For nearly ten years, blind and visually impaired individuals in Michigan have been able to access news and current information by telephone, courtesy of Newspapers for the Blind. The non-profit organization based in Flint started providing this telepone-based information service in 1987.
"Until we started our program there was no way for a print handicapped person to read time-sensitive material - like daily news - on demand," explained Jim Dorrity, the founder of NFB.
Currently NFB offers local access numbers in nine metropolitan areas in Michigan, including Detroit, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor the Tri-Cities area and Flint. Newspapers that are available through NFB are the Flint Journal and Detroit News, although Dorrity says they soon will expand their offerings.
"Fairly soon we will have a number of daily publications as well as magazines and newsletters of special interest," says Dorrity.
The advent of digital recording was one technological advancement that made Dorrity's dream possible. He pioneered using computer technology to read and record a newspaper and then play it back on demand. At the beginning, NFB used volunteer readers, although Dorrity has since utilized computerized readers and synthetic voice output.
"Today's paper is generally on before noon," says Dorrity. "We don't yet do statistical information, display ads or classified."
The service is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. If you are interested, you should contact NFB at (800) 995-6554 and leave your name, address and telephone number. NFB will call you back with a local access number and private PIN to use with your touch-tone telephone.