Washington Legal Times

April 28, 2003

    CELL PHONE PUSH AT FCC

    As a member of the National Council on Disability during the Clinton
years, Bonnie O'Day helped push Section 255 < a part of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 that requires companies to make their
products accessible to disabled people. Now, she's relying on the law as
a private citizen to try to prod telecom giants Verizon Wireless and the
Audiovox Communications Corp. to offer a cell phone that is
user-friendly for the blind. "I was just a consumer out there who bought
a [cell] phone and realized it didn't work," says O'Day, who is blind.
She says she can turn on and dial the phone, but is unable to access
many features, including caller I.D. and programming, because those
features involve text messages that she is unable to read. O'Day says
software exists that allows cell phones to translate those text messages
into audible announcements. With pro bono help from Spiegel & McDiarmid
partner Scott Strauss and associate Allison Driver, O'Day in February
filed a formal complaint < the first of its kind under Section 255 <
against Verizon and Audiovox. Verizon in-house counsel Andre Lachance
contends that Audiovox, which made the phone at issue, is responsible
for developing such capabilities. Audiovox, in an answer, states that
O'Day hasn't shown that it was "readily achievable" for the manufacturer
to "incorporate particular accessibility improvements" when the phone
was designed. Both companies have filed motions to dismiss. Kurt
Schroeder, a deputy chief in the Federal Communications Commission
enforcement bureau, says the three parties will meet with commission
officials on May 1. If a settlement cannot be reached, the parties will
submit final briefs. The dispute may ultimately be decided by the full
commission, given the complaint's novelty, Schroeder says.


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