From: Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
To: Members of the Maryland General Assembly
Contact: Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
15 Charles Plaza, #3002
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 443-426-4110
Email: President@nfbmd.org
Date: January 22, 2026
PROPOSED ACTION
The Maryland General Assembly should maintain the $250,000 appropriation for the Nonvisual Accessibility Initiative (NVAI) in the Governor’s Budget to support the Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Accessibility (CENA) to Education, Public Information, and Commerce.
BACKGROUND
In 2014, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) founded the NFB Center of Excellence in Nonvisual Accessibility (CENA) as a center of expertise, best practices, and resources that enable business, government, and educational institutions to provide accessible information and services effectively to blind citizens. The state of Maryland, through the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD), partners with CENA to support a series of projects under the NVAI, maintaining the state of Maryland as an ongoing leader in nonvisual accessibility.
The partnership between the NFB CENA and MDOD continues to improve the standard of accessibility throughout the state, and our collaboration will continue to build a more accessible Maryland through the development and implementation of a variety of projects within the following five focus areas:
Enhancing Access to Education Technology and Strategies
In this age of electronic devices, Braille is more vibrant and relevant than ever. Equipping blind children with Braille skills sets them up for a lifetime of independence and opportunity through literacy. Due to technical limitations, traditional electronic Braille devices used by students are only capable of
displaying one line of Braille at a time. This makes such devices incapable of displaying graphics, and unsuitable for reading math and tabular data.
Thanks to technological breakthroughs, manufacturers have now overcome these limitations. Products are finally available that permit the display of multiline Braille on devices similar to the tablets sighted students use. With the appropriate technology, students can interact with tactile graphics, and teachers can draw on a standard tablet with that drawing instantly appearing on the surface of a tactile tablet for a blind student. Electronic textbooks can be distributed to the student immediately, and read in full-page Braille, as if they were reading the physical book. This technology has the potential to improve educational outcomes dramatically, particularly participation by blind Marylanders in STEM subjects. However, it is in its early stages so requires rigorous evaluation, as well as information sharing with educators. CENA will develop modules on next-generation multiline Braille devices, aimed at educating teachers, parents, and those making procurement decisions. The modules will explain why these developments are so impactful and demonstrate how the technology can be used in an educational setting.
Enhancing Access to Employment-Related Tools and Services
Despite many blind people being ready and willing to work, the unemployment/underemployment rate for blind people in this country continues to exceed 70 percent. Through the NVAI partnership, CENA has a strong record of tackling some of the barriers blind Marylanders face when seeking employment. In addition to our ongoing collaboration with the Maryland Department of Labor (MD DOL) and the Maryland Department of Rehabilitation Services (MD DORS), which promotes the accessibility of employment-related services, CENA will identify software packages commonly used in the workplace that are inaccessible to users of screen reading technology. CENA will partner with the producers of such software to assist them in remedying these defects. This will result in more opportunity for blind people in Maryland to work and contribute to the economy.
Offering Accessibility Boutiques and Other Training Seminars
Accessibility Boutiques are 90-minute basic overviews/trainings designed to create public awareness of accessible software, products, services, and strategies. Quarterly Trainings are half-day events that offer a more substantive training experience to the participants and address major issues related to nonvisual accessibility. With artificial intelligence (AI) changing the nature of technology and society more rapidly than ever, some of these events help keep Marylanders informed about the way AI can be used to provide visual information in a nonvisual way, and to use prompt engineering to generate content that is both visually engaging and accessible.
CENA/MDOD will continue to offer Accessibility Boutiques and Quarterly Trainings, at no cost to Maryland citizens, on topics that assist both laymen and professionals in staying knowledgeable about evolving tools, strategies, and best practices to build a more accessible Maryland.
Assisting with the Integration of Smart Technologies for Accessible Cities
The development and implementation of accessible, safe, affordable, and efficient transportation allow blind and low-vision Maryland citizens to travel independently throughout their communities. In addition, emerging nonvisual access navigation or wayfinding technologies facilitate independent access to a variety of public and commercial venues, including college campuses, public and commercial buildings, and other environments. CENA staff have evaluated and collaborated with several indoor wayfinding technology vendors that use a variety of methods for providing information about the indoor environment, including Bluetooth beacons, existing Wi-Fi infrastructure, and camera-based navigation to name a few. CENA will develop and deliver an updated report outlining the current wayfinding technologies, their strengths and weaknesses, infrastructure impact, and other relevant data, which will then be disseminated to interested institutions.
Coordinating the Accessibility Inclusion Fellowship Program
The “Final Report of the Study on Accessibility Concepts in Computer Science, Information Systems, and Information Technology Programs in Higher Education” recommended that three annual fellowships be awarded to help instructors begin to include accessibility concepts contained within the minimum areas of instruction in at least one course offering in their institution. The CENA/MDOD has offered these fellowships and will continue to recruit and support an additional cohort in the coming year.
CONCLUSION
Access to information remains one of the greatest barriers faced by blind people, and technology has the potential to reduce that barrier dramatically. The public-private partnership between the NFB CENA and MDOD makes Maryland a leader in nonvisual accessibility and continues to be an effective method of removing these barriers by providing information about best practices and developing innovative techniques for achieving nonvisual access. The Maryland General Assembly should allow this groundbreaking investment in the capacity-building of blind Marylanders to continue by approving the $250,000 appropriation in the Governor’s Budget under the Maryland Department of Disabilities.