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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=JFreeh@nfb.org
href="mailto:dandrews@visi.com>)">Freeh, Jessica (by way of David Andrews
<dandrews@visi.com>)</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 12, 2010 7:38 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=david.andrews@nfbnet.org
href="mailto:david.andrews@nfbnet.org">david.andrews@nfbnet.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [Chapter-presidents] Penn State Discriminates Against Blind
Students and Faculty</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=Garamond><BR></FONT><FONT
face="Helvetica, Helvetica"><B>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<BR><BR></FONT><FONT size=5
face="Helvetica, Helvetica"> <BR><BR></FONT><FONT
face="Helvetica, Helvetica">CONTACT:<BR><BR></B>Chris Danielsen<BR><BR>Director
of Public Relations<BR><BR>National Federation of the Blind<BR><BR>(410)
659-9314, extension 2330<BR><BR>(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<BR><BR><A
href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</A><BR><BR> <BR><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=center>
<H1><FONT size=4><B>Penn State Discriminates Against Blind Students and
Faculty<BR><BR><BR></B></FONT></H1>
<H2><B>National Federation of the Blind Files Complaint Against Penn
State</I></B></H2></DIV><FONT size=5
face="Helvetica, Helvetica"> <BR><BR></FONT><FONT
face=Garamond><B>Baltimore, Maryland (November 12, 2010):</B> The National
Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of
blind people, announced today that it has filed a complaint with the United
States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, requesting an
investigation of Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) for violating the
civil rights of blind students and faculty. The NFB filed the complaint
because a variety of computer- and technology-based services and Web sites at
Penn State are inaccessible to blind students and faculty. Title II of the
Americans with Disabilities Act requires public state universities to offer
equal access to their programs and services. <BR><BR> <BR><BR>The
accessibility problems at Penn State include:
<UL>
<LI>The library at Penn State hosts a Web site with access to the library
catalog that is available to any registered student. The Web site,
however, is not fully accessible to blind students due to improper coding that
prevents screen access software used by the blind from properly interpreting
the site.
<LI>Many of Penn State’s departmental Web sites are not fully accessible to
the blind, including, ironically, the Web site for the Office of Disability
Services.
<LI>Penn State utilizes the ANGEL course management system. ANGEL is an
integral part of the learning and teaching experience at Penn State that
allows students and professors to interact with each other online and perform
various course-related functions. This course management software is
almost completely inaccessible to blind users.
<LI>Many teachers at Penn State use a “smart” podium, which allows the
professor to connect his/her laptop to a computer at the podium and display
images and videos loaded from the laptop on a screen at the front of the
room. The podium is operated by an inaccessible touchscreen keypad that
controls almost all podium functions. Thus, blind faculty members must
rely on assistance from a sighted person to utilize the podium.</FONT>
<LI>Penn State contracts with PNC Bank to enable students to use their
identification cards as debit cards. The PNC Web site is nearly
inaccessible with screen access software, and there is only one ATM on the
entire Penn State campus with audio output through a headphone jack so that
blind students can use it privately and independently. </LI></UL><FONT
face=Garamond><BR>Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the
Blind, said: “The number and scope of the accessibility problems at Penn State
demonstrate the institution’s blatantand unlawfullack of regard for
the equal education of its blind students and failure to accommodate its blind
faculty members and employees. There is simply no excuse for blind
students and faculty to be denied the same access to information and technology
as their sighted peers. Sadly, this cavalier attitude toward accessibility
is found not only at Penn State, but at many of our nation’s colleges and
universities. That is why we have asked the United States Department of
Education to act swiftly and decisively to ensure that blind students and
faculty members are given the same access and opportunity to succeed as their
sighted peers.”<BR><BR> <BR><BR></FONT>The National Federation of the Blind
is represented in this matter by Daniel F. Goldstein, Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum,
and Brooke Lierman<FONT face=Garamond> </FONT>of the Baltimore firm Brown,
Goldstein, and Levy.<BR><BR> <BR><BR>
<DIV align=center><B>###<BR><BR></B></DIV><FONT
face=Garamond> <BR><BR> <BR><BR><B>About the National Federation of
the Blind<BR><BR></B>With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of
the Blind is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind
people in the United States. The NFB improves blind people’s lives through
advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence
and self-confidence. It is the leading force in the blindness field today
and the voice of the nation's blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and
training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.
<BR></FONT> <BR>
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