FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Chris Danielsen
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
cdanielsen@nfb.org
Penn State Discriminates Against Blind Students and Faculty
National Federation of the Blind Files Complaint Against Penn State
Baltimore, Maryland (November 12, 2010): The
National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the
nation92s oldest and largest organization of blind
people, announced today that it has filed a
complaint with the United States Department of
Education, Office for Civil Rights, requesting an
investigation of Pennsylvania State University
(Penn State) for violating the civil rights of
blind students and faculty. The NFB filed the
complaint because a variety of computer- and
technology-based services and Web sites at Penn
State are inaccessible to blind students and
faculty. Title II of the Americans with
Disabilities Act requires public state
universities to offer equal access to their programs and services.
The accessibility problems at Penn State include:
* The library at Penn State hosts a Web site
with access to the library catalog that is
available to any registered student. The Web
site, however, is not fully accessible to blind
students due to improper coding that prevents
screen access software used by the blind from properly interpreting the site.
* Many of Penn State's departmental Web sites
are not fully accessible to the blind, including,
ironically, the Web site for the Office of Disability Services.
* Penn State utilizes the ANGEL course
management system. ANGEL is an integral part of
the learning and teaching experience at Penn
State that allows students and professors to
interact with each other online and perform
various course-related functions. This course
management software is almost completely inaccessible to blind users.
* Many teachers at Penn State use a "smart"
podium, which allows the professor to connect
his/her laptop to a computer at the podium and
display images and videos loaded from the laptop
on a screen at the front of the room. The podium
is operated by an inaccessible touchscreen keypad
that controls almost all podium functions. Thus,
blind faculty members must rely on assistance
from a sighted person to utilize the podium.
* Penn State contracts with PNC Bank to
enable students to use their identification cards
as debit cards. The PNC Web site is nearly
inaccessible with screen access software, and
there is only one ATM on the entire Penn State
campus with audio output through a headphone jack
so that blind students can use it privately and independently.
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National
Federation of the Blind, said: "The number and
scope of the accessibility problems at Penn State
demonstrate the institution's blatant
and unlawful lack of regard for the equal education
of its blind students and failure to accommodate
its blind faculty members and employees. There
is simply no excuse for blind students and
faculty to be denied the same access to
information and technology as their sighted
peers. Sadly, this cavalier attitude toward
accessibility is found not only at Penn State,
but at many of our nation's colleges and
universities. That is why we have asked the
United States Department of Education to act
swiftly and decisively to ensure that blind
students and faculty members are given the same
access and opportunity to succeed as their sighted peers."
The National Federation of the Blind is
represented in this matter by Daniel F.
Goldstein, Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum, and Brooke
Lierman of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein, and Levy.
###
Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: (1:116/901)
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