[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 29, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E109-E110]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INTRODUCTION OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ACCESSIBILITY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. THOMAS E. PETRI

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 29, 2003

  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Instructional 
Materials Accessibility Act, which will ensure that, for the first 
time, blind students will be able to fully enjoy an equal opportunity 
to a quality education. This same bill attracted 88 bipartisan 
cosponsors in the 107th Congress, most notably my friend George Miller, 
the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the 
Workforce, who has worked closely with me on crafting this legislation.
  Unfortunately, it is the exception rather than the rule that blind 
students have access to textbooks for a given class at the beginning of 
the school year. Because of the cumbersome process needed to translate 
a textbook into Braille or other specialized format, it can take up to 
six months for the blind student to have the same materials as his or 
her sighted peers. Only a heroic effort can save this student from 
being hopelessly behind in class.
  This was not much of an issue before the 1960's. Before that time, 
most blind children attended centralized schools for the blind, and 
there was (and is) existing infrastructure, such as the American 
Printing House for the Blind in Kentucky, to provide support services 
such as production of Braille textbooks. Beginning in the 1960's, 
though, blind children began attending schools in their home 
communities, and now the vast majority do so. As a result, every local 
school district which has one or more blind students must obtain or 
create the necessary specialized textbooks for these students. However, 
again this is a laborious process that is beyond the capability of most 
school districts to carry out quickly or easily.
  Although states already have the obligation under the Individuals 
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other federal statutes to 
provide equivalent educational opportunities to disabled and non-
disabled students, it has become apparent that specific and practical 
standards need to be put in place to anticipate and meet accessibility 
needs in this area. The Instructional Materials Accessibility Act 
(IMAA) takes several approaches that, taken together, will greatly 
reduce the waiting time for blind students to receive their textbooks.
  This bill establishes a standardized electronic file format for 
instructional materials. Conversion into an electronic format is a 
necessary step in the process of creating a Braille version of a 
textbook. Twenty-six states currently require publishers to provide 
electronic copies of textbooks but have no agreed-upon file format. 
This drives up costs for publishers and often results in unusable 
electronic files provided. And it does nothing to reduce the months-
long period needed for production of the specialized textbook.
  Our bill requires statewide plans to ensure that students who are 
blind or visually impaired have access to instructional materials in 
formats they can use at the same time the materials are provided to all 
other students. Our bill will establish a national clearinghouse to 
provide ``one-stop shopping'' for local school districts to acquire the 
needed materials. In the future, publishers will be able to submit an 
electronic copy of a textbook to this clearinghouse, rather than having 
to deal with inconsistent state requirements. Finally, our bill 
authorizes a small capacity-building grant program to assist state and 
local educators in using electronic files supplied by publishers.
  This issue has been a bone of contention between textbook publishers 
and the blind community for quite a while. However, working together 
over a period of many months, both communities finally arrived at a 
mutually agreeable and practical solution to this problem and the 
publishers and the blind advocates strongly support the IMAA as 
introduced in both Houses.
  In the 107th Congress, the support and great need for this 
legislation prompted the Department of Education to fund the 
development of a voluntary standardized electronic format for 
specialized instructional materials. Once completed, this standardized 
file format would implement a significant piece of the IMAA. However, a 
standardized file format by itself will not solve all the problems 
which cause delays in the delivery of textbooks to visually impaired 
students. That is why this legislation is still needed. Once 
implemented, the IMAA will make life easier for states, publishers and 
most of all blind students, at a very modest cost.

[[Page E110]]



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