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Welcome to the home of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin.
Our Mission:
The mission of the National Federation of the Blind is to achieve widespread emotional acceptance and intellectual understanding that the real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight but the misconceptions and lack of information which exist. We do this by bringing blind people together to share successes, to support each other in times of failure, and to create imaginative solutions.
Apply Now for a 2010 Bolotin Award
The National Federation of the Blind today announced that applications are now being accepted for the 2010 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Program. Each year the National Federation of the Blind presents cash awards to individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions toward achieving the full integration of the blind into society on a basis of equality. To learn more about the program or apply online now, please visit the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Program web page.
November 1, 2009: Braille Readers are Leaders Contest
This contest encourages children (grades K-12) around the country to be proud of their ability to read Braille and continually work to improve their skills. As in previous years, contestants will read as many Braille pages as they can in two months (November 1, 2009, through January 4, 2010). This year adults with various levels of experience reading Braille get to join in the fun! Registration begins October 1, 2009. For detailed information please visit www.nfb.org/bral.
Support Braille Literacy – Buy the Louis Braille Coin Now!
There is a Braille literacy crisis in America. Only 10 percent of all blind children learn to read and write using Braille. In response to this crisis, the National Federation of the Blind has launched the largest Braille literacy campaign in history. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar – the first United States coin with readable, tactile Braille – will go to support Braille literacy. Urgent action is needed to address this crisis, and these beautiful coins are in limited supply, so buy the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar now!
Straight Talk About Vision Loss, Episode 27
Mark Riccobono talks with NFB Jernigan Institute staff members Mary Jo Hartle and Natalie Shaheen about the Bell Program, a two-week pilot program held in the summer of 2009, which sought to expose children aged 4-12 to Braille.
October 2009: Meet the Blind Month
Meet the Blind Month is a nationwide campaign to increase awareness of and support for the National Federation of the Blind. During the month of October, chapters throughout the country will conduct activities that spread our message to their local communities.
Blind Drivers Take the Wheel
Recently several blind people got to drive a specially-customized four-wheel dirt buggy developed by the Blind Driver Challenge team from Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory. The buggy uses laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a host of other innovative, cutting-edge technology to guide blind drivers as they steer, brake, and accelerate. For more information on the Blind Driver Challenge, please read the article from www.scienceblog.com.
Support Braille Literacy – Buy the Louis Braille Coin Now!
There is a Braille literacy crisis in America. Only 10 percent of all blind children learn to read and write using Braille. In response to this crisis, the National Federation of the Blind has launched the largest Braille literacy campaign in history. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar – the first United States coin with readable, tactile Braille – will go to support Braille literacy. Urgent action is needed to address this crisis, and these beautiful coins are in limited supply, so buy the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar now!
Reading Rights Coalition protested the Authors Guild
On April 7, 2009, the NFB and the Reading Rights Coalition protested the Authors Guild for lobbying to disable text-to-speech on the Kindle 2. This video reports live from the protest in New York City.
National Federation of the Blind Comments on Release of Large-screen Kindle
Urges Accessibility of New E-book Reader for Students
Baltimore, Maryland (May 6, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind, the nation’s oldest and largest organization of blind Americans, commented today on the release by Amazon, Inc. of a new version of its Kindle electronic reading device. The new Kindle has a larger screen than previous versions and is being marketed by Amazon as a potential platform for the display of textbooks for college and graduate students.
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “We are appalled that Amazon is releasing a new Kindle device ostensibly for the use of students that does not contain features that make it accessible to the blind. While this new device has the ability to read text aloud, its controls and user interface are not accessible to blind people; therefore, blind students will not have access to electronic textbooks available for the device. If the controls on the Kindle are made accessible to the blind, however, blind students will have equal access to textbooks at the same time as their sighted peers for the first time in history. We therefore urge Amazon to introduce a user interface for the Kindle that is accessible to the blind as soon as possible. Until such an accessible interface is introduced by Amazon, no college or university should deploy this device for use by its students, since doing so will place blind students at an unfair disadvantage compared to their sighted peers and will violate state and federal laws requiring equal access to textbooks and course materials for students with disabilities.”
National Federation of the Blind to Present Second Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium
Kareem Dale, President Obama’s Special Assistant for Disability Policy,
to Address Gathering and Field Questions
Baltimore, Maryland (April 15, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) will present the second Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium on April 17, 2009, at the NFB Jernigan Institute in Baltimore. The symposium, entitled “New Perspectives on Disability Law: Advancing the Right to Live in the World” and named for NFB founder and pioneering legal scholar Dr. Jacobus tenBroek (1911-1968), will gather public officials, legal scholars, and disability rights advocates for a full-day seminar on the state of disability law in the United States and the world and will discuss how disability rights may be advanced in the future. Kareem Dale, special assistant for disability policy to United States President Barack Obama, will make a presentation to the gathering. Mr. Dale will speak on the Obama administration’s policies on disability issues for approximately thirty minutes followed by a forty-five minute question and answer session.
“Our first Jacobus tenBroek symposium was a stunning success, and we are looking forward to once again hosting leading players and thinkers in the disability community,” said Dr. Marc Maurer, an attorney and President of the National Federation of the Blind. “Disability law is rapidly changing at the national and international level, and this forum will provide an opportunity for everyone to assess developments and plan strategies in this dynamic and critically important field.”
Other presenters at the 2009 symposium include Professor Gerard Quinn, National University of Ireland, Galway; Assistant Attorney General Maura Healey, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Professor Samuel Bagenstos, UCLA School of Law; and Professor Peter Blanck, Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University.
Dr. Jacobus tenBroek was a constitutional law scholar, a blind professor at Berkeley, and an author of treatises on the Fourteenth Amendment and social welfare. Dr. tenBroek created the concept that civil rights should apply to disabled Americans, and he published extensively on the application of the law to those with disabilities. His efforts to advance civil rights for the blind and others with disabilities included drafting the Model White Cane Law, which has had a profound influence on the development of civil rights laws for the disabled throughout the United States, and publishing authoritative articles like “The Right to Live in the World: The Disabled in the Law of Torts.”
