Earlier this year, ACB decided to cancel our 2020 in-person convention in Schaumburg, IL in consideration of the health and safety of our members, volunteers, and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its place we decided to host our first virtual convention, allowing our members and others outside of our organization to participate at home while socially distancing. This year was a huge success, with over 200 hours of content that spanned across eight days.

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.

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. 

Individuals and Disability Organizations File Lawsuit Today in Federal Court

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.