[sacate] Re: AAPD-News: Telecommunications Issues
- From: "wes britton" <spywise@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <sacate@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:32:39 -0400
This is the sort of article we should be posting at the website in the
section for political and etc. news.
Wes
----- Original Message -----
From: "Elisabeth Ellenbogen" <seieinmensch@xxxxxxx>
To: <sacate@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 12:14 AM
Subject: [sacate] AAPD-News: Telecommunications Issues
> Sending link also text for easy access (especially mine) Elisabeth
> Ellenbogen
> http://www.aapd.com/News/telecomm/070814coat.htm
>
> Information provided by AAPD - Disability Coalition Urges Action by
> Wireless Industry
>
> Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology
> -------------------------------------------
> For Immediate Release
> Tuesday, August 14, 2007
>
> Contacts:
> Jenifer Simpson (AAPD) 202-457-0046
> Brenda Battat (HLAA) V-301-657-2248, or TTY 301-657-2249
> Adrianna Montague-Gray (AFB) (212) 502-7675
>
> COAT Members Urge Action by Wireless Industry to Improve Disability
> Accessibility
>
> Washington, D.C. â?" Consumers with disabilities are taking their concerns
> about lack of accessibility of cell phones to the Federal Communications
> Commission (FCC) this month, with multiple complaints against numerous
> companies submitted by representatives of the Coalition of Organizations
> for Accessible Technology (COAT). The FCC is the federal agency that
> enforces Section 255, an eleven-year-old law that requires phones designed
> to be accessible for people with disabilities. Complaints are filed
> against both cell phone carriers and manufacturers.
>
> â?oWire line, wireless and VoIP companies and manufacturers are required
> to make services and products disability accessible and usable,â?? says
> Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director of Telecommunications Policy at the
> American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), a COAT affiliate
> organization that helps consumers file their complaints. â?oCompanies
> scoff at federal law when they fail to design at the front end for the
> needs of people with all kinds of disabilities. We urge the industry to
> take more action now so that people with disabilities, including the
> growing population of seniors, can purchase wireless phones and services
> without becoming exasperated and frustrated by unusable phones and
> unresponsive customer service.â??
>
> â?oMillions of Americans use hearing aids, for example,â?? states Brenda
> Battat, Associate Executive Director at the Hearing Loss Association of
> America (HLAA), another COAT affiliate, â?oand this number will grow
> rapidly as the baby boomers age. It is unfathomable to HLAA why there are
> new cell phones coming into the marketplace that do not address this
> need.â??
>
> â?oThese complaints illustrate a market failure on the part of the cell
> phone industry to address accessibility,â?? adds Paul Schroeder, VP of the
> Programs and Policy Group at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB),
> another COAT affiliate, which assisted over a dozen individuals in
> submitting complaints to the FCC recently. â?oWhile some companies have
> taken steps, consumers with vision loss have few good options for
> accessibility, and almost no reliable information about accessibility.â??
>
> The complaints from consumers with disabilities include:
>
> Cell phones not providing for audio output of information displayed on the
> screen for users with vision disabilities;
>
> Cell phones not built for compatibility with hearing aids;
>
> Visual displays difficult or impossible to navigate for persons with fine
> motor disabilities;
>
> No easily-found disability â?~point of contactâ?T at the company as
> required by FCC regulations;
>
> Number and control keys hard to distinguish by touch;
>
> Product manuals not available, and not available in alternate formats such
> as Braille or large print;
>
> No easy-to-find descriptions of accessibility features; Phone bills and
> customer contracts not available in Braille, large print, or other easily
> readable formats; and Customer service personnel ill-equipped to handle
> concerns of consumers with disabilities.
>
> COAT is a new coalition of disability organizations, launched in March
> 2007, to advocate for legislative and regulatory safeguards that will
> ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed
> broadband, wireless and other Internet protocol (IP) technologies. The
> Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, or COAT, consists of
> over 100 national, regional, and community-based affiliates dedicated to
> making sure that as the nation migrates from legacy public switched-based
> telecommunications to more versatile and innovative IP-based and other
> communication technologies, people with disabilities will benefit like
> everyone else. More information about the disability coalition is
> available at website.
>
>
>
>
Other related posts:
