[NABS-L] Share Your Inaccessibility Story with Congress

[Justin Salisbury]

Fellow Blind Students,

Good evening! In the midst of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic, I wish everyone good health and a sound mind. In addition to the virus itself, many of us are worrying, with good reason, about the accessibility of our new online college courses and materials. I wish I could be here to tell everyone that things will be accessible, but I cannot. What I can tell you, though, is that you have over 50,000 blind people here to support you every step of the way.

As many of you know, we have been trying, for almost ten years, to convince Congress to take action to establish accessibility guidelines for instructional materials in higher education. Today, we call the legislation "AIM High." If that legislation had passed when we first brought it up, those guidelines might have already been implemented, and all of our instructional materials and technology could have been made accessible by now.

A classic Chinese proverb says, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

The task is simple if we all do our part. We need to collect stories from blind students and recent graduates about accessibility problems that they experienced in education after high school. If you have not shared your story with us yet, or if you have a better story than the one you submitted months ago, please take a few minutes to tell us your story. You don't need to be a lawyer. You don't need to understand how the government works. You just need to know that some website, software, or something else you had to use for school was inaccessible. Tell us about it.

Here is the form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf68TacBetKMAHZcMhGJLmYgeWDIjjpSm9Sz1OUwYKxzsIEAg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1

Once you tell your story, please get other blind students to do the same. This way, we can show Congress that blind students care about accessibility and that we need their help.

Thank you, and everyone please be safe out there. We need you in the years ahead. Together, with love, hope, and determination, we will transform dreams into reality.

Aloha,

Justin


Justin Mark Hideaki Salisbury
he/him/his

Board Member | National Association of Blind Students
   A proud division of the National Federation of the Blind
(808) 797-8606
president at alumni.ecu.edu | www.nabslink.org<http://www.nabslink.org/>