Congress passes bill to make Internet, smartphones accessible for blind, 
deaf

Congress passed a bill on Tuesday night that would make the Internet and 
mobile phones more accessible to people with disabilities. The 
legislation will go to President Obama next week to sign into law.

Advocates for the blind and deaf say the 21st Century Communications and 
Video Accessibility Act would ensure that Web sites and makers of 
consumer electronics consider the vision- and hearing-impaired, who have 
been left behind as more communications tools move to the Web.

Specifically, the legislation allows blind consumers to choose from a 
broader selection of cellphones with speech software that calls out 
phone numbers and cues users on how to surf the Internet. It makes new 
TV shows that are captioned available online with closed-captioning. TV 
remote controls would have a button that makes it easier to get 
closed-captioning.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), author of the House bill, said the American 
Disabilites Act 20 years ago mandated physical ramps into buildings.

"Today, individuals with disabilities need online ramps to the Internet 
so they can get to the Web from wherever they happen to be,” Markey said.

“The ADA mandated physical ramps into buildings. Today, individuals with 
disabilities need online ramps to the Internet so they can get to the 
Web from wherever they happen to be,” said Markey.

For more on the topic, please check out an earlier story outlining the 
issues:

By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 17, 2010; A10

Blind and deaf consumers, who have fought to make home phones and 
television more accessible, say they are being left behind on the Web 
and many mobile devices. Touch-based smartphone screens confound blind 
people who rely on buttons and raised type. Web video means little to 
the deaf without captioning.

But legislation is in the works to put pressure on consumer electronics 
companies that revolutionized an earlier generation of technology for 
the vision- and hearing-impaired.

"Whether it's a Braille reader or a broadband connection, access to 
technology is not a political issue -- it's a participation issue," said 
Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the author of a House bill aimed at 
making the Internet more accessible to people with disabilities. "We've 
moved from Braille to broadcast, from broadband to the BlackBerry. We've 
moved from spelling letters in someone's palm to the PalmPilot. And we 
must make all of these devices accessible."

The consumer electronics, entertainment and communications industries 
have been slow to include people with disabilities, some lawmakers and 
advocates say. Big companies have fought government regulators dictating 
new technical requirements, saying that the industry is better equipped 
to make its own engineering decisions.

Apple's iPhone has built-in speech software for the blind, but other 
smartphones require users to buy costly programs for the same functions. 
Some broadcasters put videos on the Internet with captions, but not all.

That can make inaccessible everything from political videos that are now 
common on the Web to pop culture clips that turn viral.

Last week, for instance, the "White Board Girl" clip of a fictitious 
employee quitting on a dry erase board or JetBlue flight attendant 
Steven Slater's comments fresh out of jail didn't have closed-captioning 
for the deaf or hard of hearing.

Markey's legislation and a companion bill in the Senate would make 
mandatory some of the changes in technology that industry is slow to 
adopt on its own. It would allow blind consumers to choose from a 
broader selection of cellphones with speech software that calls out 
phone numbers and cues users on how to surf the Internet. Legislation 
would make new TV shows that are captioned available online with 
closed-captioning. Remote controls would have a button that makes it 
easier to get closed captioning on TV sets.

But gaps would remain. Videos made and shared by users on YouTube and 
Facebook wouldn't require captioning. Vision-impaired cellphone users 
will in many cases have to download speech software at an extra cost.


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