[Nfbv-announce] Assistance With Accessible Home Appliance Petition (was) FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] FW: statement

[Fredric Schroeder]

The following note comes from Nancy Yeager. It deals with an important
effort to get manufacturers of home appliances to build in accessibility
features.

 

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Make appliances accessible for the blind. - Sign the Petition

 

I don't know how you feel about signing on-line petitions.  I am, however,
asking you to consider signing this one.

 

For several years, the National Federation of the Blind has been working on
the issue of accessible home appliances and other consumer electronics.
U.S. senators and Congressional Representatives have proposed supporting
legislation on  this issue.  To date, however, while a number of senators
and legislators have supported the legislation, none of the bills have yet
been passed into law.  So, we are reaching out to our families, friends and
co-workers - people who know us and who know how important independence is
to us as blind people.  We want the opportunity that you already have - The
opportunity to pourchase home appliances and other electronics that we can
operate.  It is incredibly frustrating, for example, to await delivery of a
new washer and dryer, only to find, after the installer sets up our new
machines that they have touch screens or panels.  Before we can use the
washer and dryer for their intended purposes - doing laundry - we must first
obtain sighted assistance   to add Braille or other tactile cues to the
touch panel.  In the petition mentioned above, we are asking manufacturers
to build audio and/or tactile cues into their appliances during production.

 

We need your help.  Please join this campaign to make home appliances and
other consumer electronics accessible to blind people and those with limited
vision.  Please go  to: http://chn.ge/1iwZ2GM

 

I, along with other blind Americans, thank you for your effort on our
behalf. 

   

Nancy Yeager