People with disabilities would have better access to communicatio...
People with disabilities would have better access to communications devices under a bill (HR-3101) introduced last week by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., former chairman of the House Telecom Subcommittee. Markey introduced similar legislation in the last Congress but it…
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didn’t pass. HR-3101 would require the disabled to have access to phone-type equipment and services used over the Internet. Internet phones and other devices would have to be hearing-aid compatible under the bill. Money from the universal service program’s Lifeline and Link-up programs could be spent on broadband services, and up to $10 million a year from USF could be used for equipment for the deaf or blind. The bill also would require closed captioning decoder circuitry in all video programming devices, and extend the close captioned obligations to video programming on the Internet. Other parts of the bill would require easy-to-use TV program selection menus for blind people, and require access to televised emergency programming for people with low-vision or no sight. The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, Communications Service for the Deaf, and National Association of the Deaf, and American Council of the Blind praised the bill.