The most recent "Words from Washington" newsletter from the American Foundation for the Blind addresses numerous technology and information access issues. The AFB has approached the Chairman of the FCC for mandates for audio description, introduced members of congress to the way blind people access the Internet, and established a relationship with the Office for civil rights in the Department of Education to begin a dialogue on information access issues. The AFB is a member of the congressional Internet caucus, as described in an earlier post. kelly Words from Washington Vol. 106, No. 3 May 11, 1999 [material about a meeting with an RSA big shot snipped] Blindness Advocates Meet with FCC Chairman on Video Description Alan Dinsmore, representing AFB, Charles Crawford of the American Council of the Blind, Tom Miller, of the Blinded Veterans Association, and Margaret and Cody Pfanstiehl of the Metropolitan Washington Ear met with Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard on March 12 to urge him to issue a rule which would mandate video description for selected television programs on a scheduled roll-out basis. This is a position which the American Foundation for the Blind has maintained in its filings with the FCC's notice of inquiry on closed captioning and video description of video programming. Chairman Kennard voiced support for these concepts while at the same time indicating that advocates need to insure the support of congressional committees which oversee the Communications Act. Chairman Kennard made it clear that this support is a pre-requisite for FCC rulemaking on video description of television programming. Congressional Internet Caucus Sees Access to Internet via Voice Technology Scott Marshall, Janina Sajka , and Alan Dinsmore staffed a demonstration showing access to the Internet via voice technology at the March 25, 1999 kickoff event for the Congressional Internet Caucus. The Internet Caucus is a formally organized body of members of Congress from key committees of jurisdiction over telecommunications and the Internet. AFB is a member of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee and, in this role, will be working to insure that the Caucus is aware of Internet access issues for people who are blind or severely visually impaired. AFB Meets with Department of Education, OCR On April 14, Scott Marshall and Mark Richert met with Norma Cantu, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OCR), Dept. of Education, to develop an ongoing relationship with OCR. The major topic of discussion was access to information for postsecondary students. Linkage Bill Introduced Representative Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. (R-MD-) introduced H.R. 1601 on April 28, 99. His bill would "amend title II of the social Security Act to restore the link between the maximum amount of earnings by blind individuals permitted without demonstrating ability to engage in substantial gainful activity and the exempt amount permitted in determining excess earnings under the earnings test." Rep. Ehrlich gathered 230 co-sponsors before introducing his bill, certainly a Herculean effort. However, even such an impressive number of co-sponsors, more than half the membership of the House, does not necessarily guarantee passage. AFB will be tracking the bill. _________________________________________________________________ Contributors to WFW include Scott Marshall, Alan Dinsmore, Mark Richert and Barbara LeMoine. WFW is published by the American Foundation for the Blind, Governmental Relations Group, 820 First Street, N.E., Suite 400 Washington, DC 20002, 202-408-0200, Fax: 202-289-7880, E-mail: [log in to unmask] Address questions regarding subscriptions or content to Barbara LeMoine. VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List. To join or leave the list, send a message to [log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type "subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations. VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html