Have mercy on those short of sight; use larger print ads

To the Editor:

Technological innovations now come at us so fast that we hardly have time to evaluate their social consequences "“ for good OR for ill. Cyber bullying is but one of the more obvious. Another, although less obvious, is tiny newsprint.

At a recent meeting of the Athens Commission on Disabilities we were shown an ad placed in the Oct. 15 issue of The Athens NEWS. A local, highly respected humanitarian non-profit organization was thanking its supporters whose names appeared in the ad. This is a good thing.

However, their names were printed in such small type that, as a local ophthalmologist observed, a person with normal vision would have great difficulty reading it. This is NOT a good thing.

Blindness is correctly considered a disability. But persons not considered blind suffer a loss of vision if materials printed for their edification are unreadable. And paying for printing unreadable material is of questionable value, especially for the agency purchasing it.

It is our hope that both sellers and buyers of print media ads and articles will, in the future, consider those with eye sight/tiny-print disabilities. In newsprint, tiny is certainly not better.

Bruce Ergood
Mayor's Office, City Building
Athens