[Iabs-talk] {Disarmed} Fwd: New DOT Rules Make Flying Easier for Passengers with Disabilities

[Nowicki, Michal Jerzy]

Hi Denise,

Do you happen to know if this rule also applies to mobile aps?

Michal

On Tue, November 5, 2013 11:52 am, denise avant wrote:
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: "Moore-Rhodes, Brandon" <Brandon.Moore at AMERICANBAR.ORG>
>> Date: November 5, 2013 at 10:38:00 AM CST
>> To: 3D at MAIL.AMERICANBAR.ORG
>> Subject: FW: New DOT Rules Make Flying Easier for Passengers with
>> Disabilities
>> Reply-To: "The Disability Discussion Docket (3D) - Official e-mail list
>> of              the Commission on Disability Right"
>> <3D at MAIL.AMERICANBAR.ORG>, "Moore-Rhodes, Brandon"
>> <Brandon.Moore at AMERICANBAR.ORG>
>>
>> FYI
>>
>>
>> Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
>>
>>
>>
>> DOT 92-13
>> Monday, November 4, 2013
>> Contact: Bill Mosley
>> Tel.: (202) 366-4570
>>
>> New DOT Rules Make Flying Easier for Passengers with Disabilities
>>
>> WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today
>> announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), in its
>> ongoing effort to ensure equal access to air transportation for all
>> travelers, is requiring airline websites and automated airport kiosks to
>> be accessible to passengers with disabilities. In addition, DOT will
>> allow airlines to choose between stowing wheelchairs in a cabin
>> compartment on new aircraft or strapping them to a row of seats, an
>> option that will ensure that two manual, folding wheelchairs can be
>> transported at a time.
>>
>> The new rules are part of DOT’s continuing implementation of the Air
>> Carrier Access Act of 1986.
>>
>> “All air travelers should be treated fairly when they fly, regardless
>> of any disabilities they may have,” said Secretary Foxx. “These new
>> rules build on our past work in ensuring that our air transportation
>> system is accessible for everyone, while balancing both airlines’ and
>> passengers’ need for flexibility.”
>>
>> Under the new websites-and-kiosks rule, covered airlines are required
>> within two years to make pages of their websites that contain core
>> travel information and services accessible to persons with disabilities,
>> and to make all of their web pages accessible within three years.
>> Websites are required to meet the standards for accessibility contained
>> in the widely accepted Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
>> The requirement applies to U.S. and foreign airlines with websites
>> marketing air transportation to U.S. consumers for travel within, to or
>> from the United States.
>>
>> The rule also requires ticket agents to disclose and offer web-based
>> discount fares to customers unable to use their sites due to a
>> disability starting within 180 days after the rule’s effective date.
>> Airlines are already required to provide equivalent service for
>> consumers who are unable to use inaccessible websites. Under the new
>> rule, airlines must also offer equivalent service to passengers with
>> disabilities who are unable to use their websites even if the websites
>> meet the WCAG accessibility standards.
>>
>>
>>
>> In addition, any automated kiosks installed at U.S. airports for
>> services -- such as printing boarding passes and baggage tags --must be
>> accessible to passengers with disabilities until at least 25 percent of
>> all kiosks at each airport location are accessible. Even if no new
>> kiosks are installed, 25 percent of kiosks at each airport location must
>> be accessible within 10 years. The standards for accessible kiosks are
>> based on those set by the U.S. Department of Justice for ATM and fare
>> machines in its 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act rule as well as the
>> Section 508 standards for self-contained closed products, such as
>> copiers.
>>
>> DOT’s wheelchair rule provides airlines with more flexibility because
>> it permits airlines to transport passenger wheelchairs by strapping them
>> across a row of seats using a strap kit that complies with applicable
>> safety standards, in addition to stowing them in a closet or similar
>> compartment. In 2008, DOT issued a rule prohibiting airlines from using
>> the seat-strapping method on new aircraft as an alternative to stowing
>> the manual wheelchair in a closet or similar compartment. In that same
>> rule, DOT allowed the use of a seat-strapping method on existing
>> aircraft. Based on a fuller evaluation of the costs and benefits, DOT
>> has now revised its position to also allow the use of seat-strapping on
>> new aircraft subject to certain conditions.   For example, if an airline
>> chooses to use the seat-strapping method to stow a wheelchair, it must
>> transport two wheelchairs in the cabin if requested unless stowing the
>> second wheelchair would displace other passengers.
>>
>> If an airline chooses to use a closet to stow a wheelchair, then it will
>> still be required to stow only one wheelchair in the cabin. However, in
>> this case it must install a sign or placard prominently on the closet
>> indicating that a wheelchair and other assistive devices are to be
>> stowed in this area with priority over other items brought onto the
>> aircraft by other passengers or crew, including crew luggage.
>>
>> The rule on accessible websites and kiosks is available on the Internet
>> at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2011-0177. In addition to
>> accepting public comments on the web and kiosk rule through this
>> website, the Department partnered with Cornell University’s
>> eRulemaking Initiative (CeRI), Regulation Room, designed to improve the
>> public’s ability to understand and participate in the rulemaking
>> process. A goal of the CeRI team is to make Regulation Room as
>> accessible to as many users as possible.  This partnership supports
>> President Obama’s open-government initiative.  The final rule on
>> wheelchairs is available at the same website at docket
>> DOT-OST-2011-0098.
>>
>> -END-
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> U.S. Department of Transportation | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE |
>> Washington DC 20590 | 202-385-HELP (4357)
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Iabs-talk mailing list
> Iabs-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/iabs-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Iabs-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/iabs-talk_nfbnet.org/nowicki4%40uic.edu
>