Mark Richert

The upcoming presidential debates have me thinking about what I might ask the candidates if I were a debate moderator. It isn’t often that disability issues get front-and-center attention during a nationally televised event like a presidential debate, let alone issues specific to people who are blind or visually impaired. But what if they did? Would I use my opportunity to ask the candidates about their position on the payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities? Would I ask…

This year marks the 26th anniversary of the signing of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Each year, advocates look for ways in which to properly commemorate the ADA and to celebrate the promise of equal access that it represents. We at the American Foundation for the Blind are also weighing in, not only with praise for the barriers that the ADA has broken down, but also with concern about the work that still needs to be done. We are deeply disappointed that we're…

Note: The following is testimony made by Mark Richert, AFB's director of public policy, on how copyright law affects those with vision loss. For a primer on this topic, please see All Rights Reserved—How Copyright Law Can Leave People Who Are Blind Out. Video of this testimony is also available from the U.S. House of Representatives. Before the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Hearing on Chapter 12 of…

So many of us who have been waiting for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to get off the dime and issue their long-awaited regulations on airline website and airport kiosk accessibility were excited this week to finally see them published. However, like so much it seems in the technology and civil rights for people with disabilities context, we are given relatively little and expected to gush with gratitude. That's certainly the case with these new DOT rules. Even though airlines…

Now that the U.S. Congress has once again given the American people a reason to lose confidence in them by failing to avoid a federal government shutdown, there are more questions than answers. What will become of so many of the programs and services affecting people who are blind or visually impaired? What are the long-term implications? How long will the government be closed for business? Well, at least with respect to core programmatic functions, such as special education and vocational…

On June 27, the anniversary of Helen Keller's birth, you are invited to participate in a unique opportunity to honor the legacy of Helen Keller's beloved teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy, and to advocate for improved educational results for all students living with vision loss, including students who may have additional disabilities. Be a part of the National Call-In Day to support the Anne Sullivan Macy Act, and tell Congress to get moving on making America's special education system more…

Since July 1, 2012, America's leading broadcast and cable television channels have each been required by law to provide at least 50 hours of primetime or children's programming with video description in every calendar quarter, approximately four hours per week per channel. Video description (or simply “description”) is the narration of on-screen visual elements and actions spoken during natural pauses in program dialogue. Please take a couple moments and participate in AFB's Described TV…

Did you know that since January 1, you can get in serious legal trouble for unlocking your cell phone? That is, the process of liberating your phone from the specific mobile carrier, such as Verizon or AT&T, to which your phone is likely linked right out of the box? Before, you had the freedom to unlock your phone without being subject to the severe penalties of the draconian Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). So what happened on January 1? Well, the DMCA permits the Librarian of…

Hurricane Sandy sent us a potent reminder of the need to ensure that information about emergencies is available to people with vision loss. Television has become the most common way to distribute information about weather or other emergencies, including notices regarding evacuation. Unfortunately, people who are blind or visually impaired are unable to read the scrolling information that often appears on television screens during an emergency, so they do not have efficient access to…