[nfbmi-talk] More accessability on MLB sites!!!

[fred olver]

Pasted into this email is a press release issued
today by Major League Baseball and the American
Council of the Blind about MLB's initiative to
improve the accessibility of mlb.com and all 30
team websites for people who are blind or
visually impaired.  This release, and additional
information about the Structured Negotiations
that led to this announcement, is available on
line at <http://lflegal.com>http://lflegal.com
.  Direct link at
<http://lflegal.com/2010/02/mlb-press>http://lflegal.com/2010/02/mlb-press


For immediate release

FANS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS GAIN ENHANCED ACCESS TO MLB.COM

NEW YORK, February 11, 2010 - Baseball fans with
visual impairments will benefit from the
implementation of functional improvements to
MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League
Baseball, and all 30 individual Club sites as a
result of a joint collaboration between MLB
Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the American Council
of the Blind, Bay State Council of the Blind and
California Council of the Blind. All three
organizations applaud this fan initiative taken by MLBAM.

"MLBAM has undertaken groundbreaking work to make
its web sites accessible and has assumed a strong
leadership position among sports, media and
entertainment properties in doing so," said Mitch
Pomerantz, President of the American Council of
the Blind. "We certainly urge similar sites to
make this level of commitment in following MLBAM's lead."

As part of its initiative, MLB.com launched an
accessible media center for its MLB.com Gameday
AudioT subscribers, offering features such as
volume control, ability to choose the home or
away feed and access to archived games.
Additionally, MLB.com has ensured that fans with
visual impairments can continue to participate in
the annual online voting programs associated with
the All-Star Game and will be providing an
accessibility page on its site detailing
information on accessibility, usability tips and
customer service resources. As it continues to
deliver technological innovations for following
baseball games, MLB.com will make additional
accessibility enhancements available to fans with visual impairments.

Brian Charlson, a Boston baseball fan and
Director of Computer Training Services at the
Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton,
Massachusetts, described how MLB.com's
accessibility efforts have improved his enjoyment
of the game: "As a member of the blind community,
the kind of changes MLB.com was willing to make
on its web sites keeps me coming back for more.
It shows how much can be done when people with
disabilities find willing partners. For example,
with the changes in Gameday Audio, I find myself
enjoying switching back and forth between the
home and away broadcasters the same way my
sighted friends do. And knowing my votes were
counted in this year's All-Star balloting made
listening to the game much more meaningful. I'm
excited about what MLB.com has done and about its
commitment to further improvements."

MLB.com utilized guidelines issued by the Web
Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide
Web Consortium (W3C). The web content
accessibility guidelines are of particular
benefit to blind baseball fans who use a screen
reader, through which information on a page is
read aloud, or magnification technology on their
computers and who rely on a keyboard instead of a mouse.

About MLBAM
Established in June 2000 following a unanimous
vote by the 30 Major League Baseball club owners
to centralize all of Baseball's Internet
operations, MLB Advanced Media LP (MLBAM) is the
interactive media and internet company of Major
League Baseball. MLBAM manages the official
league site, <http://www.MLB.com>www.MLB.com,and
each of the 30 individual Club sites to create
the most comprehensive Major League Baseball
resource on the Internet. MLB.com offers fans the
most complete baseball information and
interactivity on the web, including up-to-date
statistics, game previews and summaries,
extensive historical information, online ticket
sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated
memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live
full-game video webcasts and on-demand
highlights, live and archived audio broadcasts of
every game, Gameday pitch-by-pitch application,
around-the-clock hosted and specialty video
programming and complete blogging capabilities.
MLB.com offers more live events on the Internet
than any other website in the world.

About the American Council of the Blind (ACB),
Bay State Council of the Blind (BSCB) and the
California Council of the Blind (CCB)
The American Council of the Blind is a national
consumer-based advocacy organization working on
behalf of blind and visually impaired Americans
throughout the country, with members organized
through seventy state and special interest
affiliates. The Bay State and California Councils
are the Massachusetts and California affiliates
of the ACB.  The ACB, BSCB and CCB are dedicated
to improving the quality of life, equality of
opportunity and independence of all people who
have visual impairments. Their members and
affiliated organizations have a long history of
commitment to the advancement of policies and
programs which will enhance independence for
people who are blind and visually impaired.  Many
members of ACB, BSCB and CCB are baseball
fans.  More information about the organizations
can be found by visiting ACB's website, BSCB's website, and CCB's website.

# # #

Media Contacts

For MLBAM
Matthew Gould
<mailto:matthew.gould at mlb.com>matthew.gould at mlb.com
(212) 485-8959



For ACB, BSCB and CCB

Brian Charlson (Bay State Council of the Blind)
<mailto:brian.charlson at carroll.org>brian.charlson at carroll.org
617-501-5752

Mitch Pomerantz (American Council of the Blind)
<mailto:mitch.pomerantz at earthlink.net>mitch.pomerantz at earthlink.net
626-372-5150

Jeff Thom (California Council of the Blind)
<mailto:ccotb at ccbnet.org>ccotb at ccbnet.org
916-995-3967

This press release available on line at
<http://lflegal.com/2010/02/mlb-press>http://lflegal.com/2010/02/mlb-press