As most members of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) know, our organization has been working on a lawsuit against the Department of the Treasury for 18 years now seeking a requirement that the federal government make paper currency accessible for blind and visually impaired people. Most recently, the government successfully argued that it could not fulfill a 2026 requirement to make a fraction of paper denominations accessible. The attorney representing ACB, Jeffrey Lovitky, in an appeal argued against that decision in front of an appellate court on Friday, September 18, 2020.

ALEXANDRIA, VA – September 15, 2020 – The search for films or videos with audio description is now easier than ever. The American Council of the Blind and its Audio Description Project has made a new search function available where a title or part of a title can be entered, resulting in matches in a Master Audio Description (AD) List.

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.

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

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.

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 AppleTV+ show, SEE, is looking for talented instrumentalists and vocalists who are blind or low vision to be included in the musical score of Season 2 of SEE. The performers should be good collaborators with self-recording skills, be able to pick up on melodies and/or improvise. The performers should be creative when given a suggested structure, and allow their own voice or sound to be apparent. If selected, the individuals will be asked to create their own professional recordings during the process.

Connecting to ACB Community Calls

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.