[Nfbnet-members-list] FW: National Federation of the Blind: Atlantic Cape Community College Discriminates Against Blind Student,

[Danielsen, Chris]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Chris Danielsen
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org

National Federation of the Blind: Atlantic Cape Community College 
Discriminates Against Blind Student,
Bans Him from Freely Accessing Campus

Federation Members to Protest College's Actions

Mays Landing, New Jersey (April 15, 2014): Members of 
<http://www.nfb.org>the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the 
nation's oldest and largest organization of blind people, and its New 
Jersey affiliate, will hold a protest at the Mays Landing campus of 
Atlantic Cape Community College (ACCC) on Thursday, April 17, from 
11:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Blind people from New Jersey and surrounding 
areas are gathering to protest discrimination by ACCC against Anthony 
Lanzilotti, a blind student studying criminal justice and 
cyber-security there. Mr. Lanzilotti has been denied even the most 
basic accommodations and at times has not been allowed on campus or 
to use campus facilities unless he is accompanied by a sighted 
person. He has also been prohibited from using campus laboratories 
because ACCC claims that this violates the fire code. ACCC has also 
refused to procure or create accessible copies of Mr. Lanzilotti's 
textbooks and course materials, a service routinely provided to blind 
students by other colleges and universities. If he wants his print 
textbooks to be scanned and converted to electronic files that can be 
read aloud by text-to-speech software or on a Braille display, he 
must do the scanning himself, and he cannot use campus facilities to 
do so unless he meets the requirement of having a sighted person with 
him. Mr. Lanzilotti is planning to file suit against the college.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, 
said: "Blind students sometimes face challenges in the college 
setting, including lack of access to textbooks and course materials, 
but the vast majority of institutions of higher education make at 
least some effort to accommodate these students. Atlantic Cape 
Community College has not only refused to make the minimum effort to 
accommodate Mr. Lanzilotti, but has added insult to injury by 
segregating him from his fellow students and restricting his access 
to the campus and its facilities. Mr. Lanzilotti is not a child and 
does not need a chaperone. The National Federation of the Blind 
intends to make ACCC's outrageous discrimination against Mr. 
Lanzilotti known to the public and to do everything else in our power 
to assist him in fighting this discrimination. The laws of the United 
States and the state of New Jersey are firmly on Mr. Lanzilotti's 
side, and we will see that they are followed."


###


About the National Federation of the Blind


The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest, largest, 
and most influential nationwide membership organization of blind 
people in the United States. Founded in 1940, the NFB advocates for 
the civil rights and equality of blind Americans, and develops 
innovative education, technology, and training programs to provide 
the blind and those who are losing vision with the tools they need to 
become independent and successful.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnet-members-list_nfbnet.org/attachments/20140415/d86c470b/attachment.html>