by Charles H. Crawford
It was evening. I had decided to go upstairs and check my electronic mail before slipping off to a good rest for the night. Then I saw it. Could it be true? Had I already gone to sleep and dreamed this?
The message was short and to the point. The National Association of Broadcasters, joined by the National Cable Television Association and the Motion Picture Association of America had filed a legal action to overturn the FCC rule for video description. Then I read further. So too had the National Federation of the Blind.
At first I could not believe it. Sure, we had thought the entertainment industry might pull such a thing, but the Federation? Why? Who would have made such a decision to not only attack the FCC rule, but all the rest of us blind folks who stand to benefit from video description once the rule takes effect? There were a number of responses that ACB could have chosen, but there was only really one answer that cried out; the time had come to fight.
First and foremost, the battle to preserve the FCC rule had to be joined. ACB conferred with its partners who have supported video description and set up the necessary legal response to the court actions. Then we put out a press release in which we condemned the entertainment industry for their greed and the Federation for their complicity. Next we issued a fact sheet on video description and distributed it to a wide range of interests. Then we wrote a letter to the sponsors of television shows and to the moral leaders of our nation asking them to support us as we deliver a message to the entertainment industry telling them that video description is both needed and wanted by blind people, and demanding that they withdraw their legal complaints. Even as this is being written, more strategies and implementation plans are being developed.
But what about the NFB? Should ACB ignore their assault on the community of blind people? Have they gone too far, and what does all this mean?
The answers are as troubling as the questions. The issue is that the Federation claims to be a group of consumers speaking for the blind, and yet it deliberately and overtly filed a legal complaint seeking to rescind a right that our community had fought so long to win. This is serious business and goes to the core value of consumerism; our legitimacy is drawn from our work to secure and protect rights and our adversaries are those who attempt to take them away.
The Federation must now face its own members and attempt to convince them of the merits of its own position. This will not be an easy task because there is no compelling reason for them to do what they did. They will have to convince their members that their attempt to take away the rights of blind people to access information available through video description was the right thing to do. They will not be able to use the argument that they object to governmental imposition of rules since that has nothing to do with blindness. They will not be able to argue that news is a greater priority over entertainment since that amounts to “it’s my ball and I am taking it home.” They won’t be able to get their members all riled up over what impression sighted people will have since sighted people well understand that visual information must be conveyed some other way to blind folks and video description is a good way to do it. In short, there will be no strong booming voice of righteous indignation, but rather only the shrill and abandoned ring of an empty and shameful bell. Should ACB care? Should we do anything about this?
ACB has long stood for a moderate and reasoned approach to building a better quality of life for our members and the blind in general. This has usually meant our refraining from comment on the internal operations of other organizations. Now we are forced to break that rule because of the outright and unwarranted attack from the Federation against the interests of the very same community they claim to represent.
The straw that broke the camel’s back came early in the evening. It’s now up to the membership of the Federation to do what they must with their own organization. Let us hope that they do what they have to do, and that we will be able to see a trustworthy and responsible Federation tomorrow.