Progressive and affirming approaches to information access for blind
persons are happening all around the country.  Below the St. Petersberg
times reports on how one baseball team is providing access to its programs
to blind persons in an intergrated way.

kelly



>Friday, 21 May 1999
>
>Devil Rays program insert will help inform blind fans
>
>   St. Petersburg Times
>
>   ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Mike Veeck says the moment is one he will never
>   forget.
>
>   His son, then 5, was up in a minor-league press box talking to a blind
>   radio announcer. The announcer, who did color commentary, had taken
>   off his dark glasses and was explaining to the boy that he had been
>   born without eyeballs.
>
>   ``There wasn't a look of awe. He wasn't frightened. He was just
>   accepting. And I thought, `Wouldn't it be great if everyone could be
>   like that?' '' said Veeck, senior vice president of sales and
>   marketing for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
>
>   That, says Veeck, was the inspiration behind the Rays' decision to
>   begin inserting into their game program four pages of ballpark
>   information in Braille. The first insert is set to appear in today's
>   program.
>
>   Certainly, the fact that his 7-year-old daughter has a degenerative
>   eye condition that eventually will leave her blind heightened his
>   sensitivity to the issue, Veeck said.
>
>   But he had put Braille pages in minor-league programs before his
>   daughter's condition was diagnosed. Veeck said the Braille pages are a
>   first for the major leagues.
>
>   The Rays are calling the insert the ``Braille Ballpark Information
>   Pages,'' which will be in the May/June issue of the team's official
>   program. It sells for $4 at Tropicana Field and Devil Rays Dugout
>   stores.
>
>   The pages will detail basic ballpark information about concessions,
>   guest services, disabled seating, restrooms and the in-park radio
>   broadcasts.
>
>   Rick Vaughn, vice president of Devil Rays public relations, said the
>   team may add day-of-game information in Braille - lineups and such -
>   depending on how the insert goes over. ___________________________


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