ACB Celebrates NATAD

ACB celebrated National Assistive Technology Awareness Day this week! ACB's advocacy team, Clark Rachfal and Swatha Nandhakumar, were joined by Matt Ater, Vice President of Vispero, and Don Barrett, ACB Member, to discuss assistive technology: what it is; why it is so important; and what role assistive technology will play in our lives going forward. Watch the presentation by visiting: https://youtu.be/-h3Jl3JjgvU.

We hope you will be joining us for our virtual convention in July! If you registered for the convention in the past, you logged in using your convention username and password. ACB also has several other applications used in our organization and, with each application, users needed to remember another username and password. To simplify this process, we are asking you to create a new ACB account (whether you are a member or not). You will use this log in credential going forward.

Clubhouse is a free social networking app, available on iOS and Android, that provides a platform to interact with others and discuss various topics via audio in virtual chat rooms. To join you must receive an invitation from an existing user, or you may join and become a part of our ACB Club on Clubhouse by emailing community@acb.org. ACB’s presence on this app further expands the reach our community.

For the People Act

The For the People Act (H.R. 1, S. 1) would eliminate accessible voting options & prevent innovation in election technology, barring accessibility gains in the future and silencing the voice of millions of Americans who are blind and visually impaired. The American Council of the Blind calls on Congress to protect the right to vote for Americans who are blind and visually impaired by removing threatening language in the For the People Act.

Alexandria, VA – The American Council of the Blind calls on Congress to protect the right to vote for Americans who are blind and visually impaired by removing threatening language in the For the People Act (H.R. 1; S. 1).

“The right to a private and independent vote stands as the cornerstone of our democracy,” said ACB President Dan Spoone. “The innovation in secure electronic voting during the pandemic showed us that there are accessible solutions that allow every voice to be heard.” 

Membership Services Administrative Assistant

The American Council of the Blind is proud to announce the newest member of our team: Kolby Garrison! On April 5th, Kolby will join us as Membership Services Administrative Assistant. Learn more by visiting: https://acb.org/membership-services-assistant-announcement.  

The Audio Description Project (ADP) is a wide-ranging audio description promotion and production initiative with goals that include: 

The American Council of the Blind is proud to announce the newest member of our team: Kolby Garrison! On April 5th, Kolby will join us as Membership Services Administrative Assistant. She will support Cindy Hollis, Membership Services Coordinator, with implementing strategies to attract new and retain existing members through the Community Events Program.  

Over the past several months, the Public Awareness Steering Committee, in conjunction with the Board of Publications, have put together a new email list called ACB-Conversation. This is part of our effort to streamline ACB’s communications. 

HBO Max Rolls Out Audio Described Content

Today, HBO Max releases nearly 1500 hours of audio described content & significant screen reader access improvements based on a landmark agreement between the American Council of the Blind, Disability Rights Advocates, HBO, Bay State Council of the Blind, and Disability Law Center Inc. More to come over the next two years!