[NAGDU] Action Required - Time Sensitive - need immediate feedback on ACAA form accessibility

[mike at michaelhingson.com]

Raul,

The forms you attached are accessible. They are, for those who do not use Chrome a bit more difficult. I am sure that, airlines that use these forms, will format them somewhat differently for their web sites.

The comments I made in our meetings still stand. These forms are invasive, inappropriate, and philosophically should not go unchallenged at the Federal level. They also are needlessly complicated when requiring such things as the service dog's name several times. Once that name is provided, if it is truly necessary to repeat the same name, the form should automatically fill in the name in subsequent places on the form. I do agree that we need to work with the airlines, but our efforts MUST NOT STOP THERE. Al's comments about this possibly opening Pandora's box in arenas outside the airlines are appropriate.

Thanks for asking for public observations about the accessibility of the forms.


Best Regards,


Michael Hingson

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU On Behalf Of Raul A. Gallegos (NFB) via NAGDU
Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2020 3:36 PM
To: board at nagdu.org
Cc: Raul A. Gallegos (NFB) <rgallegos at nagdu.org>; nagdu at nfbnet.org; coagdu at nfbnet.org; flagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [NAGDU] Action Required - Time Sensitive - need immediate feedback on ACAA form accessibility

Hello everyone, this is extremely time sensitive. Attached are two PDFs from the Department of Transportation. These proposed forms are part of the new ruling of the Air Carrier Access Act, ACAA, which will go into effect on January 11, 2021. One aspect of the new ruling is that airlines may require travelers with service dogs to fill out one or both of these forms when flying with a guide dog. While we are still having conversations with the Department of Transportation about the having to possibly use these forms in the first place, we still need to give them feedback on the accessibility and usability of them.

I have received a request that we test these two forms as quickly as possible so we can give our compiled feedback to the Department of Transportation. If you are able to provide feedback on the accessibility and usability of these forms, please email me directly at rgallegos at nagdu.org no later than 7 PM Central time tomorrow, Sunday, December 20, 2020. In anticipation of receiving a lot of email about this, please use the subject, "ACAA Form Feedback" so that I can best filter out your messages.

I have attached these forms to this email, but in case the attachments don't work, I have also provided direct-download links to these forms.

Thank you.

File 1: Service Animals - Form  Health Behavioral Training.pdf https://drive.google.com/file/d/19m4hT60e9THXc54hV5bMyYR1tSTsmKlZ/view?usp=sharing

File 2: Service Animals - Relief Form.pdf https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U0qGMagSi3sZWxiunHWLwuVBvDvnA_cw/view?usp=sharing

--
Raul A. Gallegos
President: National Association of Guide Dog Users First Vice President: National Federation of the Blind of Texas
832.554.7285  |  RGallegos at nagdu.org

"Blindness is a characteristic, not a handicap." -- Dr. Kenneth Jernigan