02/03/2026
Please share this as widely as possible. 
Today, we, along with the National Association of Blind Merchants and several blind entrepreneurs, filed a federal lawsuit challenging a decision by the United States Department of Education that purports to eliminate the Randolph-Sheppard Act priority for blind vendors to operate dining facilities on United States Army installations nationwide.
The Randolph-Sheppard Act, passed in 1936 and strengthened by Congress in 1974, requires federal agencies to give priority to blind vendors in the operation of vending facilities, including cafeterias, on federal property. For more than thirty years, blind vendors have successfully operated Army dining facilities across the country, often winning awards from the military itself.
“The Randolph-Sheppard Act does not authorize the Secretary of Education to waive the law for an entire federal agency,” said President Riccobono. “Congress created and later enhanced this program to expand economic opportunity for blind entrepreneurs. The Department of Education cannot erase the work of America’s lawmakers through a sweeping administrative finding based on anecdote, speculation, or policy disagreement, and should not exclude blind people from shaping the future direction of the program. The National Federation of the Blind stands with the blind business owners who are providing outstanding and award-winning service to members of our nation’s armed forces every day, and we are determined to reverse this unlawful, unwarranted, and unjust action.”
Read the full press release at: https://buff.ly/55n7NP5
