[Nfbmt] Fwd: [State-affiliate-leadership-list] Politico - Blind advocates blast White House

[Dan Burke]

Scott LaBarre's e-mail below points to two we bsites.  Scott is NFB of
Colorado President. He, along with Fred Schroeder, have been NFB
representatives in the WIPO discussions.  Fred is also the 1st Vice
President of hte World Blind Union.

YThe problem is that the White House petition requires an inaccessible
captcha - the audio version is unintelligible.  The second lin is to
an NFB petition to the same effect.

We want a simple treaty that permits libraries for the blind to share
accessible books across international boundaries so that the limited
resources available to create accessible books don't have to be
duplicated from country to country.

Dan


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Pare, John" <JPare at nfb.org>
Date: Wed, 29 May 2013 14:26:27 +0000
Subject: [State-affiliate-leadership-list] Politico - Blind advocates
blast White House
To: "state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org"
<state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>

Blind advocates blast White House

By DONOVAN SLACK
Politico
5/28/13 6:37 PM EDT

The National Federation of the Blind is fuming mad over the White
House web site, complaining that its members have been unable to sign
an important online petition.

The glitch, the group says, is in those often annoying tests that
require users to type in a set of numbers and letters to prove they
are human. On the White House web site, blind users can select an
audio version of the test, but the audio is incomprehensible,
according to federation spokesman Chris Danielsen.

And if users want to send email notifying the White House about the
problem, well, that also requires a computer-human test with garbled
audio, too, he said.

"We had asked people to sign the petition and we're getting these
emails saying that people can't," Danielsen told POLITICO.

"The Constitution allows all of us to petition our government for a
redress of grievance. It says nothing about needing to be able to see
in order to do so."

The petition calls for the Obama administration to support an
international treaty making more books accessible to the blind. So
far, some 6,100 people have signed on since it was created May 23. But
Danielsen said many more would have signed on had it not been for the
web site issues. For an official White House response, it would need
to reach 100,000 signatures before June 23.

The White House says the web site is fully compliant with Section 508
of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires that federal web sites be
accessible to people with disabilities, and it says it is looking into
improving the site.

In the meantime, the Federation of the Blind wants the signature
requirement waived so the administration will respond to its petition.
Danielsen said the federation had thought that the administration
would support the international treaty, which is being brokered in
Morocco next month, but there has been a barrage of lobbying by some
big business groups against the treaty and so the federation wants to
make sure the White House still supports it.

"The administration has seemed supportive of it in the past, but
lately the administration doesn't seem to be commenting on it
publicly," he said. "We're concerned that all of this intense lobbying
is getting to this administration."
--



-- 
Dan Burke, President
The National Federation of the Blind of Montana
www.nfbmontana.org
Visit us on Face Book at http://bit.ly/nfbmtfb
My Cell:  406.546.8546