Petri Bill would help Blind Students



Petri Bill would help Blind Students

Blind students would be aided by bill

By Brian Tumulty
P-C Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — Blind students taking math and sciences classes often have had problems getting Braille textbooks.

“We were hearing stories of waiting three to six months from some of these students,” said Jason Delisle, a legislative aide to Rep. Tom Petri, R-Fond du Lac.

Petri has been working with Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., for the past three years on legislation and regulation to help blind students and the sight-impaired.

Although computers have enabled publishers to create electronic versions of textbooks that later can be printed in Braille, there’s no national standard.

At the urging of Petri, earlier this summer the Department of Education established such a standard.

It’s not mandatory, but it gives publishers guidance, Delisle said.

Petri and Dodd also have legislation that has passed the House and Senate that would require school districts to put language in their contracts with textbook publishers requiring them to adhere to the one national standard for electronic copies.

In addition, Dodd’s bill would establish a national clearinghouse for electronic versions of textbooks that would serve as a one-stop center for school districts that need to print Braille copies for blind students.

It’s not clear whether the House and Senate will agree to a compromise version of the special education bill that contains the Petri-Dodd bill before the end of the year.

Brian Tumulty can be reached at 202-906-8133, or by e-mail at btumulty@postcrescent.com

When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview PCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before. Plus the debate continues over Safety and Security.

Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?

Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and can you come up with a Political Funny?

Read the stories and leave your comments.