</a></div><div class=""> </div><div class="">I have pasted my letter below as an example in case it is helpful. It doesn’t need to be long, or need to be the most beautiful thing ever written. Just tell your story clearly.</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">I wouldn’t ask you to take the time if it didn’t really make a difference. Personal stories from constituents can make a major impact! Please, take a little time before then end of the year to write a letter and help this important effort.</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">Please be in touch with any questions.</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">Thank you very much!</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">Sean</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">Dear Massachusetts Congressional Delegation:</div><div class=""> </div><div class="">When I learned that all of the required readings for the courses in my Master of Public Policy program were going to be posted online in electronic format, I, as a blind student who cannot read print, was thrilled. I assumed that my experience as a graduate student at Harvard would be much smoother in terms of accessibility than was my time as an undergrad seven years ago at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Unfortunately, my assumption proved premature. Despite the ease with which materials can be made accessible with current technology, I have found many of my electronic readings to be poorly tagged .pdf files that a text to speech screen-reading program cannot decipher. Instead of having access equal to that of my peers to course readings, the disability student services office has to convert the documents into text files and I have to wait to have access to the materials. This system is inefficient and it leaves me at a disadvantage to my classmates. This is one of many examples of access barriers I have encountered due to inaccessible technology. And stories like mine are all too common among blind college and graduate students. But why are blind students not receiving equal access to all aspects of education? It isn’t because accessibility is difficult or expensive to achieve. And it isn’t because universities are maliciously discriminating against blind students. It is simply because schools, for the most part, don’t really understand what accessibility looks like. And, therefore, the schools do not know what accessibility features to demand from those who create the technologies they purchase and use. Voluntary guidelines would address this problem. Written standards would set out clear metrics for accessibility in course management software, electronic reading materials, and e-readers or tablets used by students. These guidelines would not impose any new legal requirements on schools, but rather would assist schools in meeting their obligation to provide full and equal access to all students, regardless of disability. I urge you to support equal access to education in order to ensure that blind students like me don’t face needless barriers in our education.</div><div class=""> </div><div class=""> Please send all letters to me or Shawn and we will get them to the people they need to go to. </div><div class="">Thanks, </div><div class="">Nesma</div><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Dec 21, 2015, at 11:30, nfbmd via Mdabs <<a href="mailto:mdabs@nfbnet.org" class="">mdabs@nfbnet.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Hello All,<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">For the last minute shoppers, remember to use Amazon Smile and designate NFBMD as your charity. This will also work next week when you purchase the things you didn’t get for Christmas, but are longing to have. The link you should use is:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1301033" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="color: blue;" class="">http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1301033</span></a>. Once you set it up, it will go there automatically in the future.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Don’t miss the KNFB Reader sale. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">KNFB-Reader is another way to give the gift of print. KNFB Reader is a mobile app that reads print aloud. It's easy to use. Take a photo and the app reads the text aloud in clear synthetic speech. And it's fast-the print will be yours almost instantaneously. KNFB Reader will be on sale for $74.99 from December 21st through January 4th. This sale price of 25% off makes it the perfect gift for a friend or family member.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">It is easy for your family and friends to give you the gift of a KNFB Reader. Tell the gift-giver to give you iTunes or Google Play gift cards. To learn more about giving KNFB Reader as a gift this holiday season, visit<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.nfb.org/knfbreader" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline;" class="">www.nfb.org/knfbreader</a>.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Check out the NFB YouTube video featuring Yasmin Reyazuddin. Yasmin is telling her story and the story of Aisha Watapur. Aisha participated in the Glendale BELL program during the past two years. She also received the Jennifer Baker Award at the 2014 State Convention. This is a great video for the holiday season because it portrays the giving spirit of the NFB. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://youtu.be/onKvE5sv4Ns" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline;" class=""><span style="color: blue;" class="">https://youtu.be/onKvE5sv4Ns</span></a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Best Wishes for a wonderful Holiday Season.<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Sharon Maneki,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>President<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">National Federation of the Blind of Maryland<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">410-715-9596<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">_______________________________________________</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">Mdabs mailing list</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""><a href="mailto:Mdabs@nfbnet.org" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; 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font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Mdabs:</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/mdabs_nfbnet.org/nesmaaly123%40gmail.com" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/mdabs_nfbnet.org/nesmaaly123%40gmail.com</a></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></body></html>