http://www.boston.com/dailynews/159/nation/Service_that_reads_newspapers_:.shtml

Service that reads newspapers to blind expanding nationwide

By John Biemer, Associated Press, 6/8/2001 19:27

BALTIMORE (AP) A free service that provides the contents of daily newspapers to the blind will expand nationwide by early next year.

Newsline began a pilot program in 1994 using only USA Today. It now reads almost 50 newspapers to people in 73 U.S. communities mostly urban areas and Toronto.

In March, the service will offer the contents of 100 newspapers including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal everywhere in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Distribution of Braille newspapers is prohibitively expensive and other than television and radio, blind people haven't had too many alternatives.

''I couldn't read a newspaper 'til I was 50 years old,'' said James Gashel, the National Federation of the Blind's director of governmental affairs. ''Those of us who are blind ... get more used to listening to the radio or TV news. Newspapers have not been part of our life.''

People access the federation's service through a toll-free number. They can pick a newspaper, a section of the paper or an article and a computer-generated voice reads it to them.

About 30,000 people use the service. Gashel said that number could grow substantially since there are 1.1 million legally blind people nationwide and another 11 million with weak eyesight.

The federation plans to include newspapers from every state and might make magazines available, he added. A $4 million federal grant will pay to develop the high-speed telecommunications and computer technology.

Peggy Elliott, a blind city councilwoman in rural Grinnell, Iowa, said she's been at a disadvantage without a newspaper.

''I can't tell you how many times someone has said at a meeting, 'Did you read The (Des Moines) Register this morning?''' she said. ''Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun, but now there is.''

National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.org/

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

Answers

This is great service. Am blindin one eye and have some fear of injuring other. cant imagine not having papers to read.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001