> Instead, early this year the city purchased a new braille embosser for about $5,600, plus a refreshable braille display for $4,000-plus.

So the city not only had (or had the capacity to produce) an electronic version of the agendas which was probably accessible to her, but also bought a braille display that she could use for this purpose (which is extremely accommodating already), but she still asked them to emboss it out?

This is the sort of bullshit that leads people and businesses to believe that blindness requires special, expensive, and extraordinarily inconvenient accommodations. The right thing to do would have been to ask for the electronic format and leave it at that. The most accessible format would have been the electronic format, too, as you can then easily reference a particular portion of text using search functions and chapter navigation.

> “I was really happy to have the documents available this week at the council meeting,” Blaevoet said. “It made me able to participate. When it got to a particular point, I could look it up, see who the presenter was, see what the councillors were referring to. It was great.”

I do not believe that nearly any person, blind or sighted, could effectively enough skim a 1800 page series of books quickly enough to gather anything of value (that would justify printing or embossing all 1800 pages) during a meeting.

I'm sorry, but that is insane. She should have requested them either as BRF or some accessible digital format. Requiring anyone to print out 1800 pages for one meeting is abusive.

In the article this part caught my attention
"It didn’t happen right away. Born in Windsor, Blaevoet left when she was five. She lived in a number of places, most recently Ottawa and Britain. But a year and a half ago she returned to her hometown with her husband Emmanuel, with whom she owns Tactile Vision Graphics, which produces braille products."
Below is a link for a page on the company website for braille transcription. Also I like this line from the F.A.Q.
"How do we produce Braille?
Ideally, you provide the document electronically and we do the rest. Braille transcription is facilitated not only by translation software and a special embosser (printer), but a sound knowledge of the rules governing Braille use. We are happy to work with you every step of the way to bring the project you envision to reality."
http://www.tactilevisiongraphics.com/braille-transcription/
So I really hope this is not the case, but I wonder if she was trying to get the city to use her company for the job. The job that the city said would cost $12,000.
I would really like to hear your thoughts.