[NFB-DB] Colorado Resolution on assisted hearing devices

[doula.jarboe at gmail.com]

Hi All,

 

     I apologize for not sharing this sooner.  This is the resolution that
we passed here in Colorado back in October.  Thought folks might be
interested in this either for their own state or possibly presenting it as a
resolution at the national level.

 

Resolution 2021-02

Regarding the Inaccessibility of Remote Device Interfaces for Assistive
Hearing Instruments

WHEREAS, manufacturers of assistive hearing instruments (for example,
hearing aids and cochlear implant processors) are to an increasing extent
designing

these devices to be operated with remote controls, smartphones, or computer
software; and

WHEREAS, it is too often the case that the technology used to operate
assistive hearing instruments intended for use by deafblind individuals is
neither

accessible to nor usable by the very people they are supposed to benefit;
and

WHEREAS, to add insult to injury, in many cases the programs used to control
the assistive hearing devices cannot even be operated with the most readily

available access technologies such as VoiceOver or TalkBack; and

WHEREAS, once a person who is deafblind starts to use a specific implantable
hearing device, they are locked into using a specific set of software and

hardware and are not able to switch to an application that might be more
compatible with access technologies designed to be used by people who are
deafblind:

Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado in
convention assembled this 31st day of October, 2021, in the city of Lone
Tree, Colorado,

that this organization demand that manufacturers of assistive hearing aids
AND Cochlear implants used by persons who are deafblind meaningfully engage

with the deafblind community to design these technologies to be fully
accessible to the deafblind; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization insist that manufacturers of
assistive hearing instruments and Cochlear implants actively seek and use
the

services of testers who are deafblind to ensure that their products are
truly beneficial to the deafblind.

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