IT Accessibility 2001

1. IT Accessibility 2001 Ensuring Information Technology Access for People with Disabilities National Institute of Standards and Technology May 22-23, 2001 Presentation by: Karen Peltz Strauss Deputy Bureau Chief Consumer Information Bureau Federal Communications Commission

2. The FCC Regulates Many Access Issues • Section 255-Access to telecommunications equipment and services • Captioning of television programming • Standards for closed captioning decoders • Video description of television programming • Telecommunications relay services

3. The FCC Regulates Many Access Issues (Cont.) • Hearing aid compatibility/volume control • Allocation of spectrum • Section 508 (agency compliance) • Access to wireless services (analog and digital) • Internet telephony (to lesser extent)

4. DISABILITIES RIGHTS OFFICE • Review relevant agenda items and other documents prepared by other bureaus to ensure conformance with existing disability laws and policies. • Provide advice and assistance to other Bureaus, to members of the industry, and to the consuming public on disability laws and policies. • Prepare and conduct rulemaking proceedings related to disability access.

5. DISABILITIES RIGHTS OFFICE (Cont.) • Assist FCC at Consumer Centers and Enforcement Bureau on disability-related questions and complaints • Work with Consumer Education Office on outreach and education pertaining to disability issues • Prepare Commission materials in accessible formats

6. New FCC Orders • Improved Relay Services – February 2000 • Expands definition of relay services to include speech-to-speech relay, Spanish language relay • Steps to encourage use of video relay services • Requires immediate transfer of emergency calls to 911 operators • Establishes minimum typing speed of 60 words per minute • Establishes partial access to interactive response systems • Hot key for notification • Recording of message • Waiver of duplicate charges for extra calls

7. New FCC Orders (Cont.) • Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Relay Services February 2000 • New technologies • IP Relay • National Outreach Access to Emergency Programming April 2000 • Requires televised emergency programming to be accessible to persons who are deaf or hard of hearing • May use open or closed captions, crawls, or scrolls across the screen

8. New FCC Orders (Cont.) • Video Description – July 2000 • Requires certain networks to insert audio descriptions of the key elements of a television’s program into the natural pauses of the audio portion of that program • Requires broadcast stations and multichannel video programming distributors to make their emergency information accessible to viewers who are blind or have visual disabilities • 711 Relay Access – July 2000 • One easy, uniform relay access number nationwide will make access to relay easy, fast, and uncomplicated – will also encourage call-backs by voice users • Effective October 1, 2001

9. New FCC Orders (Cont.) • Digital Captioning – July, 2000 • Adopts technical standards for the display of closed captions on digital television receivers • Viewers may control size, font, and color of captions • Viewers may choose among multiple streams of captioning

10. Telecommunications for the Disabled Act of 1982 • Initial use of “universal service” obligation to mandate telephone access • Recognition of limitations of a competitive marketplace for people with disabilities • Recognition of costs to society of “lost access” • Reference to “pervasiveness of the telephone” in “commercial transactions” and “personal contacts” (parallel to current pervasiveness of the Net and other information technologies)

11. Breaking Down the Barriers • Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (federal employment and federally assisted programs) • Telecommunications for the Disabled Act of 1982(hearing aid compatibility, specialized customer premises equipment) • Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990(physical and communications access) • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975 (access to schools) • Telecommunications Act of 1996 (access to telecommunications products and services, closed captioning and video description for television programming)

12. Access to Technology - Regardless of Age or Ability • Jobs • Information • Education • Entertainment • Marketplace

13. Section 255 • Telecommunications products and services must be made accessible to and usable by people with disabilities if readily achievable. • If it is not readily achievable to make a product or service accessible, the product or service must be made compatible with existing peripheral devices and specialized customer premises equipment (SCPE), if readily achievable. • Examples of SCPE: TTYs, artificial larynxes, augmentative communication devices.

14. Section 255 • Must consider needs of people with disabilities in product and service design (product and service testing, market research, product trials and demonstrations) • Consultation with people with disabilities is critical • Review products for accessibility, usability, and compatibility at every “natural opportunity” • significant changes in product and service packages, re-designs, and upgrades • not cosmetic changes (color, model name)

15. What is Readily Achievable? • Can be accomplished without much difficulty or expense • Consider: • The company’s resources • The cost of the access needed • The nature of the access needed • Balance the above with the resources needed to implement the needed change

16. What Services Are Affected? • Telecommunications services such as local service, long distance service, wireless, and paging services • “Adjunct to basic” services – caller ID, call forwarding, call waiting, etc. • Interactive voice response services and voice mail when provided for a fee

17. What Products are Affected? • Customer Premise Equipment – equipment that connects directly to the network to originate or receive a call. Includes specialized customer premises equipment that directly connects to the network. • Voicemail and Interactive menu functions of a PBX or network equipment • Voicemail and interactive menu service provided for a fee

18. What Does Accessible Mean? • Can it be used by people with various disabilities? • Can someone with no hearing use the product? Limited strength? Limited vision? • Consider: • input, control, and mechanical functions • output, display, and control functions • Example: Pager with visual and audio controls for inputting information, and a visual display and audio output for retrieving information would be accessible to individuals who are deaf and/or blind.

19. What Does Usable Mean? • Access to product information • Product instructions and user guide • Functionally equivalent access to support services: • technical support hotlines and databases • call centers • service centers • access to repair services • billing services

20. Section 255 Notice of InquiryInternet Protocol Telephony (IP Telephony) • Comments Sought On: • Access issues – e.g., transmission of TTY tones in a packet-switched communications protocol • Industry efforts to provide access • Compatibility with assistive technology • IP telephony usage; projected usage • FCC role in guaranteeing access Computer Based Equipment (i.e., not connected to the network) Examples: Voicemail, phone-to-phone IP telephony, interactive menus for end users – Is this customer premises equipment (CPE) under Section 255?

21. Section 508 • Federal Agencies must procure and use accessible electronic and information technology • Computers – hardware and software • Telecommunications equipment • Web-based information and applications • Multimedia applications: video, audio, animation, graphics, and text delivered via video and audiotape, CD- and DVD-ROM, Internet, broadcast, narrowcast, and satellite

22. Section 508 • Access Board issued rules on • Standards of accessibility of operation and information – ability to locate, identify and operate all input, control and mechanical functions • Standards for compatibility with peripheral devices (adaptive technology) • Standards for access to information, documentation, labeling and support

23. Access to the Virtual World • Leveling the playing field: achieving independence and autonomy • Federal policy: no access charges, taxes or fees on emerging Internet technologies • Freedom from regulation brings responsibility: industry must make access part of their design practices • Avoid expensive and burdensome retrofits • Inclusion, not exclusion: upgrades should not remove accessible services (example: voice recognition technology – avoid a repeat of the “talkies” effect) • Access benefits everyone – closed captioning, vibrating pagers, slower IVR recordings

24. Disabilities Rights Office • Website: www.fcc.gov/cib/dro • Email list - DROInfo: To subscribe, send message to:access@fcc.gov • Complaints, inquiries? access@fcc.gov E-Mail access@fcc.gov How Can You Contact Us?(Disability Information) • Mail Address Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington, D.C. 20554

25. E-Mail How Can You Contact Us?(General Information) fccinfo@fcc.gov • To Obtain Information Via E-Mail: • To Obtain Information Via Telephone 1-888-225-5322 (1-888-CALLFCC) Voice: toll-free 1-888-835-5322 (1-888-TELLFCC) TTY: toll-free (202) 418-0232 FAX (202) 418-2830 FAX on Demand