Public Policy

On June 22, 1999, the Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. L.C. that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities constitutes discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Often hailed by the disability rights community as the most important civil rights decision for people with disabilities in US history, the Olmstead decision flung open the doors of institutions and gave previously segregated people the right to live in their communities.

Budgets are an expression of your values. The Trump Administration’s budget reveals a government that does not value people with disabilities, or our capacity to contribute to society.

The administration’s proposed 2020 budget would cut deeply into a wide variety of critical education, employment, and aging programs that affect people who are blind, deafblind, or visually impaired:

As a means of consuming literature, learning, and communicating, braille has remained the biggest game changer in the history of inventions for people who are blind. It is only fitting then, that we celebrate the United Nations' recent resolution designating January 4 of every year as World Braille Day.

We are thrilled to announce that the moment you've been waiting for is here—registration is now open for the 2019 AFB Leadership Conference (#AFBLC19)!

The American Foundation for the Blind was pleased to learn that the Librarian of Congress had approved the US Copyright Office’s recommendation to exempt certain classes of works from copyright restrictions to improve access to those works by people who are blind or visually impaired.

A bill of rights for airline passengers with disabilities and enhanced disability training for Transportation Security Administration officers are on the way under a new federal law.

Among the improvements enacted in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, this legislation will:

At the American Foundation for the Blind, we were heartened to read that the Department of Justice confirmed clearly and unequivocally, in a September 26 letter to congressional representatives, that the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to online accommodations.