(Editor’s Note: The summary of “News Notes” which appears below is included here for the benefit of those who do not currently have access to ACB-L, our Internet mailing list. You can also access “News Notes” as the column appears, or archives of past columns, at the ACB web site. If you would like to view these notes on a weekly basis, visit the ACB web page, http://www.acb.org.)
For the week ending July 21, 2000
ACB and allies win major victory at FCC!
It’s over! We won! Descriptive video service will be a reality for blind people starting around April of 2002. This historic event was confirmed today at the Federal Communications Commission with a 3 to 2 vote to issue the rule. Advocates including ACB, AFB, NCAM, NTN and others hailed the decision with great joy that the day had finally come and relief that those arrayed against descriptive video were not able to overcome the basic civil right of all blind persons to access what sighted Americans take for granted. The two dissenting votes based their opposition on their belief that there was no express Congressional mandate for the FCC to require descriptive video and another commissioner, while voting for the rule, expressed her concern at just how many people would watch it. ACB has been advised by competent legal authorities that the jurisdiction argument should not pose any real threat to the viability of the rule. In addition, ACB takes the position that as a civil right, the number of people who watch it is not the issue, but rather that they have the ability to do so. For example, if less than half of all Americans vote, we are not about to take away their right to exercise that franchise. ACB will study the rule once it is released and work to insure the implementation of its provisions.
House 3590 goes up the flag pole, but nobody is saluting.
Last week, there was a real threat that the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives was about to try and get the House rules suspended to move House 3590 that would require an alleged violator of the ADA to receive 90 days notice before a complainant could file a legal action. Just recently, ACB has been advised that this is not likely to happen due to insufficient votes. While we must remain vigilant to insure that House 3590 is history, it appears we have won another victory against those who would assault the rights of disabled people under the ADA.
ACB participates in numerous ADA anniversary celebrations.
Washington, DC is about to enter a week of celebrations honoring the 10th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Starting off yesterday with staff attending a briefing on Capitol Hill, staying after the FCC DVS vote for a 10th anniversary party and going into technology expositions at vice President Gore’s house, ACB will be represented at a number of events throughout the celebration period.
ACB communicates concerns to APH on labor dispute.
ACB Executive Director Charlie Crawford sent a letter of organizational concern to both management and labor leaders at the American Printing House for the Blind. The letter clearly set forth the expectation of ACB that labor dispute negotiations should be re-established to arrive at a fair resolution and protect the production and distribution of talking books from APH.
While ACB is not intervening in the labor issues, we must be ready to move quickly in defense of the talking book program should the availability of books become jeopardized as events unfold.
Potomac Talking Book proves you can’t judge a book by its cover.
Well, life certainly has its surprises. 175 Braille Forum readers received their July Forums on tape and happily opened them to sit down for a good read. Imagine their surprise when they heard the words “The Braille Monitor!” It turns out that Potomac was on the last 175 tapes to be sent out and ran out of cassettes of the Forum. So they went back to their production people who only heard the word “blind” in the request and sent along the Monitors that went out under “The Braille Forum” label. ACB has been assured that the right tapes will be sent to replace the Monitors, and we do not anticipate any further errors in putting the right newsletter out under the braille labels.
For the week ending August 4, 2000
Big steps for pedestrian safety taken
In two unrelated events in Maryland this last week, we have seen the start of commitments to install accessible pedestrian signaling. Both in a large municipality, and in Silver Spring, there is a new recognition of the public safety protections offered by accessible signaling that — combined with national statistics showing the real dangers of these areas — have led authorities to endorse the idea of installing the signals. Stay tuned for more good news on ped signaling over the coming weeks and months!
ACB circulates proposed amending language to VR Act
As a part of our multi-leveled approach to dealing with the proposed regulations from RSA to invalidate a person’s right to choose where they work, ACB has written proposed legislative language and identified the necessary Congressional members to move it. It is hoped that outrage from many groups within Washington will cause a change of heart at RSA, but if not, then ACB will be ready with a legislative proposal as an option among many.
ACB considers dropping Coin Coalition after attack on access to paper bills
We learned last week that certain members of the Coin Coalition enlisted the aid of NFB to kill a potential legislative amendment that would have required tactile markings on bills. While we have found some of the arguments from the Federation to make good sense, ACB finds attempts by certain members of the coalition to avoid consultation with us because of what we suspect they know of our position on accessible currency to be unacceptable, and their use of the Federation by their own admission demonstrates a lack of good faith by those members. While we avoid quoting the language of the alert from the coalition that clearly shows their self-serving use of the Federation, we will make clear to the coalition that ACB will continue to try and find ways of making currency accessible without becoming more of a problem than it is worth.
ACB thanks Janice and Richard for all their help!
The national office staff gathered on Friday to wish Janice and Richard all the best as they got set to return home from their internships. ACB deeply appreciates their contributions over the last couple of months and it has been a real pleasure to have had such talent with us.
New telephone software to be installed on August 9!
Will our telephone woes come to an end soon? Well, we will see after August 9, when an upgrade to our current phone system software is installed. Keep your fingers crossed, even though it’s hard to dial that way.
“News Notes” is a compilation of notes from preceding weeks and should not be interpreted as a full or exhaustive treatment of the items presented.