I was invited to Washington D.C. last April to help promote a groundbreaking bill, sponsored by Senator Dodd of Connecticut and Representative Tom Petri of Wisconsin, called the Instructional Materials Accessibility Act. The legislation has garnered extensive support from both political parties, as well as major press coverage. It will facilitate access to textbooks by blind students in elementary and secondary school in several ways.

First, the bill will allow for a central depository where all textbooks are stored electronically for easy download. Ideally, both state agencies and individuals will be able to use the service for a nominal fee. Additionally, a uniform electronic format will be implemented so that there will be no need for complicated file conversions. Students will have the ability to download their books and reproduce them on embossers or portable Braille note takers.

One of the most important hindrances to blind students eliminated by this act will be the long lead-time associated with book transcription. Texts currently only come in time when ordered months in advance, and even that doesn't always work. If class schedules or curricula change, students have been left with books they no longer need, and it is too late to obtain the required materials. Volunteers who transcribe them often find it hard to keep up with the speed of courses, and delays in getting the books can be crippling. Blind students are not given the same opportunities to succeed as their sighted peers when they have no book and cannot rely much on visual help from the blackboard. Thus, their grades and self-confidence suffer. The IMAA will resolve these problems by making the books readily available, as are those of sighted students.

The bill will also greatly minimize transcription and production costs. Most books cost around $2000 to produce and emboss, but in an electronic format, it is possible to use a variety of reading media and eliminate the need for braillists.

I had the honor of meeting Senator Dodd and several members of the NFB, as well as speaking on behalf of all blind students about the positive ways in which this bill would affect us. The bill has great potential to maximize the independence and facilitate the learning of thousands of students around the country, and Dodd and Petri should be highly commended for their dedication to promoting it.

For more information, E-mail us at: info@nfbct.org