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…

ACB - A Path To the Future: July 3 - July 10, 2020

If you have registered for the ACB 2020 Virtual Convention, you have already taken the first step on the path. If you haven’t registered you can still run the path with us! There are more opportunities to experience and participate in one of the most ambitious virtual conventions in the non-profit world. 

There are several ways to join ACB on our virtual journey:

ACB Radio

The convention will be streamed on ACB Radio using multiple streams. All general sessions, and much…

Auction Item List:

1. Two Florida Idyllic Photos

Donated by Jackson Kracht, Grandson of ACB Board of Director Jim Kracht

Image 1 – Blue Springs -- 16x20 Canvas, taken at Blue Springs in Florida, a spring’s creek surrounded with trees under a clear blue sky.

Image 2 – Beach Blues -- 16x20 Canvas; this is A beach in Captiva, FL with slight overcast and a beautiful sunset, with the waves crashing onto the shore. Photos by Jackson Kracht

Jackson@photosbyjackson.org

…

Every year in July, ACB holds its trademark conference and convention in various cities around the country, and 2020 was scheduled to be in Schaumburg, Ill. There is no need to explain or expound on social distancing or the reason for the decision to transform this year’s convention from an in-person to a virtual platform. What we can all celebrate is the fact that ACB recognized how important it was to find a way to keep the most important event of the organization alive. However, in the process of finding ways to transform a live and in-person event into a virtual convention, something…

The American Council of the Blind (ACB) proudly announces the 2020 Achievement Awards in Audio Description, an initiative of the Council’s Audio Description Project (ADP).  

In conjunction with ACB’s 59^th annual conference and convention (held virtually in July 2020), the awards will be presented at a plenary session of the conference broadcast via Zoom and on ACB Radio to thousands of people who are blind, ACB members/convention registrants and all people worldwide who are advocates for audio description and greater access to the arts for people with vision…

“Individuals with disabilities have a right to full participation in voting, including absentee voting,” stated Eric Bridges, Executive Director of the American Council of the Blind. “Persons with disabilities have fought for decades for their right to vote privately and independently. Now, especially in light of COVID-19, such persons are fighting for their right to vote via absentee ballot.”

On May 15, 2020, ACB filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Disability Rights Section, to emphasize the inaccessibility of absentee voting for persons who are blind and…