NYNEX makes yellow pages available to internet users with vision impairments

MIDDLETON, MA -- NYNEX Interactive Yellow Pages on the Internet's World Wide Web http://www.niyp.com is now accessible to computer users with vision impairments, offering convenient access to business listings and Web sites in the northeast United States.

The new capability enables a visually impaired person, using a screen reader, to access the names, addresses, and phone numbers of nearly every business in New York and New England, from NYNEX's 2.1 million business listings in its 280 Yellow Pages directories. Additionally, the service enables Internet users to link with the Web sites of more than 400 of those businesses with sound and advanced searching capabilities.

"NYNEX is committed to developing services that help all customers communicate, and to eliminating barriers to information services faced by those who are physically challenged," said Mat Stover, president and chief executive officer, NYNEX Information Resources Company.

"NYNEX has taken the lead in recognizing that people with vision impairments, who use computers, are part of their market base," said Deborah Kaplan, vice president of the World Institute on Disability, and member of President Clinton's National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council. "NYNEX Interactive Yellow Pages greatly increases the amount of directory information available to people with vision impairments."

Service users with vision impairments will find NYNEX Interactive Yellow Pages on the Web well organized and easy to navigate. Designed for use with a screen reader, NYNEX Interactive Yellow Pages' `text-only' option replaces graphics and icons on the service's Web home page.

The service is organized by familiar A-Z shopping headings much like traditional Yellow Pages directories. It also features a "Top 25 Headings Search" so that users can easily access the most popular headings, and a "Hot Sites" list of new and exciting Web sites listed on the service.

Today's announcement is the latest example of NYNEX's long-standing commitment to provide assistive technology to customers with special communications needs.

The NYNEX Communications Center for People with Disabilities offers information, equipment, and services to customers who are visually, verbally, or hearing impaired. They include teletypewriter devices for the deaf, braille or large print bills for visually impaired customers, and "Dial Operator Privileges" for those who have difficulty dialing telephone numbers.

Businesses and consumers can learn more about NYNEX Interactive Yellow Pages and its capability for access by the visually impaired either by accessing NYNEX's Web site at http://www.niyp.com, or by calling 1-800-356-9639.

NYNEX Information Resources Co., based in Middleton, Mass., is a leading provider of printed, online, interactive, and CD-ROM directory and data base information services. Available on the Internet, DELPHI Internet(TM), PRODIGY, and via the French Minitel system, NYNEX's electronic products and services are offered in more than 40 countries worldwide.

NYNEX is a global communications and media company that provides a full range of services in the northeastern United States and high-growth markets around the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Corporation is a leader in the telecommunications, wireless communications, cable television, directory publishing and entertainment and information services.