NFB-NEWSLINE

I don’t know if sighted people fully understand how much blind people depend on the internet. Without it, we’d still have to do various things with the additional assistance of another person. With the internet, a laptop, and a screen reader, I can shop for anything I want, and I don’t need anyone in customer service. I don’t need to invite someone to my apartment just so I can get the daily newspaper read to me.

And while I’ve learned today how valuable National Federation of the Blind, NFB-Newsline’s phone service is, with internet services, I don’t have to focus on navigating phone menus or a sweaty ear from holding the phone for so long!) With the internet, I can bookmark pages and websites super easily, accessing the exact information I want when and how I want it.

NFB-Newsline is a service that hosts magazines and newspapers in various accessible formats with markup that are available online and via the phone. Its online functions include its website, podcasts, the new Victor Reader Stream (which has built-in wireless access), and online editions of papers through an accessible web interface and the NLS player (downloaded from the Web).

NFB-Newsline is accessible to people in the United States and to US citizens living abroad. Other countries have their own newspaper and magazine services, but they’re usually tied to the internet. Bookshare, a similar application in the United States, requires an internet connection to download periodicals from a website.

Yet today, since I’m offline, I’ve been lying in bed and navigating NFB-Newsline by phone. I’ve realized how important this service is. There’s something very liberating about listening to articles by phone. I’ve never used this service over the phone. In earlier days, I’d access what I needed as a podcast feed; I’d listen to newspapers or have papers and magazines sent to my email every day, such as the New York Times and a bunch of Illinois publications.

But I can also pick up a phone, call a local number, and enter some credentials that NFB provides. Then, I’m reading —- or, rather, listening. Basically, the service is a sprawling recorded menu that I can navigate via touch tones. I can add WIRED magazine to my favorites with the single press of a button or read articles from my state. Since I’m in Chicago, I’ve saved a host of newspapers related to the Windy City in my favorites. I wonder why the Windy City Times, one of Chicago’s premier LGBTQ newspapers, isn’t in this listing.

For this service, I’m using my old Nokia with TALKS on it. It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, complete with yellow symbols for numbers in the center, where the home row rests. The phone is so small that it even fits inside a crevice in my shower, and it’s much smaller than some phones I’ve seen.

The only problem is that I can’t remember my Illinois log-in information after dialing the toll-free number. This morning, I’ve been reading news from my home state of Florida, where oranges make up a bigger population than humans. Just kidding.

I have no option to have the system tell me what my Illinois log-in is, so I hang up and log back in with my Florida credentials. I navigate to my favorites, which include everything from Crain’s Chicago Business to the Chicago Tribune. I enjoy reading the news even though, every minute I’m using this toll-free number, a trickle of cents is depleted from the NFB.

Toll-free really isn’t toll-free. It certainly is for the person who’s calling the number, but the person who holds that number is charged, depending on the location and even the phone carrier. I don’t know how much the NFB is charged for calls to its toll-free number, but this little bit adds up.

The NFB believes this cost is a small price to pay for access to information. NFB-Newsline is the only service in the United States that offers national and even international news in many accessible formats —- even a phone option. The National Library for the Disabled NLS, doesn’t offer newspapers at all. However, it does offer a dozen magazines and even more novels. I love novels, but news is important.

As I lie here in bed, using NFB-Newsline, I’m thankful every time I end a call. I’ve just read about a man who found a creative way to interest kids in reading. He dropped books off in a little lending library and encouraged the kids to take them out.

Stories like this make me think. A little library. What’s that like? It probably doesn’t have audiobooks, so it’s probably not for people like me. But how does it work? What if someone can’t find a book? Does the little library have librarians? How little is it, really? Without the internet, I can speculate, but I can’t look these things up. I picture a tiny, red box on elevated wheels with a slot to pick up and drop off books. I wonder if sighted people ever trade audiobooks through this little library.

I’m missing the convenience of online tools like Bookshare, but I appreciate the ability NFB-Newsline has given me to keep up with news and magazines from this beetle position in bed with a wonderful cup of iced tea.