[blindkid] National Federation of the Blind Endorses GoogleBooks Settlement Before Congress

[Sally Thomas]

There are lots of free braille books available.  The school librarian can 
get books from NLS.  Your child can get a Bookshare account and books can be 
embossed with little difficulty (that may not be true for more complicated 
books but simple books shouldn't cause too much trouble).  There are free 
books from Seedlings, Braille Institute and Seeing Hands.  I guess the 
difficulty is that you may have to do a lot of the footwork yourself.  I 
feel like I know a whole lot more about braille technology and resources 
than I ever imagined I would.  It may not seem right but you have to be the 
tail wagging the dog in order to get the things your child needs.  I've 
found that once the school realizes that you know what you're talking about 
and you aren't going to back down, they begin to cooperate more.

I haven't heard any stories of a perfect school that always got what the 
child needed in a timely manner but I've heard lots of stories of parents 
who've worked hard to get their kids what they need.  That's where I get my 
inspiration to keep on fighting.

Sally Thomas
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Harper" <sueharper at firstchurchgriswold.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] National Federation of the Blind Endorses 
GoogleBooks Settlement Before Congress


> Thank you.  I will be passing this on.
>
> Our BESB worker does not think that our children should have access to
> Braille books in Pre-K similar to the sighted children who have print 
> books
> available.  There isn't anyone who can Braille in the school and the
> teachers and aides have not had training according to our BESB worker to 
> be
> able to work with Braille.  Any suggestions!
> Blessings,
> Sue H.
>
> On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 7:07 PM, Freeh, Jessica <JFreeh at nfb.org> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>>
>>
>>
>> CONTACT:
>>
>> Chris Danielsen
>>
>> Director of Public Relations
>>
>> National Federation of the Blind
>>
>> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
>>
>> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
>>
>> cdanielsen at nfb.org
>>
>>
>> National Federation of the Blind
>> Endorses Google Books Settlement Before Congress
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Urges Justice Department to Support Settlement
>>
>>
>>
>> Washington, DC (September 10, 2009): The National Federation of the 
>> Blind,
>> the nation's oldest and largest organization of blind people and the 
>> leading
>> advocate for access by the blind to digital information, testified before
>> the House Judiciary Committee today that the proposed settlement between
>> Google and authors and publishers regarding the Google Books project 
>> should
>> be approved.  The Google Books settlement will make millions of titles
>> available to the blind and other Americans with print disabilities,
>> providing more access to the printed word than the blind have had in all 
>> of
>> human history.
>>
>>
>>
>> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, told
>> the House Judiciary Committee: "The Google settlement is, for the blind 
>> and
>> many others, the next step in the democratization of knowledge.  That
>> process began with the introduction of the printing press and then, for 
>> the
>> blind, with the invention of Braille.  Now technology is available that
>> transcends the traditional limitations of both print and Braille, 
>> promising
>> to make millions of titles available to the blind in Braille or any other
>> format of our choice.  The narrow business interests of Google's 
>> competitors
>> must not be allowed to block Americans who cannot read print from all of 
>> the
>> opportunities that greater access to written knowledge will make 
>> available
>> to them.  It is time for the doors of the world's great libraries to be
>> opened and welcome to everyone."
>>
>>
>>
>> The National Federation of the Blind also urged the United States
>> Department of Justice, which is reviewing the terms of the settlement, to
>> support the agreement.
>>
>>
>>
>> "The Google Books settlement is a major step forward in advancing the 
>> civil
>> rights of blind Americans and others who cannot read print because it
>> substantially increases our opportunities for education and employment,"
>> President Maurer said.  "The Justice Department, which is tasked with
>> protecting the civil rights of all Americans, should respect the 
>> agreement
>> of the parties to the settlement and allow its access provisions to be 
>> fully
>> implemented.  In doing so, the government will send a strong message that 
>> it
>> values the participation of the blind in society and believes that we 
>> should
>> have access to all of the information to which our sighted friends and
>> colleagues have access."
>>
>>
>>
>> ###
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