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 March  21,  2000 
 Magalie  Roman  Salas 
 Office  of  the  Secretary 
 Federal  Communications  Commission 
 445  Twelfth  Street,  S.  W.,  TW-  A325 
 Washington,  D.  C.  20554 


 Dear  Ms.  Salas: 
 RE:  COMMENTS  ON  NOTICE  OF  PROPOSED  RULEMAKING 
 IN  THE  MATTER  OF  VIDEO  DESCRIPTION  OF  VIDEO  PROGRAMMING 


 MM  Docket  No.  99-  339 
 I  welcome  the  opportunity  to  comment  on  the  proposed  visual  description  rule  (MM  Docket  No.  99-  339);  although  the  concern  for  blind  people’s  access  to  visual  information  is  laudable,  I  feel 
 that  the  proposed  rule  shows  misplaced  priorities.  I  feel  that  the  use  of  SAP  for  the  audio  presentation  of  visual  material  should  be  applied  to  safety  warnings,  health  information,  news, 
 and  other  information  rather  than  for  the  description  of  information. 
 I  am  a  blind  person  with  residual  eyesight.  When  watching  the  television,  I  often  leap  out  of  my  chair  when  the  television  is  showing  weather  crawlers,  news  captions,  and  sports  scores.  Often  I 
 miss  the  information  as  it  crawls  by  on  the  screen.  Other  times,  I  see  the  information,  but  am  not  sure  that  I  have  seen  it  correctly.  I  have  given  up  on  looking  at  stock  quote  information  that  is 
 presented  by  some  cable  networks  since  I  know  that  the  attempt  will  be  futile. 
 I  believe  that  the  FCC’s  misunderstanding  of  the  needs  of  blind  people  in  this  regard  arises  from  the  fact  that  blind  people  are  not  consulted  in  the  earliest  stages  of  rule  making.  I  would  hope 
 that  this  unfortunate  situation  could  be  remedied  in  the  future. 
 Once  again,  thanks  for  the  opportunity  to  comment. 
 Sincerely 
 Shawn  Jacobson  11910  Lafayette  Drive 
 Wheaton,  MD  20902-  2247 
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