[nfbcs] Fwd: News from the U.S. Access Board - March/ April 2018

[Amy Albin]

On 4/26/18, Jeanine Lineback via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> See below my email for anyone who is interested in the latest access board
> newsletter.
> Thank you,
>
> Jeanine Lineback
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: "United States Access Board" <access-board at service.govdelivery.com>
>> Date: April 25, 2018 at 3:57:26 PM CDT
>> To: jeanine.lineback at deque.com
>> Subject: News from the U.S. Access Board - March/ April 2018
>> Reply-To: access-board at service.govdelivery.com
>>
>> access-board.gov  •  contact us
>>
>> 	Access Currents
>> News from the U.S. Access Board  •  March/ April 2018
>>
>>
>> Follow the Board
>> on Twitter
>>
>> Board to Hold Town Hall Meeting in Phoenix on May 23
>> Access Board Launches YouTube Channel
>> Lance Robertson Elected Access Board Chair
>> OTIS Director Marsha Mazz to Retire in June
>> Kathy Eng to Join Board Staff as a Senior ICT Accessibilty Specialist
>> Upcoming Board Webinars
>> Effort Advances to Address Classroom Acoustics in the International
>> Building Code
>> Access Board to Hold Town Hall Meeting in Phoenix on May 23
>>
>>
>>
>> On May 23, the Access Board will hold a town hall meeting in Phoenix where
>> members of the public can pose questions to the Board and share comments
>> or concerns related to accessibility. There also will be a panel of
>> speakers on various subjects, including access for people with Multiple
>> Chemical Sensitivities.
>>
>> The event will be held from 1:30 to 4:00 at the Ability360 Nina Mason
>> Pulliam Conference Center. An assistive listening system, communication
>> access real-time translation, and sign language interpreters will be
>> available. Attendees are requested to refrain from using perfume, cologne,
>> and other fragrances for the comfort of all participants.
>>
>> For further information, contact Dave Yanchulis at
>> yanchulis at access-board.gov, (202) 272–0026 (v), or (202) 272–0027 (TTY).
>>
>> U.S. Access Board Town Hall Meeting
>> May 23, 1:30 – 4:00
>> Ability360 Nina Mason Pulliam Conference Center
>> 5025 East Washington Street
>> Phoenix, AZ
>>
>> Schedule of Events
>> • Welcoming Remarks and Overview of the Access Board
>> • Panel Discussion
>> • Open Q&A Forum
>>
>> back to top
>>
>> Access Board Launches YouTube Channel
>>
>> The Access Board has launched its own channel on YouTube to further share
>> and disseminate information. It features a message from Executive Director
>> David M. Capozzi on the Board's mission and the services it provides to
>> the public. Animations on accessibility that the Board has developed as
>> part of its online guide to the ADA and ABA Accessibility Standards are
>> also available on the channel.
>>
>> "The Board's new platform on YouTube provides another means of engaging
>> our audience and sharing information," notes Capozzi. "We look forward to
>> uploading additional content in the future."
>>
>> Visitors can subscribe to receive updates on new material that is added to
>> the channel.
>>
>>
>>
>> back to top
>>
>> Lance Robertson Elected Access Board Chair
>>
>> In March the Board elected Lance Robertson as its new Chair. Robertson
>> represents the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the
>> Access Board. Board member Karen Tamley was chosen Vice Chair.
>>
>> "I truly appreciate this opportunity to help lead the Board in the
>> critical and essential work that it does to advance accessibility for
>> people with disabilities," Robertson stated. "I look forward to working
>> with Board and staff members in the year ahead and being part of such an
>> expert and dedicated team."
>>
>> Robertson is Assistant Secretary for Aging at HHS and heads its
>> Administration for Community Living. Before joining HHS last August, he
>> served as Director of Aging Services at the Oklahoma Department of Human
>> Services. Prior to that, he spent 12 years at Oklahoma State University
>> where he co-founded the Gerontology Institute and served as the executive
>> director of the nation's largest regional gerontology association.
>>
>> Tamley joined the Board in 2015 as a member representing the public. As
>> Commissioner of the Chicago Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities,
>> she leads numerous disability policy and compliance initiatives in
>> transportation, city infrastructure, emergency preparedness, housing,
>> schools and technology, and other areas. She also oversees the delivery of
>> independent living services to city residents.
>>
>>
>>
>> back to top
>>
>> OTIS Director Marsha Mazz to Retire in June
>>
>> Marsha Mazz, Director of the Board's Office of Technical and Information
>> Services (OTIS), plans to retire in late June. Mazz joined the Board in
>> 1989 as an Accessibility Specialist and was active in the development of
>> the original ADA Accessibility Guidelines and later supplements. She also
>> led the joint update of the Board's ADA and ABA Accessibility Guidelines
>> and was instrumental in harmonizing the new document with counterpart
>> codes and standards in the private sector, including the International
>> Building Code. She also served as the agency's Technical Assistance
>> Coordinator and its liaison to the codes and standards community. In 2010,
>> she was named OTIS Director.
>>
>> Throughout her tenure at the Board, Mazz has been highly regarded for her
>> technical expertise and mastery of detail in architectural accessibility
>> and building codes and standards. Her outreach and coordination with the
>> codes community greatly advanced integration of accessibility into model
>> building codes. In recognition of her work at the Board, Mazz received the
>> American National Standards Institute's 2010 Ronald H. Brown Standards
>> Leadership Award which recognizes demonstrated leadership in promoting
>> standardization and eliminating barriers to global trade.
>>
>>
>>
>> back to top
>>
>> Kathy Eng to Join Board Staff as a Senior ICT Accessibility Specialist
>>
>> Kathy Eng will soon join the Access Board as a Senior ICT Accessibility
>> Specialist where she will provide technical assistance and training to the
>> public on the Board's Section 508 Standards for information and
>> communication technology in the federal sector. She also will provide
>> guidance on requirements for telecommunications equipment covered by
>> Section 255 of the Communications Act.
>>
>> Eng comes to the Board from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) where she
>> served as an IT Accessibility Specialist and helped implement Section 508.
>> She also serves as co-chair of the Best Practices Subcommittee on the
>> Federal CIO Council Accessibility Community of Practice. Before joining
>> DOJ, she worked at the Department of Homeland Security's Office of
>> Accessible Systems & Technology where she led development of its Section
>> 508 Trusted Tester methodology, training, and certification program. She
>> also was employed by the Technology and Accessible Resources Give
>> Employment Today (TARGET) Center at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
>> She has a background in assistive technology accommodations and a degree
>> in Rehabilitation Engineering.
>>
>>
>>
>> back to top
>>
>> Upcoming Board Webinars
>>
>> The next webinar in the Board's free monthly series will take place May 3
>> from 2:30 – 4:00 (ET) and will cover requirements in the ADA and ABA
>> Standards for exercise equipment and other features and amenities of
>> health clubs and fitness facilities. This session will review provisions
>> for exercise equipment, toilet and bathing facilities, locker rooms, and
>> other elements and spaces.
>>
>> Visit www.accessibilityonline.org for more information or to register for
>> the webinar. Questions can be submitted in advance of the session or can
>> be posed during the webinar. Webinar attendees can earn continuing
>> education credits. The webinar series is hosted by the ADA National
>> Network in cooperation with the Board. Archived copies of previous Board
>> webinars are available on the site.
>>
>> Section 508 Best Practices Webinar
>> The Board also offers a free webinar series on its Section 508 Standards
>> for ICT in the federal sector. The next webinar in this series will be
>> held May 29 from 1:00 to 2:30 (ET) and will cover strategies for meeting
>> the updated 508 Standards in federal procurements. Presenters from the
>> General Services Administration (GSA) will review available tools and
>> resources, such as an Applicability Checklist on the revised standards, a
>> solicitation conformance template, a new conformance reporting tool for
>> vendors, and GSA's Accessibility Requirements Tool.
>>
>> Visit the webinar site for further information or to register. The Section
>> 508 Best Practices Webinar Series is made available by the Accessibility
>> Community of Practice of the CIO Council in partnership with the Board.
>> Prior webinars can be accessed on the site.
>>
>>
>>
>> back to top
>>
>> Effort Advances to Address Classroom Acoustics in the International
>> Building Code
>>
>> Acoustical performance is a critical consideration in classroom design.
>> High levels of background noise and reverberation impair children's
>> learning and language acquisition, and the effects are pronounced for
>> young children, those with hearing loss or who have speech or learning
>> disabilities, and children who learn English as a second language. A Board
>> proposal to address classroom acoustics in the International Building Code
>> (IBC) was approved at hearings on code changes held recently in Columbus,
>> Ohio by the International Code Council (ICC). The American Institute of
>> Architects, the National Association of Home Builders, and the United
>> Spinal Association and others joined the Board in submitting this proposed
>> change to the 2021 IBC.
>>
>> "This effort has been long in the making and is long overdue," states
>> Marsha Mazz, who spearheaded this code change and heads the Board's Office
>> of Technical and Information Services. "A lot of hard work went into
>> establishing and refining design and performance criteria for classroom
>> acoustics which have been out for some time and are now part of the
>> accessibity standard the IBC references." According to Mazz, adding a
>> provision in the IBC to apply these specifications is the logical next
>> step and will greatly enhance communication access in learning
>> environments.
>>
>> The proposal would add a requirement for enhanced acoustics to the IBC
>> applicable to educational occupancies. Classooms that that do not exceed
>> 20,000 cubic feet would have to meet acousitical specifcations in the
>> latest edition of the ICC A117.1 Standard for Accessible and Usable
>> Buildings and Facilities (Section 808). Based on work by the Acoustical
>> Society of America (ASA), the A117.1 criteria set a maximum reverberation
>> time though performance and prescriptive methods and address ambient sound
>> and sound sources inside and outside classrooms. The Board helped support
>> the ASA's work on the acoustical provisions and, through its seat on the
>> A117.1 Committee, led the effort to incorporate them into the ICC
>> A117.1-2017 standard.
>>
>> The next steps in the ICC's code development cycle include a round of
>> hearings on public comments in October followed by a ballot of voting
>> members. Visit ICC's website for further information on the IBC review
>> process. The classroom acoustics proposal is included in a compendium of
>> proposed changes to general sections of the IBC at the committee hearings
>> (G127-18, page 298).
>>
>> back to top
>>
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>> For more information about the content of this email, contact the Access
>> Board.
>>
>>
>>
>> This email was sent to jeanine.lineback at deque.com using GovDelivery
>> Communications Cloud on behalf of: United States Access Board · 1331 F St
>> NW, Suite 1000 · Washington DC 20004 · (800) 872-2253 (v) · (800) 993-2822
>> (TTY)	
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