Dear

I am (title) at (organization).

As an American who is concerned about equal opportunities for people with disabilities in our society, I wish to draw your attention to an important incident in the Department of Education Office for Special Education Programs.  The DOEd is normally the only source of funding for audio description for educational videos for classrooms.  Audio description is a critical accessibility accommodation for students with visual impairments to be able to acquire vital information from the videos used in classrooms in K-12 education.  The DOEd did not offer new competition grants for audio description in 2008, but did announce new competition grants for audio description for 2009.  Suddenly, without explanation, on or about March 10, 2009, when the application period was set to begin, the new grants suddenly disappeared from the DOEd website.

I join hundreds of other interested organizations and individuals in demanding reinstatement of these grants which not only provide equal access to education for blind students but also provide jobs for disabled professionals in media production.  I also request an investigation into the circumstances that lead to the sudden apparent cancellation of these grants.

I am aware that the DOEd budget was recently doubled with a $100 BILLION appropriation in the reinvestment Act, and these grants would only cost between $2.5 Million and $12.5 million.  Clearly, if education is the priority that the new budget would suggest, then blind students should not be eliminated from the large number of students who will undoubtedly benefit from such spending.

Below, I have included language from the DOEd website concerning these grants for your reference.

Sincerely,

The following information was listed on the Department of Education’s Forecast of
Funding Opportunities.
Program Office:
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
CFDA Number: 84.327
Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants, Contracts, Cooperative Agreements
Also Known As:
Technology and Media Services for Individuals with Disabilities; also known as Special
Education-Technology Development, Demonstration, and Utilization; Media Services;
and Instructional Materials.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this program is to: (1) improve results for children with disabilities
by promoting the development, demonstration, and use of technology; (2) support educational
media services activities designed to be of value in the classroom setting to children
with disabilities; and (3) provide support for captioning and video description that
is appropriate for use in the classroom setting.
TYPES OF PROJECTS
This program supports technology development, demonstration, and utilization. Educational
media activities, such as video descriptions and captioning of educational materials,
also are supported.