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<b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br><br>
CONTACT:<br>
</b>Chris Danielsen<br>
Director of Public Relations<br>
National Federation of the Blind<br>
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<br>
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<br>
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a><br><br>
<div align="center"><b>National Federation of the Blind Applauds DOJ
Settlement with edX<br>
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Baltimore, Maryland (April 2, 2015):</b> The
<a href="http://www.nfb.org/">National Federation of the Blind</a>, the
nation’s leading advocate for equal access by the blind to educational
technology, today applauded a
<a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/united-states-reaches-settlement-provider-massive-open-online-courses-make-its-content">
settlement agreement</a> reached by the United States Department of
Justice with edX, Inc., a nonprofit platform created by MIT and Harvard
University for select universities to offer massive open online courses
(MOOCs) to students throughout the world. The settlement agreement,
which resolves allegations of discrimination under Title III of the
Americans with Disabilities Act, requires edX to make its website, mobile
apps, content management system, and other components of its MOOC
platform accessible to the blind and other students with disabilities.
edX will also provide guidance to developers of MOOCs that use its
platform to help make course content fully accessible. The settlement was
announced by Carmen M. Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for the District of
Massachusetts, and Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the
Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice.<br>
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Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
said: “We applaud this landmark settlement agreement, which sends a clear
message to providers of online courses and educational technology that
their content and services must be accessible to students with
disabilities. The creation and distribution of inaccessible educational
content and technology denies students with disabilities an equal
education and is therefore a form of discrimination against them. Indeed,
the propagation of inaccessible education materials is particularly
egregious because digital information is inherently accessible and is
only made inaccessible by flawed platform design. We commend the United
States Department of Justice for its commitment to equal access for all
students, and we commend edX for agreeing to take the needed steps to
provide that access.”<br>
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About the National Federation of the Blind<br><br>
</b>The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.<br><br>
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