- From: <empower@smart.net>
- Date: Thu Mar 26 13:52:01 1998
- To: uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu
- CC: telecom-l@trace.wisc.edu, easi@maelstrom.stjohns.edu, vicug-l@maelstrom.stjohns.edu, nfbcs@nfbnet.org, blindlaw@nfbnet.org, ada-law@listserv.nodak.edu, w3c-wai-ig@w3.org, java-access@javasoft.com
At the Microsoft accessibility summit in Redmond, Washington on February 18, Dave Capozzi of the U.S. Access Board delivered the following remarks on federal laws concerning technology access by citizens with disabilities. ---------- I. Introduction Until recently, making technology accessible to people with disabilities was like teaching a pig to sing. The pig isn't happy and the results are less than satisfactory. In terms of making technology accessible this is beginning to change slowly. More technology is becoming accessible and the amount of accessible technology should be increasing even more in the near term for two important reasons. II. Two reasons 1. It is becoming clear to product developers and manufacturers that providing access to technology is "the smart thing to do"; for a simple reason -- there is a growing number of people with disabilities who require access to technologies. There are 48.9 million Americans, one out of every five people, who have a functional limitation. These functional limitations impact the ability of individuals to use and experience the ever expanding benefits of technologies. Of the total number of Americans with disabilities, 5.8% are children under 18 years old; 13.6% are 18-44 years old; and 29.2% are 45-64 years old. 8% of world wide web users have a disability. The U.S. is experiencing a rapid increase of older Americans. More than 53% of all Americans with disabilities are 65 years of age or older. With aging comes the greater probability of functional limitations. The Census Bureau projects that the number of Americans 65 years and older will more than double between now and the year 2050, to 80 million. The "aging of America" will result in an increased need and demand for easy to use products to compensate for functional limitations. Also, there is a market for providing accessible technologies to people with disabilities because of an unmet need of providing access. Here are a few examples of the Federal government market: the Federal government market for goods and services is the single largest market in the world. About $200 billion is spent annually for everything from paper clips to jet aircraft. Every 20 seconds of each working day the Federal government awards a contract with an average value of $465,000. The Federal government is also the single largest purchaser and procurer of technology. It spends $26.4 billion annually on electronic office equipment, information technology (including hardware and software), and technical assistance services. 7.5% of Federal employees are people with disabilities -- 145,000 employees. 2. The second reason the amount of accessible technology should be increasing is because "it's the law". When I say, "it's the law" -- there are actually three (3) laws you need to be concerned about. They are: section 255 of the Telecommunications Act section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act the Americans with Disabilities Act 1. Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. On February 3, 1998, the Access Board issued final guidelines for accessibility, usability, and compatibility of telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment covered by section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. Section 255 provides that a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment or customer premises equipment shall ensure that the equipment is designed, developed, and fabricated to be accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, if readily achievable. A provider of telecommunications services shall ensure that the service is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, if readily achievable. Whenever either of these is not readily achievable, a manufacturer or provider shall ensure that the equipment or service is compatible with existing peripheral devices or specialized customer premises equipment commonly used by individuals with disabilities to achieve access, if readily achievable. The FCC has exclusive jurisdiction in any enforcement action under section 255. The law also precludes an individual's private right of action to enforce any requirement of section 255 or any regulation issued pursuant to section 255. The guidelines are "prospective in nature" and apply to products which are designed, developed and fabricated -- all three events must have occurred after enactment of the Act (February 1996). There is no requirement to retrofit existing equipment. The guidelines do not differentiate between hardware, firmware or software implementations of a product's functions or features. The functions are covered by the guidelines whether the functions are provided by software, hardware, or firmware. The guidelines require that manufacturers evaluate the accessibility, usability, and compatibility of products and incorporate the evaluation throughout product design, development, and fabrication, as early and consistently as possible. Since what is readily achievable will vary according to the stage of development (i.e., some things will be readily achievable in the design phase which are not in later phases), barriers to accessibility, usability, and compatibility must be identified throughout product design and development, from conceptualization to production. The details of such a process will vary from one company to the next, so the guidelines do not specify the structure or specific content of a process. Instead, the guidelines set forth a series of factors that a manufacturer must consider in developing such a process. How, and to what extent, each of the factors is incorporated in a specific process is up to the manufacturer. The guidelines also require that manufacturers provide access to information and documentation. This information and documentation includes user guides, installation guides, and product support communications, regarding both the product in general and the accessibility features of the product. Information and documentation are what make a product usable by anyone and, if such information is provided to the public at no charge, it must be provided to people with disabilities at no additional charge. Alternate formats or alternate modes of this information are also required to be available, upon request. Manufacturers are also required to ensure usable customer support and technical support in the call centers and service centers, which support their products. The guidelines give broad performance based provisions that require product input, control and mechanical functions to be locatable, identifiable, and operable through at least one mode which meets each of nine (9) paragraphs. Each of the product's input, control and mechanical functions must be evaluated against each of the paragraphs to ensure that there is at least one mode that meets each of those requirements. There may be one mode which meets more than one of the specific provisions. The guidelines do not specify how a requirement is to be met but only specifies the outcome. The appendix to the guidelines contains a set of strategies which may help in developing solutions. The guidelines also have provisions which apply to output, display, and control functions which are necessary to operate products. This includes lights and other visual displays and prompts, control labels, alphanumeric characters and text, static and dynamic images, icons, screen dialog boxes, and tones and beeps which provide operating cues or control status. 2. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. In 1986 Congress created section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. This section required the Department of Education and the General Services Administration to develop accessibility guidelines for Federal agencies who purchase electronic and information technology. The guidelines were issued in 1987. In Federal law and regulation, the term "information technology" means any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. This applies to an agency and contractors under a contract with an agency. The term "information technology" includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources. Each Federal agency has been required to comply with the guidelines. However, most people knowledgeable about the requirements of section 508 would agree that its enforcement has been ineffectual at best. The guidelines became part of the Federal Information Management Regulations (FIRMR) in 1988. In 1996, Congress eliminated the FIRMR in an effort to streamline the government procurement process. On January 28, the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 (S-1579) was introduced in the Senate. As currently written, section 508 of the act would require the Access Board to issue regulations on access to electronic and information technology one year after enactment and would charge the Board with processing complaints regarding inaccessible technology purchased by the Federal government. In April 1997, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo introduced similar legislation in the House to improve Federal agency compliance with section 508; the bill would direct the Office of Management and Budget to set up uniform procedures for agencies to report their compliance and to provide written verification of their compliance each year. It would also give OMB the ability to monitor and enforce compliance as needed. 3. The Americans with Disabilities Act. According to a September 1996 letter from Deval L. Patrick, Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to Senator Tom Harkin. State and local governments entities subject to title II or places of public accommodation subject to title III of the ADA that use the Internet to provide information regarding their programs, goods or services must be prepared to offer those communications through accessible means. Such entities may provide web page information in text format that is accessible to screen reading devices that are used by people with visual impairments, and they may also offer alternative accessible formats that are identified in a screen-readable format on a web page. Instead of providing full accessibility through the Internet directly, covered entities may also offer other alternate accessible formats, such as Braille, large print, and/or audio materials, to communicate the information contained in web pages to people with visual impairments. The availability of such materials should be noted in a text (i.e., screen-readable) format on the web page, along with instructions for obtaining the materials, so that people with disabilities using the Internet will know how to obtain the accessible formats. III. Conclusion Why is all of this important to you? First, there are millions of people with disabilities in the United States alone whose technology needs are not being fully met. Companies that meet those needs will have a strong competitive advantage over other companies who do not. Second, unless you want to miss out on the lucrative Federal government technology market, you need to pay attention to the access needs of people with disabilities. ---------- End of Document
Received on Thursday, 26 March 1998 13:52:01 UTC