[Nfbn-announce] National Federation of the Blind Files Complaint Against Baltimore City Public Schools

[Amy Buresh]

	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Mark Riccobono, Executive Director
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute
National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2368
(410) 935-4019 (Cell)
mriccobono at nfb.org

National Federation of the Blind Files Complaint
Against Baltimore City Public Schools

Says Plan to Buy Nook E-readers Discriminates Against Blind Students

Baltimore, Maryland (January 4, 2012): The National Federation of the Blind
(NFB), the nation's leading advocate for access to technology by the blind,
announced today that it has filed a complaint with the United States
Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, requesting an investigation of
the Baltimore City Public Schools' proposed acquisition of NOOK devices.
The NFB filed the complaint because the Baltimore City Public Schools
recently announced a partnership with the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Foundation to overhaul the school libraries in six middle schools in the
district.  As part of the partnership's plan, the selected school libraries
will acquire an unspecified number of NOOK e-reader devices.  These devices
are inaccessible to blind and other print-disabled students.  The NFB raised
its concern with leaders in the Baltimore City Public Schools but has been
told that the district is moving forward with its plans to implement these
devices while it seeks "alternative emerging technology"-- in other words, a
needlessly segregated technology for students with print disabilities.
Because the NOOK is inaccessible to blind students, the Baltimore schools'
use of the devices violates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA).

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
"The National Federation of the Blind will not tolerate blind students
receiving an unequal education.  If e-reading devices are available in
school libraries, they must be accessible to all students, not just the
sighted.  Appropriately, the date of this comAplaint falls on the birthday
of Louis Braille, who first brought literacy to the blind and fought for the
right of blind students to read independently.  He would not stand for this
glaring inequity and neither will we.  That is why we have asked the United
States Department of Justice to act swiftly and decisively to ensure that
blind students receive the same education as their sighted peers."

The National Federation of the Blind is represented in this matter by Daniel
F. Goldstein and Daniel A. Ross of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein &
Levy, LLP.


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About the National Federation of the Blind
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.