Access & Technology Briefly

Washington, DC Metro officials experience obstacles facing system's disabled riders

Mass transit users with mobility disabilities rely on elevators to move from platform to platform or from the station to the street. When elevators break, a half-hour commute often becomes a several hour ordeal. According to a recent Washington Post article, as part of the first Disabilities Awareness Day, hosted by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, 12 commuters with disabilities took local officials on a trip through downtown Washington, DC on Washington's Metro, so that the officials could experience first hand the obstacles persons with disabilities face daily just trying to get from one location to another using the rail system. Details online: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49841-2004Oct20.html.

Some people with mobility impairments prefer Segways to scooters

According to a recent New York Times article, several hundred people nationwide that need assistance walking, but not a wheelchair, use Segways. The Segway currently does not fit into the definition followed by the U. S. Department of Transportation in implementing the Americans With Disabilities Act and is not approved or marketed for use as a medical device, but some disabled riders are still willing to pay at least $3000 to have one. Details online: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/technology/circuits/
14segw.html?ex=1099643131&ei=1&en=35d2b6b3506d341d .

U.S. TV show renovates home to provide accessible features

A popular U.S. reality TV show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, recently featured a home makeover for a couple in Detroit who are deaf and their two sons, a 14-year-old who is hearing and a 12-year-old who is blind and autistic. The Extreme Makeover crew and the team they assembled worked to give this family high-tech communication and safety solutions currently available to individuals who live with hearing impairments. The 14-year-old, concerned about how his family will be able to communicate when he enters high school and then on to college, got the attention of the Extreme Makeover team. The show created a system that allows the parents to communicate with each other using sign language, even when they are in different rooms, and with friends and family outside the home and includes a variety of signaling devices. The TV show responds to requests from viewers for necessary remodeling for various reasons and has begun to include accessibility as a rationale for its services. For details, visit the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition website at http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/index.html .

Philippines rail system receives award for accessibility by parents organization

The LRT Line 2, a 13.8-km elevated rail system connecting Pasig, Marikina, Quezon City, San Juan and Manila in The Philippines, opened in April 2003. The LRT's Purple Line was recently awarded by the Parent Advocates for Visually Impaired Children as one of two handicapped-friendly transportation establishments. The LRT 2 features: Braille buttons on the controls of its elevators, which are reserved for people with disabilities, senior citizens and pregnant women; embossed pathfinding tactiles to guide visually impaired passengers to the trains; announcements of each next stop; wheelchair ramps in all its stations; spaces designated for people who use wheelchairs and mobility devices, and certain seats clearly designated by signs saying, "Please vacate for the disabled and elderly." Details online: http://news.inq7.net/metro/index.php?index=1&col=&story_id=13642 .

US disability organizations file petition about captioning quality with government

The American Association of People with Disabilities has joined the Association of Late-Deafened Adults, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network, the National Association of the Deaf, and Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People in supporting Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc., in filing a Petition for Rulemaking on July 23, 2004, asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address long-standing quality issues in closed captioning of all broadcast, cable and satellite television programming for viewers who are Deaf, hard of hearing or late-deafened. Section 713 of the Telecommunication Act of 1996 currently requires that 75% of all new programming be captioned, which will increase to 100% of all new analog and digital television programming in 2006, but additional enforcement mechanisms are necessary to ensure full implementation of the rules and to increase accountability for noncompliance. As part of ongoing efforts to promote more consumer involvement with the FCC and other government agencies, television viewers who use closed captioning are encouraged to share their own experiences with the FCC. For details online: http://www.aapd-dc.org/News/aapd/landmark.html .

Science Fiction becomes reality for disabled people unable to use their hands

Like something out of a science fiction movie, the Cyberkinetics BrainGate, a tiny sensor array implanted in the brain, has enabled a quadriplegic man to check e-mail, play computer games and manipulate television controls. BrainGate, the most sophisticated implant of its kind, contains 100 electrodes, each one tapping into a separate neuron. Based on more than ten years of development at Brown University, the BrainGate(TM) System is intended to provide severely disabled people with a permanent, direct and reliable interface to a personal computer. The Company has initiated a pilot (feasibility) clinical trial of the BrainGate (TM) System in up to five severely disabled people unable to use their hands. To read more about BrainGate online: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=230 .

Internet access advocates for vision impaired people are slowly making progress

Disability advocates appear to be slowly gaining ground in making Internet sites more accessible to Internet users with visual impairments. Some advocates are choosing to try working with corporations to change their practices rather than filing lawsuits against them. These advocates recognize that companies are not doing enough to make their bank machines, brochures, and websites accessible to the vision-impaired. Although, the federal government amended the 21-year-old Rehabilitation Act to include Section 508 in 1998, requiring all federal agencies and companies doing business with the government to comply with some basic website accessibility guidelines, most advocacy groups say the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibiting discrimination by employers and businesses, should be the legal benchmark for website accessibility. Web accessibility guidelines have to constantly be updated, and for users with vision impairments, access begins with ensuring that the programming code used to build the site is compatible with screen readers. Advocates hope that they can consult with big companies to make their websites accessible, thus minimizing lawsuits. Details online: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash
/oct2004/nf20041027_6496_db016.htm .

UK law enters new phase, requiring access for disabled persons to businesses

The Disability Discrimination Act in the UK has now moved into a new phase, requiring shops, restaurants and other businesses to ensure disabled people can use the same services offered to able-bodied people. Disability activists warn that there will likely be court cases to enforce rights or direct action against specific offenders. The Disability Rights Commission oversees the implementation of the new legislation. Details online: http://www.ananova.com/business/story
/sm_1123257.html?menu=business.latestheadlines

New Ontario legislation aims to make Ontario completely accessible within 20 years

The government of Ontario has introduced legislation to phase in new accessibility regulations for businesses with the goal of making Ontario fully accessible to persons with disabilities in 20 years. The first piece of legislation introduced in this fall session, the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, calls for separate consultations with large and small businesses, the manufacturing and retail sectors as well as persons with disabilities to determine what standards would be required and when they would be introduced. Details online: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/10/12/666223-cp.html .

Legal setback for website access advocates in the US

In September the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Web publishers are not required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Upholding a lower court's decision from October 2002, which concluded that websites cannot be required to comply with the 1990 disabilities law (in response to a lawsuit by an advocacy group for the blind seeking a redesign of the Southwest Airlines website), the three-judge panel noted that a future case could provide a vehicle for exploring the question in greater depth. The ADA says that any "place of public accommodation" must be accessible to people with disabilities and includes categories such as hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, universities and bowling alleys. It does not name the Internet. To read an article about the decision online: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588-5384087.html .

Disability groups accused of conflict of interest in e-voting controversy

Some disability groups in the US are claiming they are simply fighting for the right to use accessible machines, because touch-screen voting systems are the only ones that allow them to cast ballots without assistance. Others are accusing these groups of being used by the companies that make electronic voting machines to increase company profits, and worse, of taking money from these companies and not disclosing these relationships while advising states and federal agencies and advocating for voting access and legislation. To read an article from Wired Magazine about these allegations of conflicts of interest and questionable motives, please visit http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65292,00.html .

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