[Nfbf-l] {Disarmed} Fw: The Rehabilitation Act and Creation of the Access Board
Sherri
flmom2006 at gmail.com
Thu Oct 3 13:31:54 UTC 2013
The Rehabilitation Act and Creation of the Access BoardJust passing this
along.
----- Original Message -----
From: Samme.Ripley at ocfl.net
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 1:02 PM
Subject: FW: The Rehabilitation Act and Creation of the Access Board
Hi – just to let you know that the Access Board is governed by the federal
government shutdown until it ends. The board and staff will not be
responding to any accessibility issues or work that was in progress until
they are called back to work WHENEVER that date is!
….Samme
From: United States Access Board
[mailto:access-board at service.govdelivery.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 10:14 AM
To: Ripley, Samme
Subject: The Rehabilitation Act and Creation of the Access Board
The Rehabilitation Act and Creation of the Access Board
Karen L. Braitmayer Access Board Chair
David M. Capozzi Access Board Executive Director
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which
requires access to programs and activities that are funded by federal
agencies and to federal employment. The law also created the U.S. Access
Board to ensure access to the built environment.
Specifically, the Board was established to enforce a law passed a few years
earlier, the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) of 1968. One of the first laws
on the books to address accessibility, the ABA aimed to make the federal
government a model of accessibility by requiring access to all facilities
designed, built, altered, or leased with federal funds. In passing the
Rehabilitation Act, Congress determined that the ABA needed better
enforcement. As originally written, the ABA effectively left compliance up
to each agency with little oversight. Further, comprehensive standards for
accessibility were not available at that time. It was clear that a central
agency was needed to both establish and enforce accessibility requirements
for facilities covered by the law.
According to Access Board Chair Karen L. Braitmayer, FAIA, "In creating the
Access Board, Congress recognized that you can't guarantee accessibility
until you clearly spell out how it is to be achieved and have a process in
place to make sure that those requirements are met." In fact, the lessons
learned from the ABA and the Rehabilitation Act would not be lost on later
laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
"With accessibility, it's fair to say that the Federal government
essentially started in its own backyard," states David M. Capozzi, the
Access Board's Executive Director. "The Rehabilitation Act and the
Architectural Barriers Act helped lay the groundwork for the landmark ADA
and coverage of accessibility beyond the federal realm."
To this day, the Board continues to do what it was created to do. It
develops and keeps up-to-date the accessibility requirements of the ABA and
enforces compliance with them through the investigation of complaints. If a
member of the public is concerned about access to a facility that may have
received federal funding, it can file a complaint with the Board. The Board
then opens an investigation to determine whether the facility is covered by
the ABA and, if so, whether it meets the applicable standards. If a covered
facility is not in compliance, the Board will pursue a corrective action
plan and monitor the case until all necessary work is completed. The Board
typically opens about 50 to 100 cases each year, and has ensured access to
all types of facilities covered by the ABA, including post offices, national
parks, and social security offices, among others. Since the ABA also applies
to non-Federal buildings that are federally funded, the Board's casework has
encompassed many other types of facilities as well, such as schools, transit
stations, local courthouses and jails, and public housing.
The Board's mission has grown tremendously over the years under later laws.
Its work developing and maintaining accessibility requirements is no longer
limited to buildings covered by the ABA. Now, the Board is responsible for
design requirements for facilities and transportation systems covered by the
ADA, electronic and information technology in the federal sector under
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, telecommunications equipment subject
to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and, most recently, medical
diagnostic equipment under Section 510 of the Rehabilitation Act. Through
this work, the Board has become a leading resource on accessible design.
"The Board has eagerly accepted the responsibility to address access in new
and unchartered areas," says Capozzi. "The Board maintains a very active and
varied rulemaking agenda. In fact, just today, the Board is releasing new
guidelines that address access to federal outdoor recreation sites." The
Board is also developing new guidelines or standards for public
rights-of-ways, shared use paths, passenger vessels, emergency housing,
classroom acoustics, and medical diagnostic equipment. Having previously
developed and updated its guidelines for facilities under the ABA and ADA,
the Board is currently refreshing its ADA guidelines for transportation
vehicles and its standards and guidelines for information and communication
technologies covered by section 508 and the Telecommunications Act. In
addition to rulemaking, the Board provides technical assistance and training
to the public on its guidelines and standards on a regular basis and funds
research on accessible design.
"Often people ask which department the Board is part of, but in fact it is
an independent federal agency with authority to report directly to the
President and Congress," says Braitmayer. Its governing Board includes 13
members from the public appointed by the President to four-year terms. Over
the years, almost 100 people have served on the Board as public members.
Since the Board also coordinates policy government-wide relating to
accessible design, 12 federal departments are represented on the Board as
well.
Recollections from Former Board Members
In recognition of the Rehabilitation Act's 40th anniversary, the Board
thought it was worth looking back to reflect on what the law, and its
establishment of the Board, have brought about. It reached out to former
public members and asked for their thoughts and recollections from their
service on the Board.
Hale Zukas
Board Member (1979 – 1984)
"The biggest accomplishment during my tenure was the development of the
Board's Minimum Guidelines and Requirements for Accessible Design. These
were the first design requirements for accessibility laid down by the
federal government, and they were instrumental in comprehensively defining
architectural accessibility and giving teeth to the ABA so that there was a
clear and distinct means for enforcing compliance. They served as the basis
for the first mandatory standards issued under the ABA known as the Uniform
Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS). If an entity covered by the ABA
didn't meet the standards, it violated the law. UFAS certainly had a useful
span and long run. It was used to measure enforcement with the ABA for over
20 years and remains in effect at this time for housing facilities. It also
was the basis for the first standards issued under the ADA and was permitted
as an alternate standard for state and local governments until last year."
Steven A. Diaz
Board Member (1985 – 1987)
"During my tenure, the Board came to terms with its obligation to provide an
effective enforcement mechanism. The Board had a difficult time recognizing
that setting technical standards was only half the work. We confronted the
Board's role in providing a forum for those denied access and a channel for
redress through its Compliance and Enforcement division."
"The Federal role in an accessible society is a fundamental premise of our
notion of civil liberties. The Board sets the tone with its standards and
commitment to the goal of maximum feasible accommodation. It is the
attitudinal barriers that are the hardest to break down and which require
diligence and leadership from the Board. Working towards universal public
awareness and education as to why we aspire to be a fully accessible
society, with all of the accompanying benefits for everyone, is an enormous
task. The Board's writ to deal with "attitudinal barriers" opens the way to
such awareness and education efforts which must embrace collaborative
efforts between the Board and educators, veterans, parents, employers, and
transportation officials as well as all of the constituents and components
of the disability communities."
Pamela Holmes
Board Member (1994 – 2002)
"What was impressive with all the work the Board did during my tenure while
developing these guidelines and standards was the meticulous gathering of
all the impacted stakeholders in the community to discuss and have
substantive input on the guidelines and standards as they were being
developed for consensus building early in the process."
"An ongoing challenge for all those in the federal sector in improving
accessibility for people with disabilities is to do so in a way that is
nimble enough that it keeps up with the current technological solutions and
needs, yet careful enough that all sides of the situation are thoroughly
explored. As our country becomes more and more immersed in technological
solutions, we do not want to set standards that limit the advancements of
better solutions that emerge within the timeframe of the development,
comment period, creation of final rule and implementation."
"Enforcement is as critical as the careful crafting of the guidelines and
standards themselves. People are living longer and the population of
individuals with disabilities has grown substantially since the original
laws were enacted. As we 'build out' a new more accessible America, we must
constantly be vigilant of how to minimize barriers before the lawsuits and
complaints can even surface. Without the public seeing strict enforcement,
barriers will continue to exist and the good work of all the stakeholders
who came to the table to help avoid such obstacles will be in vain."
Douglas Anderson
Board Member (2003 – 2011)
"I will always consider my work on the Board among the most significant
offerings I have had the opportunity to give to society. I served on the
Board during its update and release of its ADA and ABA Accessibility
Guidelines in 2004, which was a big accomplishment. Since passage of the
ADA, one of the biggest changes we've seen is the integration of access into
the design of buildings that allows people with disabilities the opportunity
to use buildings in the same way all users do. Accessible design has become
a standard practice within the design and construction industry instead of
just a specialty."
"Of course, with the Board's responsibility to address accessible design not
only in the built environment, but also transportation, communication, and
information technology, challenges remain, such as making both ambient and
interactive technology fully accessible to people with disabilities. These
continuously evolving systems offer amazing potential for equal access, yet
are also very vulnerable to missing the opportunity to building access into
the system."
Further Information
For further information on the work of the Board and the Rehabilitation Act,
see:
a.. Access Board Mission
b.. Enforcement of the ABA
c.. History of the Access Board
d.. Access Board Rulemaking
e.. Laws Concerning the Access Board
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