Contributed by Robert Jaquiss
Editor of Independence Science Newsletter
[email protected]
Members of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) were in Washington DC last week meeting the members and staff of the 114th congress. Two of the four legislative issues for which the NFB seeks legislation on are below. The complete legislative agenda and fact sheets can be found on http://www.nfb.org. The following is excerpted from the NFB legislative agenda.
· The Accessible Instructional Materials in Higher Education (AIM HE). Act Electronic instructional materials have replaced traditional methods of learning in postsecondary education, but the overwhelming majority of eBooks, courseware, web content, and other technologies are inaccessible to students with print disabilities. The law requires equal access in the classroom but fails to provide direction to schools for the way it applies to technology. AIM HE creates voluntary accessibility guidelines for educational technology to improve blind students’ access to course material, stimulate the market, and reduce litigation for schools.
· The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. Despite the ability to convert print books into accessible formats like Braille, large print, audio, and digital copies, millions of blind and otherwise print-disabled Americans are excluded from accessing 95 percent of published works. The Marrakesh Treaty calls for contracting parties to provide in their national copyright laws for a limitation or exception that allows for the reproduction, distribution, and cross-border exchange of accessible works.