WHEREAS, county and municipal governments as well as local school systems now provide vital information to their constituents on their public websites; and
WHEREAS, this vital information includes, but is not limited to, the schedules and agendas for public meetings, career and employment opportunities available within their organizations, the ability to apply for permits and licenses, together with information regarding the role each department or agency plays in the governing of the community; and
WHEREAS, Maryland has laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability, yet discrimination against blind persons continues; and
WHEREAS, one of the oldest laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of blindness is the Maryland White Cane Law, Contained in HUMAN SERVICES TITLE 7- INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES, SUBTITLE 7- BLIND, VISUALLY IMPAIRED, DEAF, HARD OF HEARING, AND MOBILITY IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS of the Annotated Code of Maryland; and
WHEREAS, Deaf-blind people rely on Support Service Providers (SSPs) to facilitate communications, and to provide environmental and situational information so that they can participate in all aspects of community life, thereby reducing reliance on family members and friends for these tasks; and
WHEREAS, the SSPs are not responsible for providing personal care or serving as interpreters as required by law at legal and medical appointments, i.e., SSPs must serve only as facilitators, not decision makers; and
WHEREAS, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), is responsible for developing policies and for creating an environment that enables all students, including those who are blind, to obtain a quality education that prepares them to embark upon a successful career of their choice; and
WHEREAS, today, blind students face many new barriers in accessing educational content because of the increased emphasis on accountability testing and the increased use of educational technologies; and
WHEREAS, all Maryland citizens, including the blind, need full access to government information and services; and
WHEREAS, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all state services be accessible to people with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, the state of Maryland adopted legislation in 1998 and 2000 to require state government to make all of its public information and websites accessible to the blind; and
WHEREAS, Maryland made a commitment to its blind citizens guaranteeing the right to a secret ballot; and
WHEREAS, in 2001 the state of Maryland was among the first states to authorize a fully accessible voting process, which included uniform systems for voting in polling places and for voting absentee through enactment of H.B. 1457; and
WHEREAS, all voters in Maryland were using the uniform systems as of 2006, with some beginning as early as 2002; and
WHEREAS, the Universal Usability Laboratory (UUL) in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Towson University does cutting-edge research on computer accessibility for people with disabilities, focusing particularly on blind people; and
WHEREAS, the UUL is nationally recognized for its contributions to universal accessibility, not only for blind people but also for computer users of different ages and users with motor and cognitive impairments; and
WHEREAS, blind students in Maryland need easy and reliable access to high-quality readers and greater availability of accessible books to manage the volume of printed material encountered during their academic studies and preparation for employment; and
WHEREAS, resources exist through the rehabilitation program and among Maryland's institutions of higher education to provide needed reader services to blind students; and
WHEREAS, literacy, the ability to read and write proficiently, is essential to effective communication, to highly skilled and highly paid employment, and to full participation in the life of ones community; and
WHEREAS, more than 70 percent of blind people nationwide are, but of those blind people who are employed, 85 percent or more use Braille in the workplace, demonstrating a clear relationship between literacy, confidence, and success; and