The U.S. Access Board recently held a public hearing on a revised draft of updated requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act.

The Board will hold a second hearing March 1 at the CSUN Conference in San Diego. The hearing will be open to the general public and will not be limited to those registered for the conference.

Full story…

The Board conducted a public hearing January 11 on a revised draft of updated requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. Over a dozen people provided comments at the hearing, including representatives from advocacy groups, industry, and government.

Many speakers expressed support for structural changes made by the Board to streamline the rule and simplify requirements. They also endorsed the incorporation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) by direct reference to eliminate redundancy and promote greater harmonization. Some called attention to specific sections of the draft that should be clarified as a result of the rule’s reorganization or the replacement of requirements with the WCAG reference.

Commenters voiced concern over the timeframe to complete this update, particularly in view of the increasing speed of technological change and innovation. They urged the Board to explore options for a more timely process to refresh the ICT requirements on a continuing or rolling basis to keep pace with the ever-changing and newly emerging technologies of a dynamic market. Delays in keeping the requirements regularly updated, it was argued, impede industry compliance and hamper the incorporation of accessibility into new products.

Participants urged the Board to revise the rule to cover certain technologies or barriers to access. These recommendations addressed self-service machines and kiosks, which are becoming more prevalent, the growing market of gesture-based interfaces, such as touch screens, the emerging trend in digital or biometric identification as an alternative to password protection, hand held devices and access for people with limited dexterity, refreshable braille, and access for people with cognitive disabilities. In addition, recommendations were made to improve coverage of products with closed functionality, communication device software, web authoring tools, and technologies involving multiple languages, such as those used in foreign language instruction or translation.

Some speakers called attention to failures in the implementation of section 508 resulting in access issues for members of the public and federal employees with disabilities. Comments pointed to the importance of supplementary technical assistance materials, including answers to frequently asked questions, to improve implementation and compliance. It was also recommended that efforts be made to make the functional performance criteria of the rule testable to help validate compliance.

A transcript of the hearing will be posted to the rulemaking docket on the www.regulations.gov website in coming weeks. The Board will hold a second hearing March 1 at the CSUN Conference in San Diego. The hearing will be open to the general public and will not be limited to those registered for the conference.

Further information on this rulemaking is available on the Board’s website.

The hearing will take place at the Board’s meeting space at 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800, in downtown Washington, D.C.  Registration is not required, but those who wish to provide comments are encouraged to contact Kathy Johnson at johnson@access-board.gov, (202) 272-0041 (voice), or (202) 272-0065 (TTY).  Those unable to attend in person can make arrangements with Ms. Johnson to provide comments by phone.  The Board will also provide a dial-in option (limited capacity) for listening to testimony and online real-time transcription of the proceedings 

Public Hearing on the Draft Update of ICT Requirements
January 11, 9:00 to 12:00
Access Board Meeting Room
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004

Call-in option (listening only):
Dial:  (517) 308-9247 or (888) 469-2078 (toll-free)
Passcode: 4144
Note:  Contact Kathy Johnson in advance if you wish to make comments by phone

Real-time transcription:
http://www.streamtext.net/player?event=ACCESSBOARD01-11-2012

A second hearing will be held March 1 in San Diego at the annual CSUN conference.  The hearing will be open to the general public and will not be limited to those registered for the conference.

The draft rule jointly refreshes the Board’s Section 508 standards and its Section 255 guidelines which address access to computer hardware and software, websites, media players, electronic documents, telephones and cell phones, PDAs and other ICT products.  The Board is updating these requirements according to recommendations from an advisory body it chartered, the Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee.

The Board released a previous draft of the rule in March 2010 and received almost 400 comments from the public, including industry, disability groups, consumers, government entities, research and trade organizations, accessibility consultants, and others.  In response to this input, the Board has simplified and streamlined the document for greater usability.  The revised draft further harmonizes the rule with other guidelines and standards and eliminates redundancy by referencing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG).  In addition, revisions have been made to clarify the relationship between performance and technical criteria, coverage of electronic content, and clearer requirements for ICT with closed functionality.

The released draft includes a discussion that explains these and other changes and highlights other topics where public comment is sought.  The deadline for comments is March 7.  During the comment period, the Board will hold public hearings in Washington, D.C. on January 11 and at the annual CSUN Conference in San Diego on March 1.  The Board will follow-up with a proposed rule based on the input received that will provide an additional round of comment before the rule is finalized.

The draft rule and related information are available on the Board’s website. This information is also posted on the www.regulations.gov website which allows visitors to submit or view comments.  For further information, contact Tim Creagan at creagan@access-board.gov, (202) 272-0016 (v), or (202) 272-0074 (TTY).

Public Hearings on the Draft ICT Rule January 11, 9:00 – Noon
Access Board Conference Center
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC

March 1, 1:00 – 3:00
27th Annual CSUN conference
Manchester Grand Hyatt
One Market Place
San Diego, CA

While much of Sarah’s presentation covered accessibility features I was already fairly familiar with (i.e., VoiceOver, screen flashing for deaf/hard-of-hearing folks, and sticky keys for folks with mobility impairments), she started off demonstrating the new AssistiveTouch feature. It was a lot to absorb.

I had almost forgotten about AssistiveTouch until yesterday when I discovered New York Times tech dude David Pogue’s article from November 10th where he described the new AssistiveTouch features in greater (and great) detail.

Rather than having me comment any further, please head over to Pogue’s Post entitled Apple’s AssistiveTouch Helps the Disabled Use a Smartphone

From CBS News-60 Minutes:

(CBS News) Ten-year-old Nuno Timoteo, an autistic child who does not speak, was thought to have the intelligence and attention span of a two-year-old until teachers put an iPad in his hands and learned he loved opera and classical music. Joshua Hood, 27, also non-verbal and autistic, was thought to understand much of his world, but his lack of speech frustrated him and all around him until he began communicating freely with a touch-screen tablet computer.

Nuno, Joshua and others whose autism prevents normal speech have made these breakthroughs with the help of tablet computers and special applications that allow them to communicate, some for the first time. Lesley Stahl reports on this new tool for understanding autism for a “60 Minutes” segment to be broadcast on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

More of this story from 60 Minutes…

A preview of the episode…

For more information about this story and to read it in its entirety, please visit the AST website.

Two prominent disability rights groups have filed suit against prominent media companies for failing to provide closed captioning on internet videos.

In June, the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) charged Netflix in Federal court with violating the ADA based on the limited number of captioned shows available through the company’s “Watch Instantly” option. See the release announcing the lawsuit, and the actual complaint [PDF].

At the state level, the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD) has made a similar charge against news giant CNN. GLAD’s lawsuit alleges that CNN.com is violating California’s anti-discrimination statutes, the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Disabled Persons Act, by preventing access to much of its news content. Both lawsuits come after months of active petitioning by NAD, GLAD and many others concerned with equal access to internet media.

Netflix and CNN acknowledge that the technology is readily available to add captioning, but question whether current legislation does in fact require them to provide it. The ADA and the Unruh Act became law well before anyone knew the how prevalent web media would become, and, as such, have no specific wording that legislates captioning of streamed movies and news. The Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act which became law last year will change this very soon. An FCC advisory committee has been hard at work since January developing specific recommendations for video programming accessibility. The committee has clearly made internet captioning its top priority, assigning the first and earliest report deadline to the work group examining the issue.

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Photo credit: Image licensed through Creative Commons by Daniel Oines

Over the past few years increasing number of universities – including the University of Maine – and more recently an increasing number of public school systems have adopted Google Apps for Education and G-mail as their mail system. On the Google Apps for Education home page, they claim “more than 10 million students” use the service.

But there might be a problem.

Last week, amid the news surrounding various world crises, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) posted a press release indicating that they had “requested that the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, investigate civil rights violations committed by” two major universities for using Google Apps for Education. They state that this is “because the schools have adopted technology that is not accessible to the blind.” A similar request for investigation has been filed against four Oregon public school districts that are using Google Apps.

The press release cites the fact that “United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education have specifically warned all university presidents against the adoption of inaccessible technology.”

NFB has included links to videos they prepared showing the inaccessibility features of the Google Apps in question.

It should be noted that there are probably other mail systems and applications used in schools and universities that are not accessible to people with disabilities, but now that Google Apps for Education have been called on the carpet, it would be pretty hard to defend their use now. That is unless Google puts their tremendous technical skills and considerable wealth into fixing the Apps immediately.

Read the entire Press Release from the National Federation of the Blind.

Two per cent of US adults – six million people – have a disability that makes it difficult or impossible for them to use the internet, according to new research on the technology habits and abilities of disabled US citizens.

The survey by the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan body conducting social science research, also found that Americans with a disability are less likely than other adults to use the internet, with just 54% of US adults with a disability (around 45 million people) reporting themselves as going online, compared with 81% of non-disabled adults.

The quality of internet speed and access were also shown to vary according to a person’s disability profile. “People living with disability, once they are online, are also less likely than other internet users to have high-speed access or wireless access. For example, 41% of adults living with a disability have broadband at home, compared with 69% of those without a disability”, the survey found.

The survey said all these factors could impact negatively on an individual’s employment and life opportunities.

The research for ‘Americans living with disability and their technology profile’ was conducted using telephone interviews with more than 3,000 people from the US, between August and September 2010.

Copyright 2011 Headstar Ltd http://www.headstar.com. You may subscribe to E-access Bulletin here

The applications range from the familiar like OpenOffice suite and Thunderbird e-mail client, to some interesting ones like WebbIE – a highly configurable and accessible browser which could be used by many folks with disabilities. There are even games and utilities available.

The beauty of the Eduapps system is that their website is set up to allow you to download a bundle of the apps and upload them to a stickdrive. Then you can take the stickdrive wherever you go, plug it into any Windows-based PC and voila! you have your apps right there to use.

Eduapps has already bundled a bunch of the applications into eight packages (see list below), but you can customize your bundle and Eduapps will package them up for you to download and upload to your stickdrive.

There is even a collection of help pages, tutorials and videos to assist you in how to download and how to use the applications.

It all looks pretty neat and the price is unbelievable. It’s all FREE!

EduApps were developed by the JISC Regional Support Centre Scotland North & East which is supported by government funding in the UK.

Here are the Eduapps bundles (from the Eduapps website):

• AccessApps, provides a range of solutions to support writing, reading and planning, as well as sensory, cognitive and physical difficulties.
• TeachApps, is a collection of software specifically designed for teachers or lecturers.
• LearnApps, as its name implies, is specifically designed for learners. All learners or students can benefit from LearnApps.
• MyStudyBar, is our most popular program, providing a suite of apps to support literacy.
• MyVisBar, a high contrast floating toolbar, designed to support learners with visual difficulties.
• MyAccess, a portal to all your favourite and accessible applications providing inclusive e-learning options for all.
• Create&Convert, is our new kid on the block, designed to help publish accessible information for all.
• Accessible Formatting WordBar, create accessible Word documents with ease using our innovative WordBar.

Go to Eduapps

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Photo licensed through Creative Commons – by adactio

“The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which requires that smart phones, television programs and modern communications technologies are accessible to people with vision and hearing loss, has now passed both chambers of Congress and is headed to the President’s desk. President Obama is expected to sign the bill.”

According to the news release, among the highlights of the bill:

When signed into law, this legislation will give individuals with vision or hearing loss improved access to television programming, smart phones, the Internet, menus on DVD players, program guides on cable TV, and more. Specifically, it will:

• Mandate mobile phone companies to make web browsers, text messaging, and e-mail on smart phones fully accessible.
• Restore and expand requirements for video description of television programs, in addition to requiring cable companies to make their program guides and selection menus accessible to people with vision loss.
• Ensure people with vision loss have access to emergency broadcast information.
• Provide $10 million in funding each year for assistive technology for deaf-blind individuals
• Ensure that Internet-enabled mobile phones are hearing aid compatible.

For more information, see the PR Newswire and the Washington Post articles.

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Image licensed through Creative Commons – by liewcf