[Nfb-fundraising] Fwd: [Nfbf-l] Florida Times Union-Jacksonville

[David Andrews]

>Subject: [Nfbf-l] Florida Times Union-Jacksonville
>
>Their "march for
>
>Independence" touted jobs and education.
>
>By DON SCHANCHE Jr. Associated Press
>
> 
>
>ATLANTA - At sunrise Tuesday, hundreds of people - most tapping the ground with white canes and a few making the trip on roller blades - marched en masse from a downtown hotel to a city park more than half a mile away to make a point:
>
>Blind people can do what other people do.  The early morning event, organized by the National Federation of the Blind, was billed as a civil rights march.
>
>"We are here to march for independence for blind people across America," said parade marshal Larry Streeter, a school principal from Raleigh, N.C. "We're here to change what it means to be blind and let the world know we are indeed able people who have many talents."
>
>Two of the main goals: jobs and education.  
>
>"The blind have a 70 percent unemployment rate, and we have a 10 percent rate of being taught to read and write Braille in our schools in this country," said NFB President Marc Maurer, a lawyer from Maryland.
>
>The NFB also has pushed for accessibility in other areas. In June, the group won an agreement with the nation's largest non-bank owner of automated teller machines to improve access for blind people at ATMs in malls, gas stations and pharmacies.
>
>Maurer said the NFB - founded in 1940 and now with more than 50,000 members - decided to Incorporate a march into this year's annual convention in Atlanta because the city was the symbolic heart of the Civil rights movement for racial equality in the 1960s, Congressman John Lewis, D-Atlanta, a veteran of that movement, led the march.
>
>Organizers said 1,000 or more people look part. The Atlanta police estimate was 700.
>
>Al Ella, t3, a computer consultant from Boston, was on hand with his guide dog, Zion. Born with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, Elia said his vision had dropped to a point where he could no longer do his job without retraining.
>
>He said his most important issue is access to study materials for advanced degrees. Although educators now are required to provide blind-accessible school books in grades K-12, Elia said, "They still haven't done that for college and advanced degree texts. I can tell you from trying to get study materials to go to law school, it's something that needs to happen."
>
>Picture (not included):
>
>U.S. Rep. John Lewis (second from right), D-Ga., leads the
>
>National Federation of the Blind march in Atlanta Tuesday.
>
>Marching with him were Anil Lewis, president of the Georgia
>
>Federation of the Blind, and Thelma Goodwin, a member of the
>
>Georgia organization.