July 27, 2020 – Raleigh, NC – Today, disability organizations filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections (“NCSBOE”) for excluding North Carolinians with disabilities from their Absentee Voting program. The lawsuit charges the state agency with discrimination against voters who are unable to independently and privately mark a paper ballot due to vision disabilities. All North Carolinians deserve to vote safely and independently, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. Click …
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Tallahassee, FL – The Secretary of State, the Supervisors of Elections throughout the State of Florida and the Florida Council of the Blind have reached a settlement in the ADA voting rights case, Williams v. DeSantis and Nielsen v. DeSantis, and ensured that the blind and print impaired will be permitted to complete a vote by mail secretly and independently using their computer.
After years of advocacy, the Florida Council of the Blind and their members Jim Kracht, Debbie Grubb, Doug Hall, Carl McCoy and Dolor…
Individuals and Disability Organizations File Lawsuit Today in Federal Court
July 28, 2020 – Alexandria, VA – On the heels of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 35th anniversary of the Virginians with Disability Act, a coalition of disability organizations and individual voters sued the Commonwealth of Virginia for excluding Virginians with disabilities from absentee voting in November. The Commonwealth’s current absentee voting discriminates against voters who cannot mark…
As we settle back into rhythms and routines post-convention, we are excited to announce the ACB Voices Blog is now live and online. The blog seeks to capture the daily stories and experiences of Americans who are blind and visually impaired.
In recent months, we have spoken about the changing world around us amidst COVID-19. ACB has been listening intently to the conversations surrounding these challenges as well as the call for greater diversity, acceptance and inclusion in our country after the death of George Floyd. At the…
Convention Podcasts
Last week ACB completed our very first virtual convention! Many of the convention sessions are available as podcasts with much more to come. To download podcasts, visit http://www.acbradio.org/acb-convention. To subscribe to our convention podcasts, visit http://www.acbradio.org/acb-convention.xml.
Roy Samuelson Audio Description Presentation
Audio Description Narrarator, Roy Samuelson, presented during ACB’s 2020 virtual…
WASHINGTON, July 2, 2020 — Emergency relief care packages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic will soon arrive to over 2,000 Americans who are blind and visually impaired, thanks to a public-private partnership between industry, advocates, and agencies providing support to people who are blind.
Partners include the American Council of the Blind (ACB), Proctor & Gamble, Matthew 25, and six nonprofit agencies operating through National Industries for the Blind (NIB). The partnership will provide greatly needed home cleaning and personal care products to…
New Spoken Rx™ feature in the CVS Pharmacy app is the result of a collaboration with the American Council of the Blind
Woonsocket, Rhode Island (July 8, 2020) – CVS Pharmacy announced that it has developed Spoken Rx™, a new feature of the CVS Pharmacy app that can read a specific type of label for patients with visual impairments and those who cannot read standard print labels. Spoken Rx is the first in-app prescription reader application to be developed by a national retail pharmacy.
By the end of 2020, 1,500 CVS Pharmacy locations will be…
For Americans who are blind or have low vision, the right to vote independently has been hard fought and evolved over the last five plus decades. Early stages of accessible voting began with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and eventually led to the Help America Vote Act of 2002. These laws cover everything from registering to vote to voting in person, or voting via absentee ballot. The following sections will walk you through the laws — and the rights afforded by those laws — as they pertain to voting for individuals with disabilities. But it should be noted that such rights and abilities…
San Francisco, California, July 2, 2020 – Patreon, working with the American Council of the Blind, announced a sweeping initiative to enhance its website and mobile applications to make them more accessible for creators and patrons who have vision impairments.
“It was important for us to work on this inclusive initiative with representatives of the blind community,” said Amy Truong, VP Engineering at Patreon. “Diversity and inclusion are core values at Patreon. Making our services available to a wide array of creators and their patrons is not only in line…
Join us for our 2020 Virtual Conference and Convention, taking place from Friday, July 3 to Friday, July 10! ACB has decided to open registration a day earlier than initially posted. Registration will open on Thursday July 2 from noon to 5:00pm Eastern (9am-2pm PDT). Registration will remain open from Friday, July 3rd through Thursday, July 9th from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EDT. To register please have your credit card available for the $25 registration payment and call (612) 332-3242. This is the only way for you to register, you cannot register online.
After…