From: Gary Wunder [mailto:gwunder at earthlink.net] Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 12:49 PM To: garywunder at earthlink.net Subject: Please help if you can Dear family, friends, and colleagues: I don't usually write to everyone in my address book, but I have an urgent issue I would like you to think about supporting. Today, true access to society means access to the internet, and although many of us think that the Americans With Disabilities Act has leveled the playing field for blind people, it was passed before the Internet was a factor. Although it speaks clearly to public access, it is mostly talking about physical structures. There is no question that a store has to let blind people in to shop. There is no question that a restaurant must allow someone with a cane or a guide dog into their establishment and must serve them. But the question that must be resolved is whether public places means physical locations or any location where the public is invited and encouraged to spend money. I contend that the internet is just such a place and that Amazon's online presence is no different from Barnes & Noble's store. Although the courts have issued conflicting opinions on this, most rulings have said that the Americans With Disabilities Act would most certainly have included the internet had it been passed only three years later. The Justice Department agrees, and so does the Congress. The problem is that the Justice Department has not implemented the amendments to the Americans With Disabilities Act that was passed by the Congress by issuing regulations necessary for its enforcement. The Obama administration now says that it plans to wait until 2018 to issue such regulations. Of course, there will be no Obama administration in 2018, and every delay makes it easier for the next president to authorize another delay. If you believe that it is important for me to be able to check in at an airport and to check out at a grocery store given that these both are requiring interaction with electronic devices, please look at the petition that I am including here, and if you feel as I do, please sign it. Some barriers that I face simply cannot be removed. I cannot enjoy seeing the stars in the sky or appreciate the beautiful colors that emerge in spring, but with technology that we have readily available today, there is no reason that I can't use a computer to read about these. The technological barriers I face are not so much due to blindness as they are the unwillingness of people to realize that there should be nonvisual ways of accessing much of what the world has to offer. Thank you for helping me if you feel as I do. Here is the link: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/direct-us-department-justice-promp tly-release-ada-internet-regulations Gary Wunder, President National Federation of the Blind of Missouri