JFActivist

Self-Advocate Speaks on Technology Access and Barriers

By AAPD's Jenifer Simpson (10/20/09)

SABE’s Elizabeth Weintraub Speaks on Technology before FCC

At a recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Workshop on October 20 that focused on broadband access for people with disabilities, Elizabeth Weintraub, former Vice President of Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE), spoke on employment and outreach issues. Her panel, entitled “Accessibility and Affordability Barriers to Broadband and Internet use Faced by People with Disabilities,” also included representatives from the American Council of the Blind, National Association of the Deaf, American Association of Deaf-Blind, Spinal Cord Advocates, Speech Communications Assistance by Telephone Inc, and Inclusive Technologies. The purpose of the FCC workshop was to gather more information for development of the National Broadband Plan, due to the U.S. Congress in February 2009.  Ms. Weintraub’s statement follows:

“Thank you for inviting me to speak. My name is Elizabeth Weintraub and I’m from Maryland. I work at the Council on Quality & Leadership part time and also I consult for the National Children’s Center in Washington, DC. At both of these organizations, I work to help people with disabilities get good quality of life.  I work from home.

I have been using a computer since the mid nineties, and yes sometimes I hit the wrong key by mistake, however if I was told by people I needed to stop using a computer, just because of my disabilities, that would not be fair at all! How would I keep up with the world?   The Internet is essential to knowing what is going on. If technology wasn't accessible to people with disabilities, then it might be impossible for people to lead a life that they would like.

At the Council on Quality & Leadership, all of my colleagues live everywhere in the country, and if I couldn't email, or fax them, or cut & paste in documents & communicate with then, then I would probably get fired.  I wouldn't get fired because of discrimination, but because the technology is inaccessible.  The way my work is set up is such that if I couldn't use technology, I wouldn't be useful. That's why it's important that everyone, including people with disabilities should be trained in using technology. Not being trained in technology and how to use it is a big barrier for people with disabilities.

Also, not having technical supports from the companies that provide Internet and computers and technology is a problem. We need technical supports so we don’t get stuck. Another barrier is the cost of Internet access.  Not everyone can afford it and if you are in a rural area, the cost is often more. We don’t earn as much as people without disabilities so this is a barrier.

The FCC should do more outreach to people and not just through electronic means since not everyone has computers and internet access. We need more public meetings in lots of cities and towns that are advertised a lot longer ahead of time. Like a month in advance. It takes time for us to find out about FCC meetings. We learn about things like this from disability groups at the national and state and local level. And it takes time for us to arrange car or bus rides. We also often have to arrange childcare. Some of us need to arrange for personal assistants if we need them.

I would like to see the Internet available just about anywhere in the country. So all of us have a chance to find the information, resources, and materials. There is a lot of information available that helps us get jobs and do our jobs. Also for when we take care of our families. I would like to see the Internet easy to use. Cheaper to us, such as in every home. Dial up might be cheaper(?) than DSL, but it means that you can't be on the phone at the same time, and also when I had dial up, I would get frustrated because there were times that it wouldn't connect, and I would be concerned whether it was me or the technology that was the problem

Thank you. ”

After her statement, FCC staff inquired of Ms. Weintraub about the number of Americans with intellectual disabilities and she stated “8-10 million, according to the President’s Committee on Intellectual Disabilities.”

 

Item provided by Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director, Government Affairs, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) For more information on the FCC boadband national plan development and people with disabiliteis, send Email to jsimpson@aapd.com

Electric Cars Threaten Blind

From the NY Times (10/13/09):

Hybrid Cars May Include Fake Vroom for Safety
By Jim Motavalli

For decades, automakers have been on a quest to make cars quieter: an auto that purrs, and glides almost silently in traffic.

They have finally succeeded. Plug-in hybrid and electric cars, it turns out, not only reduce air pollution, they cut noise pollution as well with their whisper-quiet motors. But that has created a different problem. They aren’t noisy enough.

So safety experts, worried that hybrids pose a threat if pedestrians, children and others can’t hear them approaching, want automakers to supply some digitally enhanced vroom. Indeed, just as cellphones have ring tones, “car tones” may not be far behind — an option for owners of electric vehicles to choose the sound their cars emit...

...The notion that battery E.V.’s and plug-in hybrids might be too quiet has gained backing in Congress, among federal regulators and on the Internet. The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, introduced early this year, would require a federal safety standard to protect pedestrians from ultra-quiet cars...

...A study published last year by the University of California, Riverside and financed by the National Federation of the Blind evaluated the effect of sounds emitted by hybrid and internal-combustion cars traveling at 5 miles per hour.

People listening in a lab could correctly detect a gas-powered car’s approach when it was 28 feet away, but could not hear the arrival of a hybrid operating in silent battery mode until it was only seven feet away...

>>> For the Full Article

CA: Survey on Speech-to-Speech Relay

From Jenifer Simpson (10/14/09):

CA Relay Service Survey on Speech-To-Speech Relay Service
The Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program, administrator of the Speech to Speech (STS) Relay Service in California, is conducting a survey. Please help the California Relay Service evaluate speech-to-speech relay service.  Whether you have a speech disability or not or have tried or never tried to use the Speech-to-Speech (STS) Relay Service, they would like your feedback.

Please participate in the online survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=J3jLMkiyPG7LGjt3Mwk5lw_3d_3d!

For more information or assistance, please call our toll free number: 1-866-409-0178 or Email the survey creator at crsinfo@ddtp.org

If you know any other individuals, groups or organizations that would like to receive information about Speech to Speech or this survey, please feel free to pass on this message or let us know how we can reach them.

AAPD Meets with Disability Representatives from Armenia

AAPD Meets with Disability Representatives from Armenia

Through a meeting sponsored by the League of Women Voters, AAPD met with Kamo Davtyan, Executive Director of Syunik Disabled People’s Support Coalition, “Voghji,” from the city of Kapan, the capital of Syunik province in southern Armenia. Mr. Davtyan was accompanied by another Voghji member, Ms. Meline Astsatryan, and several other people representing other non-profit organizations who are touring the U.S. to learn more about effective coalition-building. The Voghji disability coalition’s goals are to support the rights of people with disabilities, to facilitate their integration into society, to create employment opportunities and to propose and support legislative initiatives that support people with disabilities. Mr. Davtyan noted that there are about 600,000 people with disabilities in Armenia, or 20% of Armenia’s 3 million population.

Davtyan, who is disabled, leads the organization which currently has two paid employees and 20 unpaid volunteers and is entirely funded by the business community. One recent achievement is a decree enacted by the mayor that states "no new construction will be approved in Kapan if it does not include plans for ramps for the disabled." The challenge for Davtyan's group is to ensure that this decree is properly enforced. Another plan is to refurbish an old house as a center for people with disabilities, or one stop shop for services, information, and other activities. Other plans include obtaining a car to travel from village to village and acquiring technical support on issues relating to legislation and best practices. There is also a legislative effort underway to have a governmental decree issued for disability civil rights.

Information on Armenia at http://www.lwv.org/Content/ContentGroups/PressReleases/2008/ArmeniainBrief.pdf

More on Kapan, Armenia, home to disability coalition Voghji, at http://travel.mapsofworld.com/armenia/tourist-destinations-in-armenia/kapan-armenia.html

More on the League of Women Voters coalition-building activity in Armenia at http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=13947

Story  by  Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director, Government Affairs & Technology Initiatives, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Washington, DC USA  Email JSimpson@aapd.com

Govt Needs Your Expertise to Review Applications for $4.5B in Broadband Grants

Govt Needs Your Expertise to Review Applications for $4.5B in Broadband Grants
by Jenifer Simpson, AAPD

The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), a $4.5B broadband stimulus program seeks to bring universal broadband access to all Americans while creating jobs and stimulating the economy. The administrator, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), needs experienced professionals who can review grant applications using a peer-review model. NTIA needs reviewers with relevant expertise, from diverse backgrounds, regions and experience in at least one of the following areas: expertise in broadband deployment and infrastructure; experience with personal computers, software and local area networks; experience in community technology and digital inclusion programs; experience reviewing grant applications from nonprofit and public agencies; expertise in Education, Health Care, Disability Access, Economic and Workforce Development, Libraries, Human and Social Services and/or Affordable Housing; experience with outreach to targeted vulnerable populations, including: Children/Youth, Senior Citizens, Disabled, Low Income Communities of Color, Native Americans, Immigrant Communities, Non English Speaking.; understanding of how broadband access enables communities to fully participate in the 21st century economy.

NTIA would like you or a staff member to participate as a peer reviewer and to further disseminate this request. Grant reviewers will participate remotely and will not be required to attend any in-person meetings; no honorariums available.  Reviewers of applications will: participate in a 40 minute on-line, webinar training session; be assigned to a three person panel of reviewers (all panel members will score the same applications); access an on-line portal through which they will read, print and score five to ten applications assigned to each reviewer; and participate in a moderated conference call of the three-person panel during which members of the panel will discuss each application.   Reviewers will commit approximately 20-25 hours to this effort.  Reviewers will begin scoring applications in mid-September and will finish their work by mid-October. If you are able to serve as a reviewer, please submit a copy of your resume to btopreviewer@ntia.doc.gov.  (NTIA will use the resumes to match reviewers to applications that are most in line with a reviewer's particular experience and/or expertise.)  If you have additional questions, please call (888) 861-5509 or e-mail BTOPreviewer@ntia.doc.gov for further information.

Insurers Fight Speech-Impairment Remedy

Kara Lynn, with her 5-year-old son, Aiden, uses an iPhone to run text-to-speech software.
Photo Credit: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

from the New York Times (9/14/09):

Insurers Fight Speech-Impairment Remedy
By ASHLEE VANCE

SAN FRANCISCO — Kara Lynn has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., which has attacked the muscles around her mouth and throat, removing her ability to speak. A couple of years ago, she spent more than $8,000 to buy a computer, approved by Medicare, that turns typed words into speech that her family, friends and doctors can hear.

Under government insurance requirements, the maker of the PC, which ran ordinary Microsoft Windows software, had to block any nonspeech functions, like sending e-mail or browsing the Web.

Dismayed by the PC’s limitations and clunky design, Ms. Lynn turned to a $300 iPhone 3G from Apple running $150 text-to-speech software. Ms. Lynn, who is 48 and lives in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said it worked better and let her “wear her voice” around her neck while snuggling with her 5-year-old son, Aiden, who has Down syndrome.

Medicare and private health insurers decline to cover cheap devices like iPhones and netbook PCs that can help the speech-impaired, despite their usefulness and lower cost.

Instead, public and private insurers insist that, if Ms. Lynn and others like her want insurance to pay, they must spend 10 to 20 times as much for dedicated, proprietary devices that can do far less...

>>> For the Full Article

Help AAPD Celebrate 10 Years of Disability Mentoring Day with $10!

From AAPD 9/9/09:

Help AAPD Celebrate 10 Years of Disability Mentoring Day with $10!

 

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of Disability Mentoring Day (DMD), a large-scale national effort coordinated by AAPD to promote career development for students and job seekers with disabilities through hands-on career exploration, on-site job shadowing, and ongoing mentoring leading to internship and employment opportunities.

We need your help if we want to continue coordinating national DMD and improve the employment outcomes for people with disabilities  

Here’s an easy way to help. Donate $10 to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of DMD to the AAPD Cause on Facebook or on our website at www.aapd.com and urge your friends and family to do the same. Help us reach our goal of raising $1,000 by October 21, 2009, recognized date for national DMD!

MORE ON DMD:

• DMD connects nearly 20,000 job-seekers with disabilities with thousands of employers in more than 300 locations in every U.S. State and Territory and in more than 24 countries worldwide each year.
• Over 2,000 participating Public and Private Employers hosted mentees at their places of employment, with many continuing the mentoring relationships for long-term periods;
• A grassroots network of more than 350 volunteer Disability Mentoring Coordinators work nationally and internationally to connect their local disability and business communities.

Fore more, visit www.aapd.com.

President's Health Care Address to Be Live Captioned

From Rebecca Cokley (9/9/09):

*** Tune In ***

For live captioned coverage of President Obama's Health Care Reform Address TODAY, Wednesday September 9, 2009 at 8:00 EDT go to http://ncamftp.wgbh.org/bcb/presidentspeaks.html.  During this address, the President will tell congress exactly what he wants from reform.

FCC Reports Increase in Captioning & Relay Service Complaints

From the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (9/8/09):

FCC Reports Increase in Captioning & Relay Service Complaints
By Jenifer Simpson

In a September 8 Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission reported it received 266 disability-related complaints in the first quarter of 2009 (Jan 1-Mar 31). These were 22 accessible/usable phone complaints (Sec. 255) and 60 telecommunications relay service concerns. Additionally, there were 142 closed captioning concerns and two about lack of access to emergency information on TV. The overall increase in disability-related concerns, from 154 in the 4th Quarter of 2008 to 266 in this first quarter 2009, were increases in the number of captioning and relay service concerns. Story is reported by the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) at http://www.coataccess.org/node/4800.

Captioning on Internet & Real Time Text

From the NY Daily News (9/1/09):

Gov't bill would make Internet more accessible for disabled via real-time texting, closed captioning
BY Eitan Gavish

This month, as Congress returns from break, health care reform is not the only imperative issue on their plate. A new bill will aim to make content on the Internet more friendly to those with disabilities.

The "21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009" (H.R. 3101) plans to modernize disability standards by making such accessibility features as closed captioning, video description and real-time texting a standard for Internet technologies...

“When we first sat down a couple years ago we realized that the communication act that the FCC regulates and administers was not keeping up with all the changes going on in communications, particular with everything starting to move through the internet,” said Jenifer Simpson, Senior Director of Government Affairs at the American Association of People with Disabilities, a founding member of COAT...

...The new bill would make closed captioning mandatory for large Internet television and movie distributors, excluding user-based sites such as YouTube. The bill would also lift an outdated standard enforcing closed captioning only on TV sets of 13 inches or greater, opening up captioning to smart phones and other portable devices that display video...

>>> For Full Article

For More information email jsimpson@aapd.com