WHEREAS, the awarding of a high school diploma implies that the recipient of that diploma possesses basic reading and writing skills; and
WHEREAS, the Maryland State Department of Education requires that students pass competency tests in reading and writing for graduation; and
WHEREAS, blind and visually impaired students often lack these skills, yet often pass these tests because these tests are administered with spoken instructions and spoken responses; and
WHEREAS, blind and visually impaired students are denied the opportunity to be literate because they are not taught such alternative techniques as braille and typing: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled this seventh day of September, 1986, in the City of Columbia, Maryland, that this organization urges the Maryland State Department of Education to adopt regulations to prohibit the use of spoken instructions and spoken responses in the administering of competency tests for reading and writing and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urges the Maryland State Department of Education to mandate that every local school district provide adequate instruction in braille and typing to all blind and visually impaired students.