[Nyabs] NFB lawsuit

[Kathryn Carroll]

Dear NYABS,

Below is a press release about the recent filing by the NFB of a complaint
with the Department of Justice. Accessing new technology is an omnipresent
issue for people with visual impairments. Does anyone on this list use a
Nook or similar device such as a Kindle, and what do you think of it?

Best,

>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.
>

-- 
Kathryn Carroll
St. John's University School of Law 2013
(Ph.) 347-455-1521
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nyabs_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120105/8ce783c5/attachment.html>