Marshfield reading service covers State House event on services for the blind

As their advocates pushed in recent days for adequate funding for the blind on Beacon Hill, including in Governor Charlie Baker’s proposed budget for next year, a Marshfield-based reading service was there to cover the event.

The Talking Information Center, a 24/7 nonprofit service for print-impaired listeners, recorded presentations at the Blind Legislative Informational Networking Day in the Great Hall at the State House on March 24, said producer John Shea. He said the service will air its hour-long segment on the event Sunday, March 27, at 9 p.m.

Beyond the presenters’ appeals, the annual event is an opportunity for people with visual impairments to meet with legislators about the importance of funding blindness services, said program coordinator Kim Charlson.

Sandra Krasser, chief financial officer for the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, said her agency’s funding in the Baker-Polito proposed fiscal 2017 budget is down $88,000 from this year’s. The budget for talking and braille libraries at the Perkins School for the Blind and the Worcester Public Library will remain the same, Charlson said.

“Often, people who are blind are marginalized and are not actively participating in government,” she said. “So this a time to work with legislators.”

Shea said the service’s coverage of the meeting will be available for download on March 28, on the Talking Information Center’s website at www.ticnetwork.org.