The Mid-Atlantic Regional Group
Blinded Veterans Association
Legislative News
Working in conjunction with AFB and other organizations, we wanted to let all our BVA contacts know about this legislation and the importance of asking your members of congress to support this bill.
Alert! Cosponsors Needed for Landmark Technology Access Legislation
For further information, contact Mark Richert, Director, Public Policy at mrichert@afb.net or 202-822-0833.
We encourage readers to share this alert widely.
On June 19, 2008 Representatives Edward Markey (D-MA-7) and Heather Wilson (R-NM-1) introduced H.R. 6320, the " 21st Century Communications and Accessibility Act of 2008" to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to emerging Internet Protocol-based communication and video programming technologies in the 21st Century. The original cosponsors are Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA-23); Rep Barney Frank (D-MA-4); and Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA-32).
Contact members of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, the full Committee on Energy and Commerce, and your own Representative to ask them to become cosponsors of the legislation.
The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COATS), has posted
lists of members of the Subcommittee and full Committee both including contact information;
a link to Members of the House of Representatives with links to their websites for contact information;
a link to Write Your Representative so you can find out who your Representative is--if you don't know who that is;
and the Capitol switchboard number.
COAT's press release follows:
LEGISLATION BRINGS HOPE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES LEFT OUT OF NEW COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES
COAT Applauds Representatives Markey and Wilson for introducing
The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2008
Jenifer Simpson, of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), said, "Once again, as he did in the 1980s and 1990s, Representative Markey is safeguarding an accessible communications future for people with disabilities. We are delighted also that Representative Wilson is co-sponsoring a measure that focuses on accessibility in our digital communications world. We applaud these Congresspersons for their extraordinary leadership and we look now to the Senate to address the issue of accessible communications technologies.
Karen Peltz Strauss, of Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD), said, This bill is a giant step forward toward bringing the Communication Acts requirements for accessible telephone and television services into this century. The various provisions of this legislation which focus on new and innovative ways to communicate and receive information build on existing federal policies to ensure that people with disabilities can take full advantage of the Internet advancements enjoyed by everyone else.
Added Rosaline Crawford, of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), Digital and Internet technologies are very exciting. They make it possible for TVs and other video devices of virtually any size to receive, transmit, and display TV programs and videoclips with captions. Captions make TV programs and videoclips accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. As more and more TV programs embrace the Internet, people who are deaf or hard of hearing must not be left behind. Captioning TV programs and videoclips shown on the Internet is needed for the same reasons it is needed when shown on TV.
Mark Richert, of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), stated: "With this measure, people with vision loss will finally have access to everything from text messaging their friends, watching their favorite TV shows, and receiving critical emergency alerts. Video description and accessible user interfaces on television devices are essential in providing information about events on screen for people who are blind or visually impaired." Video description is verbal depiction of key visual elements inserted into natural pauses in television dialogue and is activated by the viewer.
The bill includes the following specific measures:
Communications Access
Requires access to phone-type equipment and services used over the Internet.
Add improved accountability and enforcement measures for accessibility, including a clearinghouse and reporting obligations by providers and manufacturers.
Requires telephone products used with the Internet to be hearing aid compatible.
Allows use of Lifeline and Link-up universal service funds (USF) for broadband services.
Allocates up to $10 million/year from USF for equipment used by people who are deaf-blind.
Clarifies the scope of relay services to include calls between and among people with disabilities and require Internet-based service providers to contribute to the Interstate Relay Fund.
Video Programming Access
Requires decoder circuitry in all video programming devices.
Extends the closed captioning obligations to television-type video programming distributed over the Internet: covers programming that would otherwise be covered by the FCCs captioning rules, not user-generated content.
Requires easy access to closed captions via remote control, on-screen menus.
Requires easy access by blind people to television controls and program selection menus.
Restores video description rules and requires access to televised emergency programming for people who are blind or have low vision.
The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, or COAT, which was launched in March 2007, is a coalition of over 200 national and local organizations that advocates for full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless and Internet protocol (IP) technologies. More information is available at the COAT website at http://www.COATaccess.org.
Tom Zampieri
Director Government Relations
Blinded Veterans Association
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