We are pleased to announce the addition of Natalia Ratcliffe to our ACB staff. Nat will be interning with us for the next few months as a Membership Administrative Assistant reporting directly to Cindy Hollis, Membership Services Coordinator, assisting directly with our growing community and other membership-related programs. You can contact Nat at nratcliffe@acb.org.

It is fitting to have Nat work in this role considering she came to ACB through our community events five months ago and quickly engaged herself as a volunteer, hosting and…

The Commonwealth Agrees to Consent Decree for November 3^rd Election that will Include Electronic Ballot Marking

August 31, 2020 – Alexandria, VA – The Commonwealth of Virginia committed to making the November 2020 election accessible and safe for voters who cannot mark a paper ballot privately and independently due to disabilities such as blindness. As a result of the lawsuit and preliminary injunction filed by several voters with disabilities, the American Council of the Blind of Virginia, and the National Federation of…

The American Council of the Blind’s financial office in Minnesota recently moved. The new address is 6200 Shingle Creek Parkway, Suite 155, Brooklyn Center MN 55430. You can still reach the office by phone at 800-866-3242 or 612-332-3242. 

­Contact:
Cindy Van Winkle
(612) 345-9036
cvanwinkle@acb.org

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (August 27, 2020) – The American Council of the Blind is expanding its partnership hours with Be My Eyes, an innovative app that provides real-time video assistance for individuals who are blind and visually impaired. Now, ACB’s support staff and volunteers will be able to field calls from the Specialized Help Providers section of the app from noon to 5 p.m. Eastern on weekdays.

“We appreciate the partnership ACB has with Be My Eyes…

Will auction off two custom, one-of-a-kind Prema® Anti-Bacterial Face Masks following live “Meet the Makers” Instagram virtual event 

Contact: Anthony Stephens, astephens@acb.org

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (August 26, 2020) — Leading textile and fashion designers will auction one-of-a-kind masks during a special virtual event this evening, with proceeds directly supporting work to overcome the barriers social distancing has placed on the millions of Americans who are blind and visually impaired.

“The mask…

These are past issues of the ACB Braille Forum and the ACB E-Forum, the official publication of American Council of the Blind.

Each issue is available in a text (.txt) file format that can be downloaded. Many issues have several ways it can be read, including links to formats in braille (.brf) and zip (.zip) in addition to the text (.txt) format. The later issues may also be available in large print MS Word (.doc)

Please share these issues with anyone you think may be interested.  We encourage circulation with appropriate respect for…

Connecting to ACB Community Calls

At a time when our country is in a state of social distancing, your ACB family has opportunities for you to connect with others from the comfort of your home. To receive up-to-date information on how to join our community calls, please subscribe to our ACB Community Events email list by filling out the subscription form at http://acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-community-events, or by sending an email to …

Earlier this year, ACB decided to cancel our 2020 in-person convention in Schaumburg, IL in consideration of the health and safety of our members, volunteers, and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its place we decided to host our first virtual convention, allowing our members and others outside of our organization to participate at home while socially distancing. This year was a huge success, with over 200 hours of content that spanned across eight days. If you missed out, or would like to revisit our convention events, you can find links to featured convention videos and…

Note: This publication reflects the resolutions which were adopted by the convention.  Below are the links to the summaries of the 2017 resolutions as well as links to the full text of each.  You may also choose the "printer-friendly version" link at the end for a full document of all resolutions.

Table of Contents

• 2017 Resolutions Summaries
• Resolution 2017-01 - Listings for Described TV
• …

Summary of 2017 Resolutions

The following are brief summaries of the resolutions adopted by the ACB membership at the 2017 conference and convention held at the Nugget Casino and Resort in July. One resolution was referred to ACB’s environmental access and information access committees. It is not included in this compilation. Please note that these summary statements are not the authoritative voice of the ACB membership; they are simply intended to capture the overall scope and intent of the membership as…

Resolution 2017-01

Listings for Described TV

Whereas, the multiplicity of TV programming delivery methods available today, along with the growth in the number of markets where audio-described television programming is available, has the potential to exponentially increase the demand for audio description; and

Whereas, for this anticipated increased demand to be satisfied, consumers of described television must have a convenient and reliable means for browsing among and selecting audio-described programming; and…

July 27, 2020 – Raleigh, NC – Today, disability organizations filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections (“NCSBOE”) for excluding North Carolinians with disabilities from their Absentee Voting program. The lawsuit charges the state agency with discrimination against voters who are unable to independently and privately mark a paper ballot due to vision disabilities. All North Carolinians deserve to vote safely and independently, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. Click …