(Editor's Note: Thanks to Krista Merritt for coping valiantly with network crashes and cyber-glitches, while compiling this excellent summary. Copies of the 2003 resolutions will be made available to any who ask in formats of choice. This publication reflects only those resolutions which were adopted by the convention. ACB resolutions which were referred to other ACB entities for further consideration, tabled or withdrawn are not included in this document.)
Resolution 2003-01 urges all airlines to make their web sites accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.
Resolution 2003-03 expresses its gratitude to Hallmark Cards for the interest it has taken in making braille greeting cards available and for its sensitivity in marketing these products and requests that Hallmark Cards inform its store and franchise managers that braille greeting cards are available.
Resolution 2003-05 urges its officers and directors to respectfully consider any affiliate's right to take a position other than that of the national organization, but not to delay or postpone advocacy efforts based on achieving consensus between that affiliate and the national organization or between affiliates.
Resolution 2003-06 instructs its officers and board of directors to send a letter to the United States Department of Justice, within 30 days of the adoption of this resolution, in support of the complaint of Guide Dog Users, Inc. against the Iowa Department for the Blind, and provides that the leadership of this organization make decisions and take actions that recognize the rights of guide dogs and their handlers to unhindered access to public programs, services and facilities.
Resolution 2003-07 places on record understanding of the factors that led to the decision taken in the Stephanie Dohmen matter, and affirms support for efforts to assure that guide dogs and their handlers have access to all public programs, services and facilities where required by law.
Resolution 2003-08 expresses appreciation to all volunteers who worked to assist attendees at the 2003 ACB convention and requests that Volunteer Coordinator Margarine Beaman assist in communicating the sense of this resolution to all volunteers.
Resolution 2003-09 expresses thanks and appreciation for the services and accommodations provided to ACB members by the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the Westin Convention Center Hotel, and the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers Hotel and their staffs.
Resolution 2003-10 thanks and commends the host committee and the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind for their fine work on the 2003 ACB convention.
Resolution 2003-11 calls upon the United States Supreme Court and the Judicial Conference of the United States to adopt disability anti-discrimination guidelines applicable to the federal courts which are modeled upon the appropriate provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) and the Title II ADA regulations; recommends that the requested disability anti-discrimination guidelines should include the principle of equal access for the disabled contained in the recently strengthened Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in order that all web sites maintained and utilized by the federal courts will be accessible to blind and visually impaired parties, attorneys, and members of the general public; urges that the requested disability anti-discrimination guidelines provide that all federal courts make substantive documents and exhibits available in formats that accommodate the needs of parties, attorneys, and members of the general public who are blind or visually impaired, giving primary consideration to the alternate format or service requested, and instructs ACB officers and staff to forward this resolution to the United States Supreme Court, the Judicial Conference of the United States and the National Council on Disability.
Resolution 2003-12 urges the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, and the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to withdraw opposition to a proposed treaty on disability rights.
Resolution 2003-13 opposes provisions weakening the Randolph-Sheppard priority contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2004.
Resolution 2003-14 supports the immediate installation of remote infrared audible signs in the transportation system of Washington, D.C. as a model to demonstrate that it is possible to provide, through the use of these signs, travel independence to people who are blind or visually impaired, and urges ACB state affiliates to advocate for the use of remote infrared audible signs by transit systems in their states.
Resolution 2003-15 urges manufacturers and developers of cellular equipment to acknowledge that much additional work is needed to design and market cellular telephones which provide access to all available features on the equipment for all disability groups, and to comply with this readily achievable, legally codified requirement; specifically urges manufacturers and developers to continue work on improvements which will make cellular telephones more easily and thoroughly compatible with hearing aids, and which will offer access to on-screen information; urges that access accommodations be designed as standard operational parts of equipment, rather than as add-on or peripheral features; encourages states that have telecommunications equipment distribution programs to expand those programs to additionally provide equipment or grants to assist people who have disabilities with the acquisition of devices for cellular telephone access; strongly encourages telecommunications equipment distribution programs to ensure that people who are blind or visually impaired are eligible for these programs; and encourages states which do not currently have telecommunications equipment distribution programs to develop such systems in accordance with service and eligibility criteria set forth in this resolution.
Resolution 2003-16 commends the ACB officers, board of directors, and staff, and others for filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 seeking to require that manufacturers develop and market cellular phones that have features that are accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired, and commends those manufacturers of cellular phones who have begun to work with ACB to explore means by which their products can be made accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.
Resolution 2003-17 calls upon providers of cellular telephone services to make directory assistance available free of charge to people who are blind or visually impaired as many local land-line telephone service providers currently do.
Resolution 2003-18 directs its officers, board of directors, and staff to take all actions necessary to ensure that the reauthorization of TEA-21 contains significant increases in funding levels for public transit and other transportation programs that benefit people who are blind and visually impaired; urges all state and special-interest affiliates to assist the national staff in advocating for a favorable reauthorization of TEA-21; and instructs the ACB executive director to submit a report to the president, the board of directors, and the transportation task force, detailing the outcome of ACB efforts related to the reauthorization of the act.
Resolution 2003-19 urges the United States Postal Service to design and issue a stamp in honor of Louis Braille to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth in 2009, and that this stamp be designed in such a manner as to reflect the invention of braille, which has afforded blind people around the world an increased opportunity for literacy.
Resolution 2003-21 directs its officers, directors, and staff to design, create and present, for inclusion in the permanent memorial in Shanksville, Pa., an appropriate remembrance, on behalf of the American Council of the Blind and all Americans who are blind or visually impaired, of the heroes on Flight 93 who perished on September 11, 2001 along with other victims of the tragedy.
Resolution 2003-22 commends Sen. John McCain for his leadership and cooperation in striving to restore vital information access for Americans who are blind and visually impaired, through the inclusion of Section 9 of S. 1264, which seeks reinstatement of the FCC video-description rule, and urges all members of Congress and President George W. Bush to enact Senate Bill 1264 with Section 9 remaining as currently proposed.
Resolution 2003-23 vigorously opposes any attempt to repeal or otherwise adversely affect the priority for licensed blind vendors contained in Section 111(2) of the Surface Transportation Act (the Kennelly Amendment); calls upon all members of Congress to affirmatively protect and guarantee the continued existence and inclusion of the Kennelly Amendment's priority provisions in any enacted reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act; and instructs its officers, board of directors and staff to transmit this resolution to all appropriate members of Congress.
Resolution 2003-24 urges the Department of Veterans Affairs to make policy changes enabling the option for provision of retraining on computers through qualified local providers as well as through traditional VA program(s).
Resolution 2003-25 urges the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) to assure that the name of the specific magazine be made more visually discernible on each cassette by enlarging and emboldening the print; urges NLS to increase the readability of the magazine title on the mailer by enlarging the print while providing high visual contrast; and provides that the American Council of the Blind's own magazine mailings shall follow similar procedures to maximize the visual readability of the cassette magazine titles, where feasible.
Resolution 2003-26 urges those preparing motion picture DVDs for release for sale to include a descriptive video track when it is available, and urges those preparing the packaging for DVDs to include a clear label in a standard location on the box which alerts the potential customer to the availability of video description.
Resolution 2003-27 makes the following recommendations to the board of directors of the American Library Association: 1. That the ALA board publish a document reminding all of the standard-setting bodies working under the aegis of the American Library Association to incorporate into their standards elements that reaffirm the obligation of public libraries to make their collections, catalogs, and programs accessible to all people with disabilities, especially to individuals who are blind or visually impaired; 2. that the ALA board convey the concern of the American Council of the Blind and of Library Users of America that many of the catalogs, electronic books (e-books) and other new technological approaches that are broadening the range of media available at public libraries are not incorporating standards that will make them easily available to patrons who are blind or visually impaired; and 3. that the ALA board prepare a resolution for submission to its membership that clearly serves notice to the developers of catalog interfaces, e-books and other new technologies that the ability of blind and disabled people to utilize such products must be an absolute requirement in determining which products or media to purchase, and strongly urges its officers, board of directors and staff, along with Library Users of America, to take all steps necessary to actively assist the American Library Association in implementing the objectives in this resolution.
Resolution 2003-28 directs the president of the American Council of the Blind to prepare a document for ACB's information access committee outlining the current problems of creating e- books that are fully accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired, directs the committee to prepare a report outlining the efforts that need to be taken to ensure that e-book technology can be fully and comfortably accessed by users who are blind or visually impaired, and to deliver this report to the president by the end of 2003; directs the committee to develop a set of priorities and positions concerning this issue, and to make such recommendations available to the manufacturers of the various e-book formats; directs this committee to communicate with those bodies currently engaged in developing standards for e-book platforms, to be certain that they incorporate into those standards means by which screen readers and braille displays can access e-books notwithstanding the need for protection schemes that safeguard the intellectual property incorporated into e- books; and directs the committee to report to the 2004 meeting of Library Users of America on the progress they have made by that time.
Resolution 2003-29 opposes legislation which would require paper ballots from accessible voting machines.
Resolution 2003-30 seeks the inclusion of provisions in highway funding legislation which would provide funds to transit agencies for installing detectable warnings at all transit station platforms.