a Great Activity Director Resource - the National Federation for the Blind

[Pennie 26]

One of the most frustrating things about growing older and being blind or having low vision is the loss of access to newspapers.  Now there is a free service that provides access to newspapers for the blind and print-disabled. It’s called NFB-NEWSLINE and its very easy to use.   All that’s needed to use NFB-NEWSLINE is the ability to dial a telephone!

 

 

To learn more about NFB-NEWSLINE and how to sign up, visit www.nfbnewsline.org, or call (866)504-7300.  Or you can email Scott White, Director of NFB-NEWSLINE, at swhite@nfb.org.

 

NFB-NEWSLINE is a free service available to anyone who is blind, has low vision or is print-disabled.  It offers over 500 publications to choose from, including fourteen national newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today, twenty-six breaking news sources such as CNN, Fox News, BBC and ESPN Online, seventeen international newspapers including Financial Times and Vancouver Sun, and countless state newspapers, as well as over sixty magazines like Family Circle, Time, Smithsonian, Reader’s Digest and more.  NFB-NEWSLINE has today’s news today.  Read local state newspapers.  Read newspapers from other states you’ve lived in.  Read newspapers in states family and friends live in.

 

And it’s convenient – subscribers can read whatever they like, whenever they feel like it.  Subscribers choose the newspaper, section and article, and can skip what doesn’t interest them, or reread anything they’d like.  All they need to do is just press a few buttons on the phone and find what they like to read, anytime. 

NFB-NEWSLINE also has TV Listings so subscribers can keep track of favorite shows. 

 

Another feature of NFB-NEWSLINE is the localized weather alerts.  A person who is blind or has low vision can hear the emergency alert tones on the television but will be unable to read the message scrolling on the screen. NFB-NEWSINE subscribers can simply sign into NFB-NEWSLINE and the weather alert will be read to him or her on the spot.  Any available weather alerts will be provided as soon as the subscriber signs into NFB-NEWSLINE. 

NFB-NEWSLINE’s wide array of publications and announcements can be accessed anytime, on the subscribers’ schedule, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  There are a variety of ways to access.   Subscribers can use their touch-tone telephone; they can access the service via the website, On Demand emails, using portable players like a Victor Reader Stream 2nd Generation or the NLS Talking Book Player, or even via their iPhone, iPad or iPod!  And it’s always free.

 

To learn more about NFB-NEWSLINE and how to sign up, visit www.nfbnewsline.org, or call (866)504-7300.  Or you can email Scott White, Director of NFB-NEWSLINE, at swhite@nfb.org.

Below is a list of magazines popular with our senior subscribers:

 

 

 

AARP Magazine
 AARP Bulletin
 Consumer Reports
 Diabetes Forecast
 Diabetic Living
 Web MD the Magazine
 Reader’s Digest
 Guideposts
 NARFE Magazine
 TIME Magazine
 Lion Magazine
 Spry Living
 Stars and Stripes

Of course we have now over 60 magazines and more are being added all the time!

 

Here are a few quotes from some of our senior subscribers:

• Jim in Georgia, “I’m 97 years old and I just think this service is great and you guys are great. I use NFB NEWSLINE to read my local papers and find the information to be current, and best of all, it’s free!!”
• Ron in Indiana, “One of the things that NFB-NEWSLINE has done for me in my daily life is that it's given me the opportunity to read the daily news again.  I am totally blind and I have been now for over 30 years.  And it gave me the opportunity to go out and pick up the daily paper and read it like I used to do.  Only now, I do it via my telephone.  It gave me a good opportunity to keep up with what's going on nationally, locally as well as the sports.  I love to read the sports section!  NFB-NEWSLINE is a great opportunity, not only for young adult blind, for students in college, but also for seniors.  When seniors lose their vision, one of the things they miss most is going out and picking up their daily paper.  So now they have an opportunity to read the newspaper again.  It changes daily, and they get to read different papers, and they also get to read magazines.  I think this gives senior citizens another lease on life when it comes to their own independence.  They can sip on their cup of coffee, they can put NFB-NEWSLINE on their home landline, or via their cell phone, and listen to the newspaper every day.  I think that's a good thing for senior citizens and all blind people to have, but mostly the senior citizens because they miss reading the paper on a daily basis.”
• Gus in Florida, “I am 70 years old, a retired manager for a major computer company.  This service has provided me not only with a change in the quality of my life, but it has given me the opportunity to keep up to date with different subject matter, that before was very hard for me to be up to date.  It’s a great service, not only for me, but I think for every blind who wants to keep him or herself informed.  Congratulations and thank you so much. “
• Joe in Michigan, “Oh yeah, I love NFB-NEWSLINE!  I really enjoy reading the Stars and Stripes.  I’m an old blind veteran and never grow tired of checking in on Army matters…  I like to read my newspaper too. I always loved getting the care packages from home when I was overseas and finding my hometown newspaper.  I really missed that when I lost my sight, but now thanks to you guys, I can have it again. I think I’m really going to like this iPhone mobile app.”

To learn more about NFB-NEWSLINE and how to sign up, visit www.nfbnewsline.org, or call (866)504-7300.  Or you can email Scott White, Director of NFB-NEWSLINE, at swhite@nfb.org.

[Squeaker 0]

This is awesome! Thanks