On December 21, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives released a draft bill, the long-awaited "Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act." This proposal is a dramatic and comprehensive step forward for consumers with disabilities. It proposes to amend the Communications Act – the main statute that impacts the telephone and viddeo programming industries – to add new consumer protections that willl ensure people with disabilities do not get left out or left behind as telephones and television programming increasingly rely on digital and Internet Protocol (IP) technologies. The fast-growing disability coalition, the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) hails this recently issued draft legislative measure, saying it will allow greater numbers of people with disabilities, such as persons who are deaf or people who are blind, to become independent and productive members of society, as well as to enjoy all the new electronic gadgets and devices that everyone else takes for granted.

To see the draft bill (PDF) please go to http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/draft_of_telecom_legislation.pdf
To see a summary of the bill (Word) please go to http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/summary_of_telecom_legislation.doc

Or go to http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3236&Itemid=46 and CLICK on the documents.

Although laws in the 1980s and 1990s guaranteed telephone and television access, such as relay services, hearing aid compatible telephones, and captioning on TV, "we need to be sure these laws apply to services provided over the Internet, or to the newer, smaller devices available today that display television programs," says Rosaline Crawford of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). "While closed captions are required on all new television shows, very few that are also webcast are also shown with captioning. This leaves behind millions of people who rely on captioning." The draft law proposes to include this programming under the captioning mandates, and would cover new types of electronic equipment now displaying video programming.

Another provision would let deaf people – who generallyy use the Internet to communicate in video – receive the Lifeline andd Linkup discount for their broadband service. "Video relay service users who are low income should have the same phone company subsidies as other low income people," says Jenifer Simpson, of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). "These individuals aren’t using traditional wireline phone services anymore," she says; "instead, they are using the only phone service – video reelay – that works for them in their native language. Why should they be penalized for being sign language users?"

Another requirement contained in the draft would restore a requirement for television programs to include video description and ensure that TV devices transmit and deliver video description. Video description, used by people who are blind, is the provision of verbal descriptions of on-screen visual elements that are provided during natural pauses in dialogue. "With video description, people with vision disabilities can hear on-screen emergency warnings and also more fully participate in society through access to television programs like everyone else," says Paul Schroeder at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB).

From the Press Release by COAT
http://www.coataccess.org

Jenifer Simpson
American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Washington, DC, ext 31