HR 3101 is Top Mention at National Broadband Plan Forums

On March 10, 2010, at the "National Broadband Plan and Accessibility for People with Disabilities Conference," held in Washington, DC numerous speakers mentioned H.R. 3101 and its provisions as critical to ensuring broadband is accessible and affordable to people with disabilities.

Significantly, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski mentioned the importance of HR 3101 "in a broadband world," (see full statement by Genachowski attached below) as did Elizabeth Lyle, a leading Policy Advisor for the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative who said "HR 3101 was the starting point" for their work on the disability pieces of the National Broadband Plan. She also thanked the disability community for the depth and amount of Comments submitted into the FCC record on this topic. Read Elizabeth Lyle's blog on the event.

Lyle outlined the plan's components in regard to disability access, including creation of a federal interagency workgroup, an ongoing accessibility forum, FCC Inquiries on updating laws and policies (such as Section 255 and hearing aid compatibility), looking at the Universal Services Fund for $10 million to be made available annually for assistive technology, particularly for people who are deaf-blind, and other Inquiries regarding the technical issues associated with captioning and video description. The FCC's National Broadband Plan becomes available March 16 and will include some disability accessibility recommendations. An FCC White Paper focused on disability accessibility implementation will follow shortly.

Keynote speaker, Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy, opened by saying "accessibility equals independence" and affirmed that accessibility was an important priority for the President and Administration. Joel Gurin, Chief of the FCC's Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, also noted HR 3101 as a source for implanting accessibility recommendations in the pending  National Broadband Plan.

Their remarks were followed by a subject matter expert panel. Here are some of the comment highlights from this panel's presentations and discussion:

Link Hoewing of Verizon reiterated Verizon's support for H.R. 3101 and noted that the "'transition to digital,' the 'always-on' capability of broadband & 'wireless' are technologies that will support people with disabilities." (Hoewing's full remarks attached below).  Vint Cerf of Google said his company sees "information sharing as power" and that they support "open platforms & open sources to support accessibility for people with disabilities." 

Rosaline Crawford of National Association of the Deaf, a COAT founding organization, said "We need available, affordable, accessible broadband" and also remarked that "DOJ needs to take action on accessibility of websites."

Greg Vanderheiden of the Trace Center said "We need a full system for accessibility of broadband for people with disabilities, a national infrastructure."

Ken Salaets of ITIC said that the accessibility in the FCC's national broadband plan "is breathtaking in breadth & width." 

Laura Ruby of Microsoft said that the FCC national broadband plan is "a giant step forward for accessibility" and noted her company's longterm commitment to working on accessibility issues.(See also Laura's blog).

Ari Ne'eman, President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a COAT affiiate, said that "broadband  internet space creates community and is a cultural space for people with disabilities." 

Susan Mazrui of AT&T, another company supporting HR 3101, stated that for people with disabilities, broadband can mean  "access to life" and often is "access to hope," particularly if "mindful design" of devices and services occurs at the outset.

Axel LeBlois of G3ICT  noted, in a reference to the UNCRPD that "[F]or the first time in history . . . the rights to access is a fundamental right for persons with disabilities in international law." He added that the FCC's intent to use the Universal Service Fund for assistive technologies for people with disabilities "establishes a model for global leadership that other countries could follow."

Kate Seelman at Pittsburgh University's Research Center on Telerehabilitation said that broadband is  needed for many life-saving applications for people with disabilities, such as remote medical monitoring and prescribing, as well as rehabilitative activities such as remote job coaching and training. 

Eric Bridges of ACB, another COAT founding organization, said "access to knowledge is power," and noted how the fast-paced nature of technology creates barriers for people with disabilities if there is not equal access to the information everyone else receives.

Fernando Laguarda of Time Warner Cable (TWC) stated that "there is a key role for innovation in solving accessibility challenges, especially when inclusion is part of the planning from the beginning." He stated that "disability inclusion is a value informing their business" and said TWC intends to launch some research initiatives in this area soon. 

Leah Katz-Hernandez, a Gallaudet student leader, said "With broadband access, I do not feel disabled."

Larry Goldberg of WGBH National Center for Accessible Media, another COAT affiliate, emphasized the importance of relevance in  applications for people with disabilities to further adopt broadband. 

Jason Goldman of the United States Chamber of Commerce emphasized how "broadband transforms all areas of the economy" and mentioned the availability of their report, "The Impact of Broadband on People with Disabilities," recently published.

The panel was moderated by Jenifer Simpson of AAPD (see Press Release), a founding COAT organization, and Rob Atkinson of ITIF. Both organizations co-sponsored the event which was coordinated by the FCC and Silicon Flatirons, a think tank headed by Dale Hatfield, former head of FCC's Office of Engineering & Technology (OET).

The functional equivalence that Video Relay Services provide for people who are deaf and the inaccessibility of health information technology, particularly for people with vision disabilities, were two broadband applications discussed during the Questions & Answer section. Attending the event were numerous representatives from COAT affiliates such as CSD, HLAA and TDI.